10 Books Empowering True Grit

10 books recommended by 2022 Katoomba Easter Convention team and available for purchase from The Wandering Bookseller. 

This year at Katoomba Easter Convention, delegates were reminded of God's call to His people to live with True Grit, and how the death and resurrection of Jesus empowers believers to heed the call with confidence.

​To help our delegates explore this topic further and to consider what "True Grit" looks like in the day to day, we've partnered with The Wandering Bookseller to offer some our top reads on this topic. We hope that these books will empower you to respond to fear with faith and courage! ​

1. ​Fight, Flight and Faith: A Life with Anxiety and Jesus
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Can a Christian be anxious and still have faith?

​In this memoir, Nikki Thompson shares her journey with clinical anxiety and panic disorder—a journey that involved both seasons of trying to fight and flee from the pain—and, eventually, the beginnings of an expanded, reawakened faith. This book is a reminder that wherever we stand, Jesus—our older brother, our refuge, and our fellow sufferer—is ever near, beckoning us to come join him on the journey. Learn more.

2. Being the Bad Guy

Author Stephen McAlpine offers an analysis of our post-Christian culture who view Christianity as not only wrong but possibly dangerous. He explains key points of tension between biblical Christianity and secular culture and encourages Christians not to be ashamed of the gospel as it is more liberating, fulfilling and joyful than anything the world has to offer. He also offers strategies for coping in this world, with its opposing values, and for reaching out to others wisely with the truth. Learn more. 

3. The Secular Creed

"In this house we believe that:
Black Lives Matter
Love Is Love
Gay Rights Are Civil Rights
Women’s Rights Are Human Rights
Transgender Women Are Women"

Rebecca McLaughlin disentangles the beliefs Christians affirm from those they cannot embrace, and invites us to talk with our neighbours about the things that matter most. Far from opposing love across difference, McLaughlin argues, Christianity is the original source and firmest foundation for true diversity, equality, and life-transforming love. Learn more. 

4. 10 Questions Every Teen Should Ask (and Answer) about Christianity

​How can we believe the Bible is true? Why can’t we just agree that love is love? Isn’t Christianity against diversity?

Teenagers are sure to face real challenges to faith in Jesus Christ and these questions can seem like deal breakers. Backed by state-of-the-art research, personal stories, and careful biblical study, this book doesn’t dodge tough questions. Instead, it invites teenagers to ask their hardest questions about Christianity and to find surprising, life-giving answers. Learn more. 

5. Near: Psalm 139

​From Sally Lloyd-Jones, the author of the bestselling The Jesus Storybook Bible, comes an uplifting new board book in a soft padded format that is a perfect fit for little hands. Inspired by Psalm 139 which begins, "O Lord, you have searched me and you know me", Near's lyrical text reminds little ones that God is with them anywhere they go in God's wide world. Learn more. 

6. ​The Courage to Stand: Facing Your Fear Without Losing Your Soul

The most significant challenge facing Christians isn't a crisis of clarity, but a crisis of courage. We know what to do, we just don't have the guts to do it. In this book, KEC speaker and author, Russell Moore, inspires courage in readers by exposing its absence and pointing the way to true courage—the way that is the person and presence of Jesus Christ. Learn more. 

7. Be True to Yourself

Our culture tells us that the way to be happy is to "be true to yourself". But what does that mean, and does it actually work? KEC 22 speaker and author, Matt Fuller explores how true happiness, wholeness and freedom can be found in embracing who God has created us to be; allowing ourselves to be shaped by who the Bible says we are, rather than our own fluctuating feelings, or the voices around us. By cutting through the confusion and showing us something better, this is a book to help every Christian live with confidence in today's culture. Learn more.

8. How to Talk About Jesus (Without Being That Guy)

Most Christians know they should be trying to tell their friends and family about Jesus. But in a post-Christendom world, evangelism is viewed negatively—it's offensive, inappropriate, and insensitive. Recent studies confirm that the majority of Christians rarely evangelise, worried they might offend their family or lose their friends. In this book, KEC 22 speaker and author Sam Chan, equips everyday Christians who are reluctant and nervous to tell their friends about Jesus with practical, tested ways of sharing their faith in the least awkward ways possible. Learn more.

9. ​It’s OK to Be Not OK

In this book, Dr Rico Villanueva unpacks the Psalms to teach us that in the presence of God, there is room to be “not-OK” and that our negative experiences don’t have to be ignored. This book challenges us to courageously confront our struggles and questions, instead of denying them. Most importantly, the author invites us to bring all of ourselves into the presence of God and the community of faith. For it is through our experiences and sharing them with God and his church that we grow in intimacy with God and our relationships with one another. Learn more. 

10. Lead

​Why are so many pastors leaving the ministry? Best-selling author, Paul Tripp, suggests that lurking behind the failure of a pastor is a weak leadership community. Turning to Scripture for guidance, Tripp presents readers with 12 leadership-community principles necessary for a gospel-centered leadership model, making this an essential tool for anyone in church leadership. Here is a book with a message for the young and hopeful, as well as the experienced and weary—God’s abiding presence is your hope in ministry leadership. Learn more. 

​To purchase these titles or to see the entire KEC 22 range of recommended books, visit The Wandering Bookseller website.