Author: Peter LeDuc

Top Ten Books Read in 2025

Peter LeDucLeave a comment

This is the eighth year that I’ve been writing these posts. This past year was particularly busy and challenging, so I didn’t get to read as much as I had hoped. Let’s just say certain opportunities in my church and priorities in my family took precedence and reading got relegated to the back burner for about six months. The focus of my study this past year centered on three major themes—biblical counseling, secular theory, and creativity (poetry in particular). I hope you enjoy these reflections and find something from my list that you can pick up and read in the new year. Notice, I snuck in an eleventh book.

Continue reading →

When [My Insecure] Strivings Cease

Peter LeDucLeave a comment

Standing in my kitchen, I was greeted this morning by the sweet, soft voice of my eight-year old daughter: “Happy adoption day, Dad.” It was still early and I hadn’t yet woken up enough to realize the significance of the day. I can’t think of a more beautiful way to be greeted than by my adopted daughter recognizing the significance of my own adoption. My daughter and I share a uniquely special bond. A bond that really transcends words, but a bond that I feel compelled to write about today.

Continue reading →

Top Ten Books Read in 2024

Peter LeDucLeave a comment

It’s hard to believe that today is the last day of 2024. It’s been a great year. While our church plant has become independent and continues to grow, I, too, am growing as a pastor. This means that I’m learning to balance shepherding, sermon prep, administration, counseling, fitness, and family life with good reading habits. I’ve added some audiobooks to keep up with my goals. Reading is necessary and formative. Good books are timeless and timely. They engage the mind by interacting with and challenging influential modern assumptions that we unconsciously imbibe on a regular basis. I need good books to awaken me from my slumber and arouse me from my stupor. I need good books to challenge my thinking and sharpen sharpen my skills. I need good books to motivate me to live for the cause of Christ and truth in a world committed to neither.

Here are the top ten books that I enjoyed the most and have had a profound impact on my life and mind—

Continue reading →

Immeasurably More: Reflecting on Two Years of Church Planting

Peter LeDucLeave a comment

Two years ago—today—a group of us launched Grace Church of Dover in the Tri-City area of the New Hampshire Seacoast. Two months into the plant, I wrote a prospective philosophy of ministry called Simple, Small, and Strategic. In it I shared our distinctives, laid out expectations, and charted our course as a new church. I laid out a vision where culture eats strategy and maturity beats momentum. In other words, when it comes to church growth, depth is more important than breadth, and conviction is more essential than ingenuity. I explained that the truth-and-love, Gospel culture of deep doctrine and deep relationships we aimed for could not be fast-tracked without bypassing the hard, consistent groundwork that needed to be done. I’m humbled and happy to report the extraordinary fruit that God has provided in spite of our many insufficiencies and despite myriad obstacles. He has rewarded our ordinary faithfulness.

Continue reading →

Biblical Counseling and The Psychologies: Review and Reflection

Peter LeDuc1 Comment

Dr. Ernie Baker’s new book, Biblical Counseling and the Psychologies (Shepherd Press, 2023, 100 pages), seeks to help biblical counselors engage thoughtfully, critically, and cautiously with current trends in the biblical counseling movement, especially those that are quick to integrate with and accept—as authoritative—the secular theories that currently grip the greater culture’s imagination. This insightful resource exposes the perils and pitfalls of integration, provides a framework for assessing various methodologies, and encourages steadfastness in biblical methodology

Continue reading →

When Mother’s Day Is Emotional

Peter LeDucLeave a comment

“Her death the dividing mark: Before and After,” writes Theo about his mother in Donna Tart’s The Goldfinch. “Things would have turned out better if she had lived. When I lost sight of her I lost sight of any landmark that might have led me someplace happier, to some more populated or congenial life.”

Life is heavy. Life is hard. Life is also incredibly busy. With the responsibilities of being a husband, the father of five, and a pastor, I don’t have much time to sit and reflect on the grief and pain within my heart. I believe this is a mercy from God because I would probably fall into despair if I spent all my time reflecting on the good old days, focusing on what I don’t have, and lamenting the death of my birth mom and my adopted mom. But I do think of them often. Whenever I fold a towel her way, make an omelet just like she taught me, wash dishes using “elbow grease,” or listen to her favorite country station, I’m reminded of Mom’s influence in my life. It’s always the little things that catch me off guard—a picture, an old friend, a familiar place.

Continue reading →

Helpful Books for Foster/Adoptive Families

Peter LeDucLeave a comment

Behind the walls of an evidently ordinary home are overwhelmed parents ill-prepared to deal with the behavioral issues related to childhood trauma. And behind the eyes of a seemingly normal child is an insecure soul unprepared to deal with the ever-emerging subconscious crisis of identity.

Continue reading →

Top Ten Books Read in 2023

Peter LeDucLeave a comment

It’s that time of year again. I am looking back at all I read this past year and looking ahead at my goals for the new year. Physically, movement is life. Reading is the motion and animation of the inner life. It’s a necessary and enriching experience without which my heart and mind would only grow stagnant. It keeps me aware of the past, conversant in our ever-changing culture, immersed in otherworldly imagination, sharpened by stimulating prose, and rooted in timeless truths. Tim Keller felt compelled to read broadly and deeply in order to prevent his preaching from growing stale and repetitive. I want to follow in that sentiment, which is brimming with both humility and wisdom. In descending order, here are the books that I enjoyed most this past year. I recommend them to you. Tolle lege!

Continue reading →

The Allurement of Apostasy—Lessons from 2 Peter and Jude

Peter LeDuc1 Comment

In their short letters, Peter and Jude were addressing a nascent threat arising in the early church: false teachers who denied the future return of Christ, and accordingly taught that there was no future judgment and no need to pursue sanctification. They preyed upon the Christians’ exilic fatigue in the world and subtly deceived them into giving up and walking away from the faith. It was like a precursory postmodernism. Apostasy is a real allurement, but a slow—almost inadvertent—one that progresses from impatience to doubt and skepticism, to cynicism and bitterness, to eventual rejection and desertion. Savage wolves in sheep’s clothing are creeping into the church, casing the fold, and culling out who they might devour next.

Continue reading →