Book Club Invite!

I just sent this e-mail out earlier this morning, and would like to extend the invitation to all you readers out there as well!  If you want to join in the fun just let me know...This has been God's prompting from the beginning, and those always lead to exciting places!!!
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Hello to some very special ladies in my life :)

So - God has been speaking to my heart about the concept of community.  Since we've been back, I'm realizing how isolated we are as American believers, both from each other and from our fellow believers abroad.  Biblically, this is not how God has intended us to live.  Enter: an international book club :)

Mostly I see this as being a reason/excuse to gather together in community, learn about other cultures, pray for the nations and consider how our lives could be given in service to our brothers and sisters both here and abroad.  Only the first and last books in this list are officially "Christian" books, but with the help of the Holy Spirit, scripture, and "Operation World", I figure we'll do just fine.  :)

Here's the list so far...

"Radical", by David Platt (America)
"A Fine Balance", by Rohinton Mistry (India)
"Curfewed Night", by Basharat Peer (Kashmir)
"Wild Swans", by Jung Chang (China)
"A Beginner's Guide to Changing the World" (Tibet)
"Three Cups of Tea", by Greg Mortenson (Afghanistan)
"Stones into Schools", by Greg Mortenson (Pakistan)
"Revolution in World Missions", by J.P. Yohannan (Native Missionary Movement)

I've included books about the areas that God has placed on my heart over the last year and a half.  Hopefully this can be a starting point, and as we grow together, God will continue to bring the world into our homes through each others' hearts. 

I've included some people that aren't physically near to here - I thought it'd be neat to get different perspectives and increase our community beyond our local area, maybe via a blog where we could just post our thoughts?

For those of us that are around the Ames area, I'd love to meet together before we start reading - for those of you that are interested, what does next Wednesday, March 2nd look like?  It'd be neat to talk through and pray over this together with those of you that would like to jump in with me and process. :)

Please feel free to pass this on to anyone you think might be interested.  Especially for those of you in the area, I really don't know many women in the area, so feel free to invite!  My hope is that this would be a time to encourage, challenge, and push each other in local community, FOR global community.

Much love, Nicole :)