As both writers and readers, IVP authors find inspiration in books that have shaped their faith and influenced their calling. In our IVP Bookshelf video series, we've asked them to tell us what they're reading and why these books mean so much to them.
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BROWSE AUTHORS: ▶︎ All ▶︎ A ▶︎ B ▶︎ C ▶︎ D ▶︎ E ▶︎ F ▶︎ G ▶︎ H ▶︎ I ▶︎ J ▶︎ K ▶︎ L ▶︎ M ▶︎ N ▶︎ O ▶︎ P ▶︎ Q ▶︎ R ▶︎ S ▶︎ T ▶︎ U ▶︎ V ▶︎ W ▶︎ X ▶︎ Y ▶︎ Z
Juanita Campbell Rasmus cofounded Bread of Life Inc. with her husband, Rudy. Together they previously copastored St. John's United Methodist Church in downtown Houston. Juanita has also served as a member of the board of directors of Renovaré. She most recently teamed up with Tina Knowles Lawson and Beyoncé to help forty thousand flood victims recover in the wake of Hurricane Harvey in Houston.
Dominique DuBois Gilliard is the director of racial righteousness and reconciliation for the Love Mercy Do Justice (LMDJ) initiative of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC). He serves on the boards of directors for the Christian Community Development Association and Evangelicals for Justice. In 2015, he was selected as one of the ECC’s “40 Under 40” leaders to watch, and the Huffington Post named him one of the “Black Christian Leaders Changing the World.” An ordained minister, Gilliard has served in pastoral ministry in Atlanta, Chicago, and Oakland. He was executive pastor of New Hope Covenant Church in Oakland, California and also served in Oakland as the associate pastor of Convergence Covenant Church. He was also the campus minister at North Park University and the racial righteousness director for ECC’s ministry initiatives in the Pacific Southwest Conference. With articles published in the CCDA Theology Journal, The Covenant Quarterly, and Sojourners, Gilliard has also blogged for Christianity Today, Faith & Leadership, Red Letter Christians, Do Justice, and The Junia Project. He earned a bachelor’s degree in African American Studies from Georgia State University and a master’s degree in history from East Tennessee State University, with an emphasis on race, gender, and class in the United States. He also earned an MDiv from North Park Seminary, where he served as an adjunct professor teaching Christian ethics, theology, and reconciliation.
Amy Simpson is an award-winning writer and the author of numerous books, including Troubled Minds: Mental Illness and the Church's Mission and Anxious. She is a former publishing executive who has worked for Tyndale House Publishers, Group Publishing, Gospel Light, Standard Publishing, LifeWay, Focus on the Family, and Christianity Today. She is also a life and leadership coach. Amy has published articles with Christianity Today, Leadership Journal, Today's Christian Woman, Christian Singles, Group magazine, Relevant, Her.meneutics, and others. She holds an English degree from Trinity International University and an MBA from the University of Colorado. She and her husband, Trevor, live in Illinois and have two children.
JR. Forasteros is the teaching pastor at Catalyst Community Church in Rowlett, Texas, and is an active blogger and podcaster on the church and pop culture. He blogs at NorvilleRogers.com, where he reviews films and books, and is the cocreator and cohost of the StoryMen podcast. JR. has a master's degree in religious studies, New Testament, and early Christianity from the University of Missouri–Columbia. He lives in Dallas, Texas, with his wife, Amanda.
Natasha Sistrunk Robinson (MA, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) is a writer, international speaker, leadership consultant, mentoring coach, and the visionary founder of the nonprofit, Leadership LINKS, Inc. She is author of Mentor for Life: Finding Purpose through Intentional Discipleship and the Hope for Us: Knowing God through the Nicene Creed Bible study. A graduate of the US Naval Academy and a former Marine Corps officer, Natasha has nearly twenty years of leadership and mentoring experience in the military, government, church, seminary, and nonprofit sectors. As the chairperson of the board at Leadership LINKS, Inc., Natasha's vision is to holistically develop transformative and redemptive servant leaders who are united in community and committed to invest in long-term generational and cultural change. In addition, she is a columnist at Outreach Magazine, regular contributor at Missio Alliance, and a member of the INK Creative Collective.
Sharon Garlough Brown is a spiritual director, speaker, and author of the bestselling Sensible Shoes series, which includes spiritual formation novels Sensible Shoes, Two Steps Forward, Barefoot, An Extra Mile, and their study guides. She and her husband, Jack, live near castles and the North Sea in Scotland. This is her first children's book.
Jen Pollock Michel is the author of Teach Us to Want and Keeping Place, both published by InterVarsity Press with video curriculum available from RightNow Media. She is a regular contributor for Christianity Today and Moody Bible Institute's Today in the Word. A wife and mother of five, Jen lives in Toronto, Canada.
Diana Shiflett is ordained in the Evangelical Covenant church. She is an adjunct professor of youth ministry at North Park University, and a certified spiritual director. She has a master's degree in clinical psychology from Wheaton College.