Monday, May 09, 2005

Read Any Good Books Lately?

My friend Jeff Sandstrom (Dove-Award Winning Producer Jeff Sandstrom, that is) spent the weekend with me in southern California. We did some consulting for a very large Korean church here, and we had a great time. We even ate kimchee.

Jeff's a great guy, and we have a lot in common. We had a great time and laughed a lot at all the same things. We ate dinner at Gladstones, and we listened to some really good jazz -- on the radio even.

Yesterday, at church we sat and listened to more than 100 Korean kids singing songs that Jeff produced for Integrity music's ShoutKids records. We both got chills as we thought what it is that we get to do. We travelled 2,500 miles across the continent and met a nine-year-old Korean-American girl named Hannah who recognized my voice from KidJam Radio and Parenting Matters. Once again, I heard people tell me that this material is changing their world. It's gratifying and humbling at the same time.

It was the first time Jeff had ever seen me teach, and he got to watch it go on and on. The Five Hour Workshop never lasts just five hours! After it was all over, we ate way too much and stayed up way too late talking about books and music and theology and philosophy. Just my kind of night. He likes to give me a hard time about just how much I read, but then he asked me if I would put together a reading list -- the top 10 recommended books from John Alan Turner.

I have my ideas about what should go on the list. But I'm wondering -- which books would make your top three?

Oh, by the way, my wife says she was #10,000.