It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you read the news these days. Trying to sort through information, determine what’s true and what isn’t, and evaluate what that means for your daily experience can leave you with more questions than answers.

At the same time, maybe you find yourself with more time on your hands than you used to. Or maybe you’re just looking for some truth-saturated resources to fill your drive time, exercise time or downtime. Maybe you’re looking for a new book to go through as a couple or family, a new podcast, or a new blog to follow – one that will turn your eyes upward and encourage your heart.

As a pastoral team, we understand how hard it is to fix our minds on truth when there are so many other voices competing for our attention. But we also want to encourage you to stay grounded in God’s Word so that His voice is the one that sets the tone for your day.

To help you with that goal, we have compiled a list of recommendations for books, podcasts, and other online resources that we believe will be a help to you. We hope you and your family will benefit, and that you’ll share with others as you have opportunity!

Books

Note: Many of these books are available as ebooks or audiobooks through free resources like Hoopla (see the App section below). You may also be able to find ebook versions on Amazon.

• Crazy Busy by Kevin DeYoung – A short, high-impact book on how to find balance by addressing busyness from a biblical perspective. – Robert Horn
  
• Serving as Senders by Neal Pirolo – “Thinking about our missionaries and what they are experiencing at this time, this book might be a good one. I know it changed my life in ministry to our Gospel partners.” – Pastor Robert Graziano
  
• John G. Paton: Missionary to the New Hebrides by Banner of Truth – “I’m currently reading this autobiography, compiled from his notes and edited by his brother. Wonderful and fascinating record of a courageous and godly man. He is known as the ‘missionary to the cannibals.’ It’s a long book (475 pages) but worth the read. There are shorter biographies about him as well (see below).” – Jerry Barron
  • John G. Paton: Missionary to the Cannibals of the South Seas by Paul Schlenhlein
  • John Piper has a short free eBook about Paton available with others at this link.
    
• Take Heart by Matt Chandler – This one is available at the Resource Center when we return and ties in well with Pastor Andrew’s sermon series. “Just finished this one – highly recommend! Helpful biblical instruction on how the believer should approach an increasingly secular society with Christian courage motivated by right theology.” – Jerry
  
• The Art of Neighboring by Jay Pathak & Dave Runyon – “A great one for this time because of the challenge to take Christ’s command to ‘love your neighbor’ seriously and literally. Do you know your eight closest neighbors? Have you shown them acts of love and expressed your hope in Christ? Be forewarned – it was a convicting read!” – Matt
  
• Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport – “Another convicting read – but this one from an unsaved perspective! Newport has a good sense of “common grace” wisdom when it comes to how we use technology. Why are we using these devices? Are they controlling us or are we controlling them? Lots of helpful studies, statistics, illustrations both current and historical, and practical suggestions.” – Matt
  
• Jesus Skeptic by John Dickerson – “An investigative journalist looks into the claims of Christ and if Christianity has been a force of good or evil in the world. A powerful apologetic tool to use to address the concerns your unsaved friends or family may raise, particularly in the younger generations.” – Matt

Online Resources

• www.challies.com – Articles, book reviews, current trending topics – Jerry
  
• www.whatsbestnext.com – Great site on productivity, leadership, management. – Jerry
  
• Between Two Worlds – Blog by Justin Taylor, executive vice president for book publishing at Crossway. The whole Gospel Coalition site has helpful resources. – Jerry
  
• Counseling classes and resources from our friend and fellow member Donn Arms and the Institute for Nouthetic Studies. – Andrew
  
• The Bible Project  – A parent in our church wrote, “We use these videos for family devotions sometimes, and they could be a good resource for parents for a ‘Bible class’ now that kids are learning at home.”
  
• Answers in Genesis kids’ website – This is a great website just for kids with lots of activities and videos. Ken Ham has also been doing live videos for kids at 3:00 on Facebook live.
  
• Lynda.com – Free online courses through the Greenville County Library. Login with your library card and access thousands of courses to help develop business skills and practical knowledge for everything from time management to tech skills.

Podcasts

• The Briefing with Albert Mohler  – “Excellent biblical worldview approach to current events.” – Jerry
  
• Gospel Grace Church Podcast – The sermon series on James or Daniel were especially helpful. – Robert Horn
  
• The Bible Project Podcast – “If you enjoy their videos, you would enjoy their podcast that launches off their videos into more depth. While I don’t agree with all their conclusions on every topic, they have a way of opening fresh ways of studying books or topics of the Bible.” – Matt
  
• Into the Word – Paul Carter, a pastor in Canada, teaches through books of the Bible. Each podcast is about 15 minutes long and talks through one chapter. They are always very practical and helpful.

Apps

• Todoist – Keep track of your to-do items.
  
• Evernote – Convenient way to store notes.
  
• Whatsapp – to connect with our friends in other countries
  
• Time Limits for iPhone or Mac – You can set restrictions for a set amount of time for certain apps, like Facebook or Twitter.
  
• Hoopla – Available to anyone with a library card. Books, audiobooks, and music can be “checked out.” Before you buy a book, check with the Hoopla app – they may have it for free! It is especially helpful as a way to get audiobooks for you to listen to as you exercise, drive, or even to listen to for family devotions.
  • Freegal – This is similar to Hoopla, but for music, and is also available through the library. You can download five songs every week and they are yours to keep with the Freegal Music app. There is a lot of Christian music available.

Do you have a favorite book, app, podcast, or other website that has been an encouragement to you? Feel free to share it with us!