From My Bookshelf: Obedient Mission Service

Ian Buntain, director of the World Missions Center and associate professor of missions in the Roy J. Fish School of Evangelism and Missions, gives his recommended reads in the area of missions. Buntain served as a missionary with both the International Mission Board and the North American Mission Board for almost 40 years before he began serving at Southwestern in 2021.

Bill Wallace of China by Jesse Fletcher – This is the book that God used to encourage the 8-year-old version of me to dare to dream about loving Chinese people (literally) to death.

Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret by Howard Taylor – This is the book that taught me that every great and terrifying trouble is divinely designed and given to train me to cling to Christ—in every day and for all things.

The Celtic Way of Evangelism by George Hunters – The Lord has greatly used this little book to shape my heart to reach and gather people who live in places where Gospel poverty is deep and in which “church” does not exist.

Devoted to God: Blueprints for Sanctification by Sinclair Ferguson – Because I have never heard of a missionary or pastor who ruined his life with bad theology, God has greatly used this book to encourage me to guard my heart and ministry through the constant pursuit of deeper holiness.

Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Waterson – For Sabbath reading because it probably has kept me in ministry.