On My Shelf helps you get to know various faithful Los Angeles Pastor-Theologians through a behind-the-scenes glimpse into their lives as readers.

 

I asked Ron Boomsma—senior pastor of Sovereign Grace Church of Pasadena, in the Verdugos of Los Angeles,—about what’s on his nightstand, his favorite fiction books, and teachers that have shaped his thinking. You can hear his sermons here.

 

What’s on your nightstand right now? 

Plantinga’s "Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be” This is a reread for me. It not only helps me keep sharp in my thinking and dealing with sin, but keeps giving me fresh vocabulary about sin so that my thinking and my speaking doesn’t grow redundant and stale and fall on deaf ears. 

 

What are you learning about life and following Jesus?

That there is much about following Jesus that is right that doesn’t always result in good circumstances in the near future. The real comfort is knowing who you are following. 

 

What are some books you regularly re-read and why?

Charity and its Fruits by Edwards because I have so much to learn and much further to go when it comes to truly loving others.

Spurgeon’s Lectures because pastors need pastoring too.

Packer’s Knowing God because there is so much more to know about God. 

Reinke’s Newton on the Christian Life because Reinke is a very good writer and I want to be like Newton

 

What biographies or autobiographies have most influenced you and why? 

Marsden’s work on Edwards. Time for a reread, maybe his short version. 

 

Who's thinking and teaching/writing has profoundly shaped your own?

Tim Keller. So grateful for a prominent voice that links the unchangeable truths from the past with the current culture we live in. 

 

What are your favorite fiction books? 

Dostoyevski’s Brothers Karamazov

Shelly’s Frankenstein