Books about Missionaries from Amazon.com

Tracy Kidder is a winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the author of the bestsellers The Soul of a New Machine, House, AmongSchoolchildren, and HomeTown. He has been described by the BaltimoreSun as the “master of the non-fiction narrative.” This powerful and inspiring new book shows how one person can make a difference, as Kidder tells the true story of a gifted man who is in love with the world and has set out to do all he can to cure it.

At the center of Mountains Beyond Mountains stands Paul Farmer. Doctor, Harvard professor, renowned infectious-disease specialist, anthropologist, the recipient of a MacArthur “genius” grant, world-class Robin Hood, Farmer was brought up in a bus and on a boat, and in medical school found his life’s calling: to diagnose and cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most. This magnificent book shows how radical change can be fostered in situations that seem insurmountable, and it also shows how a meaningful life can be created, as Farmer—brilliant, charismatic, charming, both a leader in international health and a doctor who finds time to make house calls in Boston and the mountains of Haiti—blasts through convention to get results.

Mountains Beyond Mountains takes us from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia as Farmer changes minds and practices through his dedication to the philosophy that "the only real nation is humanity" - a philosophy that is embodied in the small public charity he founded, Partners In Health. He enlists the help of the Gates Foundation, George Soros, the U.N.’s World Health Organization, and others in his quest to cure the world. At the heart of this book is the example of a life based on hope, and on an understanding of the truth of the Haitian proverb “Beyond mountains there are mountains”: as you solve one problem, another problem presents itself, and so you go on and try to solve that one too.

“Mountains Beyond Mountains unfolds with the force of a gathering revelation,” says Annie Dillard, and Jonathan Harr says, “[Farmer] wants to change the world. Certainly this luminous and powerful book will change the way you see it.”


From the Hardcover edition..
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Oprah Book Club® Selection, June 2000: As any reader of The Mosquito Coast knows, men who drag their families to far-off climes in pursuit of an Idea seldom come to any good, while those familiar with At Play in the Fields of the Lord or Kalimantaan understand that the minute a missionary sets foot on the fictional stage, all hell is about to break loose. So when Barbara Kingsolver sends missionary Nathan Price along with his wife and four daughters off to Africa in The Poisonwood Bible, you can be sure that salvation is the one thing they're not likely to find. The year is 1959 and the place is the Belgian Congo. Nathan, a Baptist preacher, has come to spread the Word in a remote village reachable only by airplane. To say that he and his family are woefully unprepared would be an understatement: "We came from Bethlehem, Georgia, bearing Betty Crocker cake mixes into the jungle," says Leah, one of Nathan's daughters. But of course it isn't long before they discover that the tremendous humidity has rendered the mixes unusable, their clothes are unsuitable, and they've arrived in the middle of political upheaval as the Congolese seek to wrest independence from Belgium. In addition to poisonous snakes, dangerous animals, and the hostility of the villagers to Nathan's fiery take-no-prisoners brand of Christianity, there are also rebels in the jungle and the threat of war in the air. Could things get any worse?

In fact they can and they do. The first part of The Poisonwood Bible revolves around Nathan's intransigent, bullying personality and his effect on both his family and the village they have come to. As political instability grows in the Congo, so does the local witch doctor's animus toward the Prices, and both seem to converge with tragic consequences about halfway through the novel. From that point on, the family is dispersed and the novel follows each member's fortune across a span of more than 30 years.

The Poisonwood Bible is arguably Barbara Kingsolver's most ambitious work, and it reveals both her great strengths and her weaknesses. As Nathan Price's wife and daughters tell their stories in alternating chapters, Kingsolver does a good job of differentiating the voices. But at times they can grate--teenage Rachel's tendency towards precious malapropisms is particularly annoying (students practice their "French congregations"; Nathan's refusal to take his family home is a "tapestry of justice"). More problematic is Kingsolver's tendency to wear her politics on her sleeve; this is particularly evident in the second half of the novel, in which she uses her characters as mouthpieces to explicate the complicated and tragic history of the Belgian Congo.

Despite these weaknesses, Kingsolver's fully realized, three-dimensional characters make The Poisonwood Bible compelling, especially in the first half, when Nathan Price is still at the center of the action. And in her treatment of Africa and the Africans she is at her best, exhibiting the acute perception, moral engagement, and lyrical prose that have made her previous novels so successful. --Alix Wilber.
Price: $6.23 [Notify me when price goes down.]

the challenge every man faces...the fight every man can win

From the television to the Internet, print media to videos, men are constantly faced with the assault of sensual images. It is impossible to avoid such temptations...but, thankfully, not impossible to rise above them.
Shattering the perception that men are unable to control their thought lives and roving eyes, Every Man's Battle shares the stories of dozens who have escaped the trap of sexual immorality and presents a practical, detailed plan for any man who desires sexual purity-perfect for men who have fallen in the past, those who want to remain strong today, and all who want to overcome temptation in the future.




Includes a special section for women, designed to help them understand and support the men they love..
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Alan Hirsch is convinced that the inherited formulas for growing the Body of Christ do not work anymore And rather than relying on slightly revised solutions from the past, he sees a vision of the future growth of the church coming about by harnessing the power of the early church, which grew from as few as 25,000 adherents in AD 100 to up to 20 million in AD 310. Such incredible growth is also being experienced today in the church in China and other parts of the world. How do they do it? The Forgotten Ways explores the concept of Apostolic Genius as a way to understand what caused the church to expand at various times in history, interpreting it for use in our own time and place. From the theological underpinnings to the practical application, Hirsch takes the reader through this dynamic mixture of passion, prayer, and incarnational practice to rediscover the dormant potential of the modern church in the West..
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Abandoning the format of workbooks-as-you-know-them, the Wild at Heart Field Manual takes men on a journey through which John Eldredge encourages them to be dangerous Simply look at the dreams and desires written in the heart of every boy: To be a hero, to be a warrior, to live a life of adventure and risk. Sadly, most men abandon those dreams and desires, aided by a Christianity that feels like nothing more than pressure to be a "nice guy." It is no wonder that many men avoid church, and those who go are often passive and bored to death. In this provocative book, Eldredge gives men permission to be what God designed them to be -- dangerous, passionate, alive, and free. This book is filled with questions, exercises, journaling ideas, and guided exploration of the arts that will lead men on a journey to discover the masculine heart that God gave them..
Price: $4.98 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The Distant Land of My Father begins like a fairy tale: "My father was a millionaire in Shanghai in the 1930s.... On the day he was born, in the province of Shantung, neighbors presented my missionary grandparents, the only Americans for miles, with noodles in great abundance and one hundred chicken eggs, in honor of their son's birth." To the young Anna Schoene, life in Shanghai is indeed magical. There are servants, a luxurious villa, a beautiful mother who smells like Chanel No. 5, and a young, handsome, polo-playing father. Unfortunately, her father is also a smuggler and speculator who loves his freewheeling life more than anything (or anyone) else. Despite warnings, Schoene refuses to leave Shanghai even after the Japanese invade, and his wife and child retreat to Los Angeles; later, he survives imprisonment and torture only to once again choose Shanghai over his family--this time with the Communists moving in.

Bo Caldwell's sepia-toned evocation of 1930s Shanghai is lovely and physical, and given the built-in drama of its setting, this first novel ought to have the vividness of a classic movie. Yet the characters remain oddly flat while world events swirl around them. Great chunks of historical exposition seem largely undigested, while Schoene's final change of heart fails to ring true. In a sense, however, these shortcomings are beside the point. The Distant Land of My Father is above all a tragic romance, albeit one with an unusual love interest. Schoene is so besotted with Shanghai that his wife and daughter are scarcely as real to him as the city itself. --Mary Park.
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Take a pound of apocalyptic suspense, add a dash of conspiracy, a little romance, and you've got a recipe for publishing success.

When authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins first imagined Left Behind, their goal was to create "...the first fictional portrayal of events that are true to the literal interpretation of Bible prophecy." Left Behind began as a sleeper, starting slowly and building steadily, selling by word of mouth. Eventually the book became a bestseller and LaHaye and Jenkins discovered that the story would take more than one book to tell, so they continued the tale in Tribulation Force.

Set against the backdrop of the Rapture, in which Jesus has returned as promised to gather his followers and remove them from this world, the characters in Tribulation Force must confront life without their loved ones, struggle with evil unleashed on the world, and ultimately embrace God's truth for themselves.

Pilot Rayford Steele, his daughter Chloe, journalist Buck Williams, and pastor Bruce Barnes band together to study the Bible, pray, and support one another through this time of terror and uncertainty. They realize that Nicolae Carpathia is the prophesied Antichrist, as they watch him consolidate his power. Buck and Rayford find themselves employees of Nicolae, keeping their faith in Jesus secret so that they can continue to work and share their faith unhindered while secretly fighting the Antichrist with the other members of the tribulation force.

The authors have drawn a story of intrigue and adventure set against a cataclysm of global proportions. Readers captivated by Left Behind will certainly want to read Tribulation Force..
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Yikes . . . It’s a looth tooth!

One of Junie B. Jones’s top front teeth is loose! Only Junie B. is not that thrilled about this development Because what if she looks like toothless Uncle Lou? And even worse . . . what’s all this tooth fairy business? Like, who is this woman, really? And what does she do with all those used teeth? So many questions, so little time.


From the Hardcover edition..
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In 2003 readers around the world read in Always Enough about the amazing things God was doing in the poorest nation on earth. Since then Heidi and Rolland Baker's ministry has electrified the body of Christ, lay Christians and ministry leaders alike, who have witnessed it firsthand. Now readers can spend a year with the Bakers, watching God continue to work miraculously in Mozambique and learning how he longs to work similarly in our own lives. Combining extraordinary narrative with insights and teaching principles, Expecting Miracles connects believers in developed countries with those in poverty and offers priceless lessons on how God's power transforms lives..
Price: $8.24 [Notify me when price goes down.]

More than 100,000 sold! Piper's must-read plea for God-centeredness in evangelization points to worship as the church's ultimate goal and proper fuel for outreach .
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