This week’s Free Stuff Friday is sponsored by Radius International.  They are giving away a conference package that includes: 2 tickets, a Radius pullover, and 2 books.

The winner will receive two free tickets to the Radius Missiology Conference being held June 29-30, 2022, at Christ Covenant Church, Matthews, NC. This event will be live in person or available as a live stream. Kevin DeYoung, Alistair Begg, Ian Hamilton, Wayne Chen, Brooks Buser, Chad Vegas, and others from the Radius world will be live and in-person to teach on the Great Commission in today’s world with free books from 9Marks, Banner of Truth, and others.
The winner will receive a Radius International branded pullover. Size and gender options to be selected by the winner from available stock.
The winners will also receive two books that Radius International highly recommends:
No Shortcut to Success
A Manifesto for Modern Missions
By Matt Rhodes
Avoid “Get-Rich-Quick” Missions Strategies and Invest in Effective, Long-Term Ministry
Trendy new missions strategies are a dime a dozen, promising missionaries monumental results in record time. These strategies report explosive movements of people turning to Christ, but their claims are often dubious and they do little to ensure the health of believers or churches that remain. How can churches and missionaries address the urgent need to reach unreached people without falling for quick fixes?
In No Shortcut to Success, author and missionary Matt Rhodes implores Christians to stop chasing silver-bullet strategies and short-term missions, and instead embrace theologically robust and historically demonstrated methods of evangelism and discipleship—the same ones used by historic figures such as William Carey and Adoniram Judson. These great missionaries didn’t rush evangelism; they spent time studying Scripture, mastering foreign languages, and building long-term relationships. Rhodes explains that modern missionaries’ emphasis on minimal training and quick conversions can result in slipshod evangelism that harms the communities they intend to help. He also warns against underestimating the value of individual skill and effort—under the guise of “getting out of the Lord’s way”—and empowers Christians with practical, biblical steps to proactively engage unreached groups.
Missions By The Book
How Theology and Missions Walk Together
by Chad Vegas and Alex Kocman
Across the church, there is a rift between theology and missions. Bad theology produces bad missions, and bad missions fuel bad theology.
We wrongly think that we must choose between making a global impact and thinking deeply about the things of God. But the relationship between theology and missions is symbiotic—one cannot exist without the other. They walk hand-in-hand.
Enter Here
Again, there is one package to win. And all you need to do to enter the draw is to drop your name and email address in the form below.
Giveaway Rules: You may enter one time. Winners will be notified by email. The giveaway closes on Sunday, Feb 6th, 2022 at midnight.

I probably don’t need to tell you how much I love books in general, and Christian books in particular. One of my favorite times to be a reader is in mid-December when people begin to share their picks for the top books of the year. I usually collect a good number of these lists and scour them to see if there is any consensus. I have done that over the past few weeks and am ready to share the results.

To be honest, though, the results are perhaps a little disappointing because there really wasn’t a single standout book this year. There were, though, several that appeared on a number of lists—the closest we will get to anything like consensus. Here, in alphabetical order, are the five that appeared the most times:

And that’s about the extent of it. Rather than list all of the other books that got a nod (something that would make a very long list), I’ll simply link to all the individuals I follow who compiled a list, so you can run through them yourself:

You may also like to consult these two lists, though it’s worth pointing out that they are done differently: publishers must nominate books and pay a fee in order to have their books considered.

Let me add a word about methodology. The only lists I include are the ones that are published by people I follow anyway. I follow perhaps 250 to 300 blogs and sites, so that provides a significant group to draw from. That said, I tend to follow people with whom I have broad doctrinal alignment, so I suppose there’s a pretty significant bias involved. So be it!

I have been blogging at Challies.com on a daily basis for just over 18 years now. That long commitment has allowed me to write thousands of articles and hundreds of book reviews while also sending millions of visitors to other sites through the daily A La Carte feature. While I have also written a number of books and filmed quite a lot of videos, the blog has always remained the “main thing.” Over the past few years much of the site’s content has also been translated to Spanish and other languages—a fact that brings me great joy.

One of my great desires through this time has been to freely give away as much as possible. I intend for it to always remain entirely free for all who visit. While for obvious reasons I cannot give away my books, I’ve made it my goal to ensure that just about everything else has been freely and widely distributed. This has been possible largely because of advertisers. However, as the internet continues to develop and the advertising market continues to shift, this is no longer quite as easy as it once was. Similarly, affiliate programs are generally becoming weaker, not stronger, over time.
This is where patrons come in. Patreon provides a means of linking content producers (like me) with supporters (like you). I believe a model like this is key to a sustainable path into the future for sites like mine.
To that end, just about once a year I like to ask those who regularly read this site to prayerfully consider supporting me by becoming a patron. By supporting me with even a very modest monthly gift, you will be able to be part of this ongoing work. Funds donated will be used to support my family and to help create great content or to otherwise improve, support, and enhance Challies.com. In one way or another they will all be used to allow me to continue to do what I have been doing for these past 18 years.
Please understand that I intend for Challies.com to always remain entirely free. In fact, patrons help ensure that it always remains that way.
Thank you for considering becoming a patron of Challies.com. Your support means so much to me.
(I’m also sometimes asked about one-time gifts. If that is of interest to you, they can be forwarded by PayPal or by check to the mailing address listed here.)