Two Books in One - About God

IN THE LIKENESS OF GOD

By Dr. Paul Brand and Phillip Yancey

In the Likeness of God by Paul Brand and Phillip Yancey is perhaps the most remarkable book I've ever read. Actually it’s two books in one. Phillip Yancey combines two award winning books of Dr. Paul Brand - Fearfully and Wonderfully Made and In His Image. Both books describe incredible and fascinating incidents in the life of Paul Brand and both books show the reader how the human body works, and what doctors or surgeons see and experience when they operate on and care for patients.

Paul Brand, a missionary doctor who worked with people with leprosy, discovered that leprosy silences nerve cells and as a result its victims destroy themselves because they cannot feel pain. Therefore, he sees pain as a gift!

Brand and his coauthor Philip Yancey explain very intricate body processes in terms laymen can understand. The first book includes sections on the human body’s Cells, Bones, Skin and Motion. The second book presents sections on Image, Blood, Head, Spirit and Pain. In connection with each of these Brand offers gripping and heart warming stories about his experiences as a mission doctor.

On top of this Brand and Yancey expand the readers understanding of the church and Christianity by linking insights about the human body with spiritual insight into how the Church – the Body of Christ operates. The Bible refers to the Church as the Body of Christ – so the authors are on biblically solid ground here.

Enjoy this book.

“You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”  Psalm 139:13-14

Blessings, Dottie

Best Books on Missions

Here are three books on missions that will inform and inspire you.

A Dream So Big: Our Unlikely Journey to End the Tears of Hunger

By Steve Peifer

A Dream So Big is an incredible true story that will delight, inspire and educate all who read it. Due to overwhelming grief at the loss of their infant son, Steve and his wife, Nancy, decide to spend a year at a school in Kenya as dorm parents to the children of missionaries.

Peifer recounts delightful and humorous stories about their children, JT and Matthew, and the family’s adaptation to and experiences in Kenya. He tells similar tales about the boys they house parent. Family trips during school breaks give a marvelous picture of the stunning natural beauty of Kenya. Of course the travel is often on dirt roads and in the midst of much poverty.

Near the end of the first year Peifer visits a classroom in a government school and notices many of the children are lying on the dirt floor. He asks the teacher “Why are so many of your students lying on the floor?” The teacher replies, “This is Thursday. Most of the children haven’t eaten since Monday. If they try to stand or even sit they will faint.”

Peifer can’t get these children out of his head. After a year back in the States, he and his family return to Kenya to help in the mission school as dorm parents and teachers. They also decide to adopt two month old abandoned Kenyan twins, Katie and Ben. 

After teaching a few years Peifer becomes the school counselor guiding students as they apply to colleges. With Pfeifer’s help several of the students for the first time ever are accepted at Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Dartmouth and Cornell.

In addition to his caring connections to his students Peifer reaches out to help a number of government schools. With friends and relatives raising funds in the US, Pfeifer sets up a lunch feeding program for these schools. Attendance jumps – kids come to school in order to eat. The schools with the worst attendance now have the best attendance. Later Peifer develops solar powered computer labs for these same schools – giving the children hope for their future.

This one year adventure became thirteen years of amazing experiences living in another culture and thinking outside the box to find ways to help Kenyan children escape starvation and find hope for their future. Read this book and enjoy descriptions of this beautiful country, insights into our wealth in comparison to their poverty, and be challenged to do something to make a difference.

A Certain Risk: Living Your Faith at the Edge by Paul Richardson

A Certain Risk by Paul Richardson describes the inner freedom Christ offers us all. Richardson writes in the context of his experiences as a missionary in Indonesia. He emphasizes the value of truth, the value of openness. Even though it’s dangerous to live in Indonesia as a Christian, he has always been open about his faith and his reason for being there. He believes keeping secrets affects our souls. When we do this we live a divided life. He believes it’s worth taking “a certain risk” in order to live with inner freedom. Richardson is an excellent, beautiful writer. I'll read this over again.

FINISH THE MISSION: Bringing the Gospel to the Unreached and Unengaged 

By John Piper & David Mathis

Finish the Mission is an excellent book about the church reaching every tribe, and tongue and nation – finishing the mission. But the book offers so much more. Many Christians do not connect worship and missions. This book makes clear that worship is what it’s all about. Davis Mathis states in the introduction “The outcome of missions is all peoples delighting to praise Jesus. And the motivation for missions is the enjoyment that his people have in him.”

Louie Giglio, Michael Oh, David Platt, Michael Ramsden and Ed Stetzer write chapters in addition to those by Piper and Mathis.

Giglio in Chapter 1, using Isaiah 6:8 “Whom shall I send?” conveys the fact Isaiah is hearing a voice from our incomprehensibly great God.

David Platt in Chapter 2 gives a biblical, sobering view of hell highlighting the lostness of so many.

Michael Ramsden in Chapter 3 gives a realistic view of the dangers of mission and challenges us to be courageous.

Michael Oh in Chapter 4 teaches from the Lord’s Prayer the necessity for Christians to go “from every land and to every land.” He describes how this is currently happening in various locations around the world.

Ed Stetzer in Chapter 5 challenges all of us to send or be sent, and to be missionaries where we are. He emphasizes we are to be gospel centered and Spirit empowered.

In the final chapter John Piper teaches on Psalm 62 “Let the nations be glad and sing for joy…” He comments on Islam as not worshipping God and suggests the reason we have been given material wealth is so we will reach the nations.

Finish The Mission ends with a conversation with the authors and an appendix by Mathis on What Next? This is a challenge to the church, to all Christians to disciple others. Mathis says in the introduction “This is no ordinary missions book.” He’s right about that. I highly recommend this to all who are ready for a challenge.

“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” Romans 10:15

Blessings, Dottie

Inspiring and Informative Mission Memoirs

Prisoners of Hope: The Story of Our Captivity and Freedom in Afganistan

By Dayna Curry and Heather Mercer

Dayna Curry and Heather Mercer felt called by God to go to Afghanistan and minister to the poor and oppressed. They developed many contacts and friends with the local people in just a short time. Several months after they arrived they are arrested by the Taliban government for telling local natives about their love for Jesus. Their captivity is described in detail with separate accounts from Curry’s and Mercer’s viewpoint throughout their ordeal. The 911 attacks on the United States occurred soon after they were arrested, complicating their release. Their captivity is detailed with many twists and turns, many deprivations and threats. They openly describe their depression and abject fear yet learn to completely trust in God. They are ready to die but are dramatically rescued in the nick of time. 

Captive in Teheran: A Remarkable True Story of Hope and Triumph Amid the Horror of Teheran’s Brutal Evin Prison

By Maryam Rostampour and Marziyeh Amirizadeh with John Perry

The sub-title of this book is accurate. Captive in Teheran is a remarkable story of hope and triumph - the story of two Christian women imprisoned in Teheran for 259 days. Maryam and Marziyeh are arrested for promoting Christianity in Iran – a capital offense. They are detained in deplorable conditions, interrogated endlessly without an attorney and without written charges against them. During their captivity they witness and minister to countless prisoners with greater freedom than they could on the outside! Both women also witness to the guards, court officials and judges. They will not deny Christ even if it costs them their lives. Captive in Teheran reveals the disdain for women under sharia law; the lack of integrity, justice and fairness by this Islamic country. It also shows the amazing power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of two women fully surrendered to Christ. This is an eye opening true story.

“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” Romans 10:15

Blessings, Dottie

For other excellent mission books see Faithnotes blog here and here.

Two Book Reviews

I recently read two amazing books from my church library. Both were written by Don Richardson, a missionary and writer. Though the books are old, he has updated them and they are still available on his website and on Amazon —or from your church library, perhaps.

Peace Child is the story of Don and Carol Richardson’s experience living among the headhunting tribes of the western half of New Guinea. In sharing the gospel with them Richardson discovered they admired Judas and his betrayal rather then Jesus and his sacrificial love. They viewed deceitfulness and betrayal as qualities to be emulated. They befriended their victims before taking their heads!

Peace Child is a spellbinding account of how Don and Carol Richardson and their young children lived through a number of intense and dangerous events and succeeded in their mission. Their story is a testimony to their strong faith and to God’s provision of a way to reach the tribe with the good news. I won’t give it away. This is a must read book for Christians.

Eternity in Their Hearts, the second book by Don Richardson, is a fascinating account of the widespread belief in one God among primitive peoples. Anthropologists, attempting to prove primitive people were not monotheistic, were shocked to find they were wrong. Richardson tells one story after another of tribes in which belief in a supreme God existed for centuries.

One example (abbreviated here) describes the Gedeo people in Ethiopia who believed in a benevolent god called Magano but didn’t pray to him, focusing instead on appeasing an evil god. One man, Warrasa Wange, prayed to Magano asking him to reveal himself. Wange had visions of two white-skinned strangers erecting shelters under a sycamore tree near his town. He continued to pray and eight years later two white missionaries arrived in an old truck and did just as he had envisioned. Three decades later there were 200 churches among the Gedeo people with more than 200 members each.

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11.

Blessings, Dottie

Operation World

Operation World: The Definitive Prayer Guide to Every Nation is a book that can change the world. It’s an amazing book. Imagine what a difference it would make if all Christians prayed specifically for missionaries around the world and for the needs in each country. This is a daunting task but it is made easier by this marvelous book. Operation World lists every country in the world, giving information on Geography, Peoples, Economy, Politics, and Religion for each country. It also lists Answers to Prayer and Challenges for Prayer. Maps and charts are also given. The book is packed with information.


Operation World is designed to be used as a prayer guide with a date listed at the bottom of each page so you can work your way through it in a year. Christians around the world can and will be informed, guided and inspired by this book. When we hear about a country in the news or when there is conflict in a region Operation World is a quick resource to learning about the country, understanding the issues and knowing how to pray. My church is using Operation World in weekly prayer meetings, focusing on one country each week. It can also be used by families during family meetings or prayer times, to teach children about our vast world and to educate them about world geography, the diversity of peoples and the vast need to spread the Gospel. Parents who are home schooling will also find this to be a valuable resource.

The Completely Revised -7th edition of Operation World was published in 2010 by Jason Mandryk so the information is as up to date as it possibly could be. Reading and studying Operation World is a great way to increase our knowledge of other countries and cultures and great way give us a heart for missions and to focus our prayers. And it is guaranteed to lessen our provincialism.

“Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere.” Mark 16:15 NLT

Blessings, Dottie