Teen’s Choices 30 ways to Rock your World by Walnut Grove Press (Editor) is a book that every Arkster should read.

In this book there are thirty choices that involve your average teen’s everyday life at school and at home. There are passages in the bible, quotes from famous authors such as Max Lucado(3:16 Numbers of Hope) and C.S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia), a theme with a short passage and a prayer at the end. In this book my favorite choice is “Following Jesus.” In this choice it has a quote that states, “Resolution one: I will follow Jesus. Resolution two: If no one else does, I still will.” Every morning during my QT I read this book and it really is a book that can go great with the One Minute Bible. Reading this book is a great way to live a better life.

Guest post by Joel Julian.

“Disciple” by Juan Carlos Ortiz should be required reading for every Christian! Think you know what it means to follow Christ? Think again.

Our pastor had given me just one chapter of the book to read, and I was blown away. I’ve been a Christian since I was eight years old, but this one chapter showed me that I knew absolutely NOTHING about truly being a follower of Christ! The reason this book is so powerful is that Pastor Ortiz takes such complex ideas and concepts about the Christian life and actually makes them easy to understand. He goes beyond the surface level of just being a Christian by name and challenges us to go deeper into living the life of a true disciple (follower) of Christ. It’s not about Jesus answering our prayers and doing things for us like some magic genie; it’s about us becoming more and more like Jesus everyday and doing whatever He tells us to do because He is our Lord and Master!

If you’ve heard him in person, you know that Pastor Ortiz is an amazing speaker, a balance of depth and humor, and his illustrations (remember the trapeze, anyone?) really stick in your mind. My personal favorite in this book is his steak illustration. That one metaphor is the core idea of this book and has changed my view of God forever!

Do you want a better understanding of what it means to truly follow Christ everyday? Do you want your faith to go from just being a set of beliefs to being a true lifestyle that makes a difference? Then read “Disciple” and prepared to get rocked!