Here are 27 books that The Purpose Driven Church fans have personally recommended if you like
The Purpose Driven Church.
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Throughout my career, I’ve come across so many everyday people with awesome ideas of life-changing potential for a select group of people. And most of them struggle to reach the people they can most help. This is such an incredible shame! I’m passionate about connecting those entrepreneurs and business owners who have great ideas with the people who will most benefit from their solutions, so both parties win. A big part of that is ensuring their marketing engages their target audience, hence this book list.
This book completely changed how I think about communicating with my audience. Donald’s framework for clarifying your message is simple yet incredibly powerful. It taught me how to position the customer as the hero of the story and clarified my role as their guide—a mindset shift that has made my writing and marketing (and my strategic advice) so much more effective.
I love this book's interactivity, especially the inclusion of a StoryBrand template, which I completed as I read through it the second time.
More than half-a-million business leaders have discovered the power of the StoryBrand Framework, created by New York Times bestselling author and marketing expert Donald Miller. And they are making millions.
If you use the wrong words to talk about your product, nobody will buy it. Marketers and business owners struggle to effectively connect with their customers, costing them and their companies millions in lost revenue.
In a world filled with constant, on-demand distractions, it has become near-impossible for business owners to effectively cut through the noise to reach their customers, something Donald Miller knows first-hand. In this book, he shares…
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
I know it's kind of weird, but I have been fascinated by the world of direct-response marketing ever since I first saw the full-page ads in the "newspapers" my grandmother loved to read (The National Inquirer and the Weekly World News). Those ads fascinated me because, at first, I thought they were stories in the newspaper. That was my first exposure to the work of the brilliant Eugene Schwartz. I used to check our mail so I could grab all the "junk mail" that everyone else threw away because that's the only mail I wanted to read. That's why I became a direct-response copywriter.
I have read this book five times, and every time, I feel as if I picked up a new epiphany or distinction about how to launch (or relaunch) a business online. Over the years, I have paid the author, Jeff Walker, tens of thousands of dollars to attend his in-person training and seminars.
I can hardly believe how many of his "secrets" he reveals so openly inside a $27 book. It really does teach how to sell almost anything online, how to create huge “profit events”, and how to do it with excellence and integrity.
The only guide you'll ever need to achieve online marketing success. With new chapters offering fresh information, you'll find all the insider tips in one place.
The revised and updated edition of the #1 New York Times bestseller Launch will build your business - fast. Whether you've already got an online business or you're itching to start one, this is a recipe for getting more traction and a fast start.
Think about it: What if you could launch like Apple or the big Hollywood studios? What if your prospects eagerly counted down the days until they could buy your product?…
I know it's kind of weird, but I have been fascinated by the world of direct-response marketing ever since I first saw the full-page ads in the "newspapers" my grandmother loved to read (The National Inquirer and the Weekly World News). Those ads fascinated me because, at first, I thought they were stories in the newspaper. That was my first exposure to the work of the brilliant Eugene Schwartz. I used to check our mail so I could grab all the "junk mail" that everyone else threw away because that's the only mail I wanted to read. That's why I became a direct-response copywriter.
If ever I have read a book that made a bold promise on the cover and then fully delivered on that promise in the pages of the book itself, it's this one. Reading this book (more than once) has literally helped me outthink, outperform, and outearn my competition.
Jay Abraham is truly the "guru to the gurus" in business growth. I found this book to be the best distillation of Jay's teachings I have ever encountered. It’s been worth more than 100 times the $30 I paid for it.
A trusted advisor to America's top corporations and recognized as one of today's preeminent marketing experts, Jay Abraham has created a program of proven strategies to help you realize undreamed-of success!
Unseen opportunities face each of us every day. Using clear examples from his own experience, Jay explains just how easy it can be to find and/or create new opportunities for wealth-building in any existing business, enterprise, or venture.
And just how easy can it be? One entrepreneur took the concept of the ballpoint pen and refined it into a multimillion-dollar idea: roll-on deodorant. Fred Smith of Federal Express took…
A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.
Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…
I know it's kind of weird, but I have been fascinated by the world of direct-response marketing ever since I first saw the full-page ads in the "newspapers" my grandmother loved to read (The National Inquirer and the Weekly World News). Those ads fascinated me because, at first, I thought they were stories in the newspaper. That was my first exposure to the work of the brilliant Eugene Schwartz. I used to check our mail so I could grab all the "junk mail" that everyone else threw away because that's the only mail I wanted to read. That's why I became a direct-response copywriter.
This book was a massive revelation to me years ago when I first read it. It showed me how to use all the marketing knowledge I had to help “direct marketing companies”—companies that sold online or through the mail—and transfer it to “regular businesses.”
Regular businesses like retail stores, professional practices, healthcare providers, and virtually any other business you can think of. I am a huge fan of Dan’s work and this is my favorite book by him. One of the most valuable things I learned from this book was how to simplify my marketing and only invest time (and money) in the things that work.
Dan S. Kennedy dares marketers to dramatically simplify their marketing, refocusing on what works. Updated to address the newest media and marketing methods, this marketing masterplan delivers a short list of radically different, little-known, profit-proven direct mail strategies for ANY business. Strategies are illustrated by case history examples from an elite team of consultants-all phenomenally successful at borrowing direct marketing strategies from the world of online sales, infomercials, etc., to use in 'ordinary' businesses including retail stores, restaurants, and sales.
I have lived with chronic illness for over 12 years, and I’m a childhood cancer survivor. Because of this, I'm very passionate about those who live with chronic illness. I know the many aspects of chronic illness: grief, loss, feeling misunderstood, loneliness, and losing who you used to be. I want to be a beacon and voice for those who are living with chronic illness. As a chronic illness warrior, I have the privilege of being an authentic writer geared towards bringing hope, sharing my faith, encouragement, and validation to others who face chronic illness. I hope you enjoy reading the books from my list as much as I have!
I loved the different perspectives throughout this book on chronic illness. I loved how it displayed chronic illness from a caregiver's point of view, a personal point of view, and even shared how it can affect families and marriages. I loved the realness and rawness about chronic illness and how there was a faith aspect.
With so many different stories shared from different people, I was able to easily relate while also learning new perspectives about chronic illness. I was left feeling empathy, not just for those who live with chronic illness, but also for those who are impacted by the family member or friend suffering.
Sally Wilke gets it. She has lived with and through the serious chronic illness of someone she cared deeply about. And she has provided pastoral care to individuals and families in similar situations. Waiting for Good News captures her hard-won, helpful, and hope-filled wisdom.
Wilke organizes this book around seven questions that those who face serious illness often ask. From "What Is the Diagnosis" to "Where Do I Find More Help?" she accompanies readers on their own journey.
The heart of the book is the stories--Wilke's own, those of others who have struggled…
I'm an award-winning author, podcast host, life coach, and the Founder and CEO of Wonderfully Made, a faith-based non-profit organization that empowers girls and women to know their value and purpose, experience vibrant mental health, and lead flourishing lives. I’m passionate about the mental health of girls and women and am a leading voice on the impact of social media—and what we can do about it. I live in Santa Barbara County with my husband, Paul, and I love being unplugged, writing, playing with horses, surfing, and adventuring up and down the California coast.
A year ago, my life felt chaotic, and my soul a bit unhinged. I lacked peace and was often distracted and restless. From the nonstop onslaught of the world’s atrocities to the noise of social media, I felt consumed by the world's chaos and yearned for a simpler and more peaceful life.
The instant I read the title, I hit “add to cart” and “purchase.” When it showed up on my doorstep two days later, I devoured it and began implementing the practices he teaches, like the one-minute pause and the freeing concept of “benevolent attachment.”
His teaching has helped me reconnect with God, slow down, and begin to live life as intended. I truly feel like it helped me get my life back. And my joy. This book will help you be present, guard your heart, slow down, enjoy the beauty of creation, and find renewal in God through…
New York Times bestselling author John Eldredge provides a practical, deceptively simple blueprint for utterly retaking control of your life.
We live in soul-scorching times. The 24-7 onslaught of contemporary life--with its never-ending feed of global tragedies and shrieking demands for our attention, to say nothing of the ordinary pressures of work, family, friends, and community--has left us ragged, wrung-out, and emptied. But if we already have no margin in our lives, how do we find room to change things?
In his life-changing new book, John Eldredge distills a lifetime's wisdom about healing into a series of practical, ready-to-implement practices…
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
Cory Hartman (DMin, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) collaboratively crafts practical tools, interactive processes, and breakthrough content for the Future Church Company, three interconnected organizations that exist to help the church embody the movement Jesus founded. I previously served as a pastor for thirteen years and founded Fulcrum Content, a gospel communication training organization.
In the 1950s, Robert Coleman, then a professor at Asbury Theological Seminary, was assigned to teach a class on evangelism. But he had a problem: he had no idea what to say. So he decided to pore over the four Gospels to discern Jesus’ strategy for winning people to his message. His lecture notes became The Master Plan of Evangelism.
The reach of The Master Plan since its publication in 1963 has been enormous. Billy Graham even wrote the foreword. But Jesus’ model of training a few was so alien to the operating systems of 20th-century churches and traveling evangelists that generations had no idea how to implement it. Not many books have been so widely read and so little applied. Yet if you only read one book on this subject, make this the one. And if you’ve already read it long ago, read it again.
For more than forty years this classic study has shown Christians how to minister to the people God brings into their lives. Instead of drawing on the latest popular fad or the newest selling technique, Dr. Robert E. Coleman looks to the Bible to find the answer to the question: What was Christ's strategy for evangelism? This convenient, portable format has an updated look for a new generation of readers.
When I used to pick up my youngest from elementary school, instead of asking about her day, I’d say, “Tell me your stories.” Her stories always ended with, “And in my head I said…” After laughing at all her unspoken responses, I finally started to tease, “You’re really funny in your head.” That’s me too. She and I see the world as a cartoon for entertainment. I don’t have the comedic timing to say my funny thoughts aloud, but they transfer well to paper where I can share them with readers. And I still look for stories from people who are funny in their head.
This book is actually a novella collection of three romances, so…bonus! Sarah Monzon writes some of the best chemistry, and she’s written in a few different genres, but I love this one best because of the humor. And because of Book Nerds!!! I related a little too well to the author character who locked herself in the trunk of a car for research. Thankfully, my friend didn’t get pulled over by a cute police officer with me in the trunk, but still. This trilogy is so fun, and this author is one you’ll want to watch.
It all started with a bet and a book.Emory Blake is the ultimate bibliophile. She’d take curling up with a good novel over a night on the town any day of the week. But then best friend Tate Woodby accuses her of living between the pages of her paperbacks instead of the real world, and makes a bet that will force her to experience the adventures of her fictional friends…instead of just reading about them. With her face no longer buried in books, Emory must confront the pain of the past.…
One of the things I love most about fiction is the way it allows you to “be” different people—to experience, think, feel, and behave from inside a particular temperament, worldview, or experience. My very favorite is adding the complexity of multiple perspectives to that magic trick so that you get to live inside two or more people who may be at complete odds with each other. Reading good fiction is an exercise in empathy, and reading good fiction from multiple viewpoints is empathy supercharged. I’ve loved that immersion since I was a little kid who believed there was nothing better than a novel.
I grew up with the true story of the missionaries to an isolated Indigenous tribe in Ecuador who, in 1956, were killed by the people they’d come to help. I loved Five Wives because it’s an incisive but compassionate interrogation of a story from my own religious background, but you don’t need to be familiar with the source material to find it riveting.
As a religiously fervent teen, I was inspired by the courage of the wives of these martyred men, who later returned to bring the gospel to their husbands’ murderers. As an ex-Christian adult, I was awed by the ways Joan Thomas manages to neither patronize her religious characters nor leave the faith-and-martyrdom myths unchallenged. She deftly imagines the inner lives of these women, the very different doubts, struggles, and desires of each in the lead-up to and aftermath of the tragedy, and she doesn’t let anyone off…
WINNER OF THE GOVERNOR GENERAL'S LITERARY AWARD FOR FICTION
A GLOBE AND MAIL, CBC BOOKS, APPLE BOOKS, AND NOW TORONTO BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
In the tradition of The Poisonwood Bible and State of Wonder, a novel set in the rainforest of Ecuador about five women left behind when their missionary husbands are killed. Based on the shocking real-life events
In 1956, a small group of evangelical Christian missionaries and their families journeyed to the rainforest in Ecuador intending to convert the Waorani, a people who had never had contact with the outside world. The plan was known as…
The Duke's Christmas Redemption
by
Arietta Richmond,
A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.
Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…
I have had the pleasure of exploring many career paths and businesses as an attorney, CPA, minister, life coach, media company CEO, publisher, international motivational speaker, and author. Yet it was not until illness from stage 4 endometriosis almost took me out that I realized that life happiness and success were not synonymous. I took the time to 1) figure out the difference and 2) create a pathway to joy. Joy is the step beyond happiness, and it ensures life satisfaction and longevity. And this is the answer to my question – and the topic – what am I living for? I am living for joy, peace, and fulfillment.
I have purchased and gifted this book through the years when I met someone in need of a reminder of how good life is and that pain is both part of the process of growing and a tool in becoming the strong person we were meant to be.
It has wonderful illustrations of life pain that includes losing loved ones, jobs, status and position, and relationships; and how that pain may be turned into fuel to become stronger, wiser, and more compassionate in our life journey.
Purpose in Your Pain is an inspirational breakthrough for those who seek meaning in their lives. Evangelist Stephanie Davenport holds nothing back as she takes the reader through the reason God uses pain to strengthen us, gives tips and tools to face trouble head on, and shares her own struggles and resolution to motivate us to push on through crisis. This second book by Evangelist Davenport challenges traditional thoughts on how to face pain in our families, work lives, churches, and within ourselves - and provides scripture references and prayers for most situations. Purpose in Your Pain is a spiritual,…
