John Buchanan has written a book that will uplift many a pastor and church member. He reflects on what it means for local churches to be and do community, in the context of his experience as pastor of a large, downtown church. In some respects, Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago is quite distinctive; yet Buchanan's discussion of the meaning of church and church life feels in no way elitist or unusual.

Many books have been published in the past several years that sing dirges over the plight of many churches. Buchanan does not ignore the problems that churches face, nor the conditions that create them. Neither does he spew out trendy techniques for pulling one's church out of a tailspin. Rather, he discusses stories in the Bible and how he sees those stories addressing churches today. And he dares to probe theologically about what it means to be God's people--without sounding either academic or superficial.

This is the kind of readable yet thoughtful book to give to a pastor or church leader who might be feeling discouraged about ministry. It is a book about hope in the face of change and forces that would diminish our capacity to join together in faith. I recommend the book without qualification.

George Thompson Associate Professor of Church Administration and Leadership The Interdenominational Theological Center Atlanta, Georgia

gthompson@itc.edu

This book should be required reading for all students in the field of EMS. You will laugh, cry and respect the "people on the streets" like you never have before.

Good sharp, clear rendering of Audubon's 435 Birds. The images appear to be photo offsets of the original Havell prints, including small flaws like spots and tears. No page or image numbers. You have to pencil in your own by using the excellent table of contents at the back of the book. Solid, high quality binding. Excellent addition to any birdwatcher's library.

Today, most people (even most African-Americans) are totally unaware of the long and rich heritage of blacks in the West in the nineteenth century. For the most part, the way we perceive them is still influenced by the time-honored and completely erroneous view that they more or less never strayed from their jobs as cooks and barbers, washer-women and baggage porters. Some of us are aware that there were two black cavalry regiments that fought in the Indian Wars (9th and 10th cavalry, the "Buffalo Soldiers"). But the belief persists that most of the West's other blacks lived in a world all their own and interacted with whites and others only in the context of racial violence or social subservience.

John W. Ravage radically reverses this image in "Black Pioneers". By incorporating a phenomenally rich collection of photographs into his text, he visually documents the fact that African-Americans were not by any means confined to the peripheries of society. On the contrary, they engaged in a multitude of roles which ranged from the menial jobs stereotypically ascribed to them to the ownership of prosperous farms and ranches. They worked right alongside whites and seldom encountered the kind of incessant racial conflict long believed to have existed. Additionally, they made many unique, significant contributions to western society and played a number of key roles. For instance, mountain man Jim Beckwourth was a mulatto who explored and opened up significant portions of the Rocky Mountain West; often portrayed as white (like John James Audubon, who was half-Haitian), he was once played by a white actor in a movie. We also read about figures like James Douglas, the first colonial governor of British Columbia (sworn in in 1858), as well as groups of lesser-known blacks like whalers, policemen, loggers -- in short, men and women employed in the same kinds of work as whites.

Ravage also emphasizes the geographical diversity of the black experience in the West. He devotes separate chapters to the African-American presence on the Great Plains and in California, the Southwest, Washington and Oregon, western Canada, Alaska, and even Hawaii. Plus, you'll find a chapter dedicated exclusively to African-American women.

The book would hardly have been possible without the documentation afforded by the photographs, since they are Ravage's primary source of information. They show us a world neglected by many and deliberately ignored by others, but that most of us (like myself) simply have had no clue existed. They help give a "new" face to the West, a face that in fact was always there.

The vivid colors of many of Blaeu's maps are accurately reproduced, and the detail of the images is good enough to read the place-names of the beautiful maps. John Goss' captions detail the history behind each map, as well as the occasional note about the production of the map. A must for any avid map collector.

This edition of the classic 1662 Prayerbook is beautifully illustrated, giving it the perfect feel for mediation and contemplation. It includes the entire BCP with the exception of the Psalter, the Ordinal, the prayers on the anniversary of the Sovereign's accession, and the lectionary for the daily office. With these minor deficiencies noted, you should not be disappointed. The text is beautiful and immortal, and a treasure trove of inspiration. If you don't want it for mediation, then it is worth it to own one of the great classics of all time.

An excellent little book for the bowel cancer patient preparing for surgery. It details in understandable language the various staging procedures, surgical preparations, surgical solutions to common tumor problems, and potential complications. There is a good, reassuring chapter on stomas and stoma care. Without being at all scary, the information nonetheless gives one good reason to seek out only the most experienced surgeons. (Bowel cancer can produce a convoluted mess!) The nature and causes of cancer are lightly touched upon as is adjuvant therapy - neither of these discussions is entirely up to date. But the heart of the book is the surgery and surgery still appears to be the heart of bowel cancer treatment. Highly recommended.

Dr. Chinula is wonderful in his approach to pastoral counseling in the black community. I suggest that every pastor require his/her satff to read this book.

This is an excellent book. It details not only Mr. Gray's life, it also speaks about the struggle of an entire nation of people. I recommend this book to any and everyone who would like to have more information about the struggle of black people for their basic rights,ie to seat any where they please on a public bus, to vote, to an adequate education in your own state. I enjoyed the book immensely. I will continue to use it as a reference.

I found it relatively easy to learn the 58 counseling micro-skills featured in Called to Counsel, due to the book's programmed learning format. However, it did take longer than I anticipated to do all the practice exercises.

Each of the counseling micro-skills has its own mini section in Called to Counsel. Each of these sections starts with a true counsling story, which halped to get me intrested in that particular skill.

The story is followed by one or two pages of clear "how-to-do-it" text for each skill, which is usually accompanied by a humorous cartoon.

The cartoons are in a series called "Doc & Duck," in which "Doc" is a wise old owl who is the master counselor, "Duck" is a Gumby-like character who is the perpetual client, and a third character, "Quack," is a wanna-be counselor who makes every mistake in the book!

The last part of each micro-skill section is a written "Skill Builder" exercise in which you actually write right in the book, so that you keep a record of your progress. Also, there is a suggested format at the end of each chapter for making a practice tape which incorporates the micro-skills found in that chapter.

Called to Counsel is organized in nine chapters, which teach skills for avoiding common counseling mistakes, structuring an interview, using active listening and attending skills, including probes and prompts where appropriate, connecting content and emotions with values, and functioning as a "coach" to help your client create and test various action plans. Three specialty chapters teach micro-skills for using (not abusing) Scripture in counseling and knowing when and when not to introduce prayer into the counseling process, as well as dealing with issues of the occult if and when they come up in a counseling interview.

In conclusion, this is not a book of psychological or counseling theory, but a practical handbook for learning specific counseling skills.

It took me about twenty-five or thirty hours to do all the practice exercises in the book, including the counsling tapes and tape analysis. I found it very worthwhile, because the skills are very helpful.