There are a handful of great organizations that have allowed us to be
their book providers.  As most of you know, we often go out on the road,
setting up displays, taking the titles to town, selling them to the
groups that are kind enough to allow us space.  We do this with
denominational groups and para-church ministries and we are grateful.

A few
organizations have us listed at their websites, encouraging their
patrons to order resources through us. Again, what a thrill for us–we are so grateful.  It is a joy when someone says
they saw our link at The Simple Way or Cardus, Square Halo Press or 
Burnside Writer’s Collective, The Washington Institute of Faith, Culture
and Vocation or the best campus outreach gang we know, the CCO.  Just the other day a fellow wandered in who
had found us by reading Andy Crouch’s Culture Making: Recovering our Creative Calling (IVP;
$22.00) where we are kindly mentioned.  This week another guy ordered one of our favorite Brian Walsh books where he saw our name mentioned.  These organic connections are a
blessing to us, even if (if truth be told) they don’t generate tons of
business.  But we are honored to be connected to so many great groups and are glad for the ways they keep us afloat.

Every summer we get a batch of orders from our friends at the C.S. Lewis Institute
in Washington DC for their long-standing discipleship class called
their Fellows Program.  This rigorous training program for women and men is now being
duplicated in Atlanta (three cheers for Lewis fan and visionary Bill
Smith there), Annapolis, and, Lord willing, some other sites in years to
come.

The Fellows program takes Lewis as a jumping off point but
is not a Lewis study club.  It is a discipleship class which informs
both the heart and mind, using some of the best of today’s evangelical
authors and includes meeting with mentors, lots of handouts, readings,
downloaded sermons, even DVDs that have to be watched—including
dramatizations from Luther to Amazing Grace to Bonhoeffer. 
Being involved in this multi-faceted, year-long learning community
demands a large commitment (and, as you might imagine, most of the
participants around the DC Beltway are themselves already in demanding
careers, working in business and law and public service and research and
the like.)

Could you imagine creating a year of study and
learning in your community?  Do you know folks hungry to learn? Would
your program be worth their while?  What resources would you use? 

The
leaders of the C.S. Lewis Institute are theologically rigorous,
evangelical, and, like Lewis, not only quite orthodox, but delightfully
eager to read, talk, learn, and live out faith in the complexities of
calling and career in the modern world.   As you can see from their list, they read a
lot.

We are glad that they suggest our services to the Lewis Fellows
and we try to keep their required readings on hand so we can send them
out promptly as they order throughout the year.

We thought it
would be fun for our BookNotes readers to see this excellent list.  I
think I have read most of the books listed (in fact, have helped them
pick a few of them.) Their list changes a bit from year to year and some
years they have run a “year two” Fellows program with other titles.  We
thought you might be blessed just to know that these kinds of programs
exist and that these kinds of reading lists have been developed.  

Below is a link to my monthly longer Review column and the list of what the Lewis Fellows are now using. In some cases, they only have
to read certain key chapters.  The descriptions are mine and you should
recall that they work through these, using them wisely, discussing them
with mentors, supplementing their formation with other reading, classes,
videos and experiences.

We are grateful that they recommend us
as a source for their folks to purchase these books and DVDs, but we
should be clear that CSLI does not endorse Hearts & Minds in any
official way nor does CSLI have any official relationship with us.  We
have sold books at some of their large conferences (with N.T. Wright, 
Ravi Zacharias or Os Guinness, say), we love their meaty quarterly
journal (Knowing & Doing),
appreciate their work, recommend the free audio and video lectures
available at their website, and are glad for their friendship.

 And we are grateful for book lists like this. Maybe you might want to pick some up and read along.

SEE THE WHOLE LIST AT OUR MAY REVIEW COLUMN.  All books and DVDs listed are available at a discount, too.  Just let us know how we might help you further.  Happy reading!