Reading Recap for 2009

Here’s my recap of the best books I read in 2009. Note that they were not necessarily written in 2009, I just happen to read them this year.

Young, Restless, and Reformed: A Journalist’s Journey with the New Calvinists by Colin Hansen. This delightful history of the rise and advancement of the New Calvinism was both interesting and insightful. Hansen highlights not simply the major pastors and theologians of the movement but the distinctive features of the movement as a whole. When Time Magazine hailed the New Calvinism as one of the most important movements shaping the culture everyone began to wonder how did this come to be. Without being a technical history, Hansen has none theless catalogued some of the key causes of New Calvinism’s spreading. I really enjoyed this read.

The Founding Fathers and the Role of Religion in America by Frank Lambert. This is a technical history that reviews the major source documents of the revolutionary fathers and details the influence that religion may or may not have had on them. Lambert makes no bones about his interpretation of the historical facts: America was not founded as a Christian nation. While he readily admits the influence of religion on some of the key movers and shakers of the early republic he also details the evolution of religion in colonial life. He demonstrates, with great historical understanding, that the role of religion changed from the first colonists to the revolutionaries. He does so with both academic skill and great prose. I found this book very helpful in understanding the development of our republic.

Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture by Michael Frost.  This book was especially educational and devotional for me. Frost does a great job of highlighting what it means to be sent on mission as individuals and as a community of believers. His book breaks out of the traditional survey of discipleship essentials and looks at the orientation of a Christian’s life to highlight the areas where we need to pay special attention. This book has influenced my thought significantly this year.

The Search for God and Guinness by Stephen Mansfield. I am a sucker for good biographies and this one is good in every sense. Written with such excellent prose and communicating the story of such a fascinating family legacy. The Guinness legacy boasts of beer brewers, yes, but also of lovers of Jesus, pastors, missionaries, and social reformers. What was so compelling to me was that many of the Guinness line did remarkable things for their cities, communicating, with intentionality, the love of Jesus to the needy, poor, and destitute. Their faith actually affected their lives, unlike so many in the church today. These people were ordinary and yet unordinary. Mansfield’s excellent biography gave me a new appreciation both for Guinness and a challenge for my own life.

Church Unique by Will Mancini. This very practical book on crafting a missional vision for your church that leads to missional living is probably the most helpful book I read all year. It has reshaped many of my assumptions about leadership and refuled my passion to lead. The outline of leading a church for effective transformation of people and communities is unparalleled in my humble opinion. Mancini is clear, concise, and yet cautious. He gives us practical steps and yet insists that the intention of the book is to give us tools to unlock the specific vision fit for our church, not to reduplicate the vision of another church. My eyes were opened to many of my own assumptions and weaknesses, and yet at the same time I was encouraged to find help and direction for the future. I love this book!