New Beginnings

You'll have noticed that while my main blog has remained alive and well in 2007, this is the first time I've posted on NewGen Blog in seven months. No excuses, but rather a chance for anyone who's interested to follow the progression of the experiment called NewGen Books.

NewGen Books started about a year ago (I've just had to renew the domain name www.newgenbooks.com for the first time). After a slow start (I needed a while to set myself up whilst juggling my degree course) we finished 2006 on a big high - we'd taken more orders than I had ever imagined we would in the first term, and most of the activity was condensed into just 4 weeks which made it even more exciting.

By the time January came around, things had gone quiet enough for me to think about a bit of advertising. Rather than plunging in at the deep end, I started by contacting church leaders in my local area who may be interested in what I was doing. This gave a few more orders after a time, and helped me to understand a bit more what people require.

But by the beginning of January, most work on the website had stopped - I now had to begin to work in earnest on my dissertation, and this frenzy of activity, quickly followed by finals, and then getting stuck into planting a church, has meant that work on the website has not happened at all in 2007.

Meanwhile, orders from various churches continued to come in, helping the thing to tick over, but not meaning that I had a huge distraction from my degree on my hands!

NewGen Books was always an experiment, and I have certainly learnt things along the way so far. So from September 1st, 2007 I'm making some changes to NewGen Books based on what I've learnt so far.

Firstly, I'm employing someone for a few hours a week to do what I should have done from the beginning, and work on the website. The idea was always that people would be able to log on and buy (and pay) online, and I'm aiming to unveil a new shop sometime before Christmas.

Secondly, I'm developing a set of terms and conditions for organisations (mainly churches) who wish to buy in bulk. Discounts will be revisited, and there will be a shipping charge for large orders (delivery will remain FREE on website purchases). Orders over £50.00 will require payment to be received before the order is despatched.

Thirdly, I'll be pursuing opportunities for the business to expand through more of the large-scale opportunities around my local area. I've already gotten wind of a few - I'm hoping there'll be more!

So please do support us as we move forward - the aim has always been to improve the customer's experience of buying Christian books, and to make material more readily available. Do help us get there!

The Dawkins Delusion by Alister McGrath

The Dawkins Delusion by Alister McGrath is a response to some of the most salient points made in The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.

Dawkins' argument have been seen to ramble in The God Delusion, which is a bestseller. Alister McGrath condenses these and offers counter-arguments from a Christian worldview.

The popularity of Dawkins' latest book brings us the need to prepare ourselves to offer a positive alternative. This new book will be one of the tools at our disposal.

Robber Of The Cruel Streets by Clive Langmead

Robber Of The Cruel Streets by Clive Langmead is a biography of George Muller, the man who provided for many orphans in Bristol during his lifetime.

The book gives some profile to George Muller's prayer life, reflecting its strapline "The Prayerful Life Of George Muller".

Terry Virgo says: "I wholeheartedly recommend the book both for long-standing fans of George Muller and also those who need to be introduced to this great hero of the faith."

Click here to read a full review of Robber Of The Cruel Streets by Terry Virgo.

One Touch From The King Changes Everything by Mark Stibbe

Mark Stibbe has written a new book: One Touch From The King Changes Everything.

In line with his previous writings Mark Stibbe is once again challenging us to expect more in terms of the supernatural: helping the unsaved to hear God's voice to them and pursuing healing.

The publishers, Authentic have made the first chapter available as a free sample. You can download it here.

There is a fresh move of God which is being spoken of a lot, and it is people like Mark Stibbe who are not only pioneering the way ahead for us, but also helping those of us who are attempting to follow, to do it well.

And this new book with accompanying CD is surely one of those resources which will help us do that.

NewGen Books - People like to feel taken care of

And our business is geared up around not only giving people the products they want at the prices they want, but doing it in a way which makes people want to come back for more.

That means we try to stick to our promises. It means that our promises make a difference. Which means you get a better service.

NewGen Books - People Like Simple, Honest & Good-Value Prices

Simple & Honest
That's why you will never see a price ending in ".99p" on newgenbooks.com. We believe people prefer simple pricing and know from experience how irritating it is when you end up spending more than you bargained for, all because the pricing wasn't kept simple. Because our prices include delivery the customer always knows what they're spending without the prospect of a few extra charges being added on at the end.

Good Value
We don't just want to make our pricing simple, but good value as well. We make every effort to pass on the discounts we get, to you the customer. That's why we trade online and not via a shop: because it offers customers greater discounts as well as vast choice.

NewGen Books - People Like Good Books

NewGen Books is a young business, which will be launching soon from Southampton, UK. There are a number of things which make us different to many other online Christian bookshops. These are based on the reasons we started the business, and we want to tell you about them:

1. People like good books
2. People like simple, honest and good-value prices
3. People like to feel taken care of
4. People like free delivery

This post takes the first of these reasons:

People like good books.
And although we at NewGen Books have always loved buying Christian books from the traditional bookshop, we realise that trading on the internet has big advantages, both for the seller and you, the buyer.

For example, only online businesses can offer the lowest prices because they have the lowest costs. And making payments online is now more secure than ever, sometimes even more than shopping face-to-face! This makes shopping online very attractive to the fan of good books.

We will soon be starting a review scheme where real people make honest books reviews available to our customers, hopefully giving an insight which the marketing-blurb cannot.

All this is because we believe people like good books, and we want to see the best publications made available to the widest possible audience.

Joshua Harris

Joshua Harris is the bestselling author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye, and is Senior Pastor of Covenant Life Church in Gaitherberg, Maryland, a church started by CJ Mahaney. Joshua assumed this role in 2004, having spent three years running the day-to-day life of the church as Executive Pastor.

He directed the New Attitude conferences for many years and still speaks regularly at the event, hosted by Sovereign Grace Ministries. He serves on the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood alongside Wayne Grudem and CJ Mahaney.

Philip Yancey

Philip Yancey is a freelance Christian author and is Editor at Large for Christianity Today magazine, for which he writes a monthly column. Among his bestselling books are The Jesus I Never Knew and What's So Amazing About Grace? both of which won Book of the Year in 1996 and 1998, as voted by Christian bookshop managers.

Yancey and his family were previously based in Chicago, but have now relocated to Colorado.

Terry Virgo

Terry Virgo was born and raised in Brighton, and this is where he became a Christian at age 16. After leading a small church in Seaford, East Sussex, he was invited to lead a new church formed by a group of Christians in Brighton. This became Church of Christ the King, which today is a community of about 1,000 people.

As Terry's ministry grew, so did the number of people looking to him for leadership and oversight. At first this was a loose grouping of churches, but after specific guidance from God, this group became much more defined, then known as Coastlands. Today, it is a worldwide family of churches called Newfrontiers.

Since the beginnings of Newfrontiers, the aim has been not only to develop relationships, but to restore church life and government to the norms found in the New Testament, and extend the Kingdom of God through building the Church worldwide.

Terry Virgo writes regularly in his column (Firstline) in the bi-monthly Newfrontiers magazine. In addition to this he has written many books including No Well Worn Paths, the story of Newfrontiers up to 2001, and God's Lavish Grace, a books Terry describes as being "perhaps the most important book I have ever written."

Mark Stibbe

The Rev. Dr. Mark Stibbe is Vicar at at Andrews Church, Chorleywood in Hertfordshire, UK. He and his twin were adopted at seven months old by Philip and Joy Stibbe, and Mark was sent to the most expensive school in the country, Winchester College. He met his wife Alie at university in Cambridge, where he was studying on a scholarship.

Before going to St Andrews, Mark Stibbe was involved in leading St Thomas' Church, Crookes, Sheffield, a nationally significant Anglican church which despite previous controversy is still pioneering in mission into the city.

Stibbe is a close friend of J John, who is himself a member of St Andrews and the pair have written several books together.

Being adopted has given Mark a unique perspective on the doctrine of adoption, one which he explores in From Orphans To Heirs. It is this perspective which has also driven his gift-book The Father You've Been Waiting For, which is designed for Christians and non-Christians alike.

Other titles by Mark Stibbe are available at many good Christian bookstores.

CJ Mahaney

CJ Mahaney started Covenant Life Church in Gaithersberg, Maryland in 1977. In 2004 he handed over his role as Senior Pastor to Joshua Harris, himself the author of bestsellers such as I Kissed Dating Goodbye, Boy Meets Girl: Say Hello To Courtship, Sex Is Not The Problem (Lust Is) and Stop Dating The Church.

Since that time, CJ's role has shifted to concentrate on overseeing the church-planting family of churches Covenant Life has developed called Sovereign Grace Ministries, a movement which has a close friendship with Newfrontiers. Books by CJ Mahaney include:

Humility: True Greatness
The Cross Centered Life
Christ Our Mediator
Sex, Romance & The Glory Of God: What Every Husband Needs To Know

CJ's wife Carolyn and their three daughters run a blog called Girl Talk, which is a discussion of biblical womanhood. In 2006, CJ partnered with the leaders of three other streams of churches to host Together For The Gospel 06, a conference with the gospel at it centre, uniting men and women across many different traditions and practises. Guest speakers included John Piper and John MacArthur. The four hosts of the conference continue to run the Together For The Gospel Blog.

J John

J John is a Greek-Cypriot by birth and currently lives in Chorleywood, Hertfordshire where he is a member of St Andrews Church. St Andrews is led by Mark Stibbe, and J John and Stibbe have co-authored many Christian books together.

In 1980 J John set up the Philo Trust to support his work as an evangelist, equipping the church to reach out. "It is very difficult to get half-full Christians to overflow!" writes J John in his evangelism training book Breaking News; this reflect J John's passion not only to see people reached through his own ministry, but to see Christians living a mission-shaped life.

Greg Haslam

Before moving in 2002 to succeed RT Kendall as Minister of Westminster Chapel, Greg Haslam served for 20 years as Senior Pastor of Winchester Family Church in Hampshire, UK. During this time he wrote Elisha: A Sign And A Wonder.

Since moving to Westminster Chapel he has maintained links with Newfrontiers, an international church-planting organisation, as well as committing himself wholeheartedly to the vision and transformation of the Chapel.

As a result of Greg's determination to continue in the Chapel's tradition of promoting excellent preaching, he founded "Preach The Word!", a monthly conference which ran between October 2003 and May 2004, drawing many of the most prominent preachers from around the country to teach on the subject of preaching.

Now Greg Haslam has edited these talks and transcribed them to the written word to form the book, Preach The Word!

Wayne Grudem

Wayne Grudem is Research Professor of Bible and Theology at Phoenix Seminary in Arizona, however in autumn of 2006 he will be taking a sabbatical from his teaching duties at Phoenix to concentrate on his role as General Editor of the ESV Study Bible, scheduled for publication in September 2008. He will be editing and supplementing over 1,000,000 words of comments by over 70 specialist authors on the written text of the Bible during this time.

Previous to his role at Phoenix he was Chairman of the Department of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinios. He has written many Christian books, including his famous Systematic Theology. He is a past President and current member of the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.

Wayne Grudem and his wife Magaret attend Scottsdale Bible Church in Scottdale, Arizona where Wayne has served as an Elder.

John Ortberg

Until 2003 John Ortberg was a teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church in Barrington, Chicago. After sensing a call to move on, he is now a Senior Pastor at Menlo Park Prebyterian Church in San Francisco, where he is also a teaching pastor.

A bestselling author whose titles include If You Want To Walk On Water You've Got To Get Out Of The Boat, Ortberg is passionate about watching people become more like Jesus, and this passion directs both his preaching and his writing.

Books by John Ortberg include:

God Is Closer Than You Think
Everybody's Normal Till You Get To Know Them
The Life You've Always Wanted
If You Want To Walk On Water You've Got To Get Out Of The Boat

These, along with many other John Ortberg titles and other Christian books, can be bought at any good Christian bookshop.

NewGen Profiles

NewGen Profiles are blog entries which profile a Christian author whose books can be bought from NewGen. They will never be able to give groundbreaking information on each author, but will hopefully be able to give an insight into that person's life and work, which you won't get from the usual back-cover blurb. The index for all NewGen Profiles can be found here (in chronological order):

John Piper
John Ortberg
Wayne Grudem
Greg Haslam
J John
CJ Mahaney
Mark Stibbe
Terry Virgo

John Piper

John Piper is the son of an itinerant evangelist, and has served since 1980 as Senior Pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota where he is also Pastor for Preaching and Vision:

"The ministry of preaching is the central labour of my life. My prayer is that through that ministry and everything else I do the great glory of our God and Savior Jesus Christ would be magnified as more and more people come to live out the obedience of faith more and more deeply."*

Piper was leaning towards academic theology when God clearly diverted him from that path. In his owns words:

"The God of Romans 9 seemed to be saying to me, 'I will be heralded and not just analyzed. I will be proclaimed and not just explained,'"*

John Piper became Senior Pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church and since then has authored many God-centered books and preaches around the world.

Books by John Piper include:

Contending For Our All
Sex and the Supremacy of Christ
God Is The Gospel
When I Don't Desire God
Don't Waste Your Life
Brothers, We Are Not Professionals
Desiring God
The Supremacy of God In Preaching

These titles are available at most good Christian bookshops.

Together with his people, John is dedicated to spreading a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ.

Article lifted from desiringgod.org

Why This Blog?

This blog is all about the new. New books come out all the time, and our purpose is to review them and promote which ones we feel are the best. We are partnered with NewGen Books, which we will point you to when there is an opportunity to buy good Christian books at a decent price.

Part of the reason this blog was set up was to shamelessly recommend newgenbooks.com and promote its distinctives, which are:

• Simple and honest pricing: you will never see a price ending in ".99p" on newgenbooks.com
• Helpful reviewing of the latest Christian books by a team of reviewers
• The aim of free first class delivery on all orders