This Year’s Reading List (Part 2)

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  1. Mission Minded by Peter Bolt. I read this book at least once a year and continually I find myself impressed by its simplicity and helpfulness. Bolt writes to help motivate churches beyond mere maintenance and onto mission. He outlines a very simple process of church evaluation that can help leadership teams assess and move forward. I plan to reread this book for years to come.
  2. Sexual Detox: A Guide for the Married Guy by Tim Challies. E-books are becoming an increasingly common feature of our modern world and this work is an example of their potential both in format and content. The work has the look and feel of a read hard copy book, and its content is far above a blog or free flowing thought pamphlet. This is a real book on issues of sexual sin. I was strongly encouraged by Challies’ big vision of the place of sex in God’s creation and in marriage in particular. I was impressed with his practical and yet not idealistic or overly specific tips for overcoming sexual sin. This is a great tool for pastors in counseling and a great read for all married guys. There is also a version applicable specifically for single guys. I will definitely use this in the future.
  3. Church Unique: How Missional Leaders Cast Vision, Capture Culture, And Create Movement  by Will Mancini. This is the single most helpful book on church leadership I have ever read. Mancini presents a method of vision creating, crafting, and casting that is compelling and practical. His major thesis is that vision must come from within your context creating in part by a knowledge of who your people are and where you live. This creates, then, he argues, a vision that is unique to your church and qualifies you to serve the community better. I believe every missional leader needs to read this book. Whatever you think about strategic planning don’t discount this work, it is, as its title states, unique.
  4. Sex, Romance, and the Glory of God: What Every Christian Husband Needs to Know by C.J. Mahaney. With his usual humor and yet sensitivity Mahaney writes to Christian husbands about the importance of romance in marriage. I loved this simple little book and recommend that every husband pick it up. It is both theologically grounded and yet practical.
  5. Wired For Intimacy: How Pornography Highjack’s the Male Brain by William Struthers. I had high hopes for this book and while I won’t agree with all of Struthers assessments and conclusions I do think he has presented an even stronger case for the seriousness and the danger of pornography. His conclusions are ultimately rooted in Scripture, though he is using his knowledge of neurology to building the frontal attack of his subject. The book warns readers, particularly men, of the way pornography works to create neurological pathways in the brain which create habits of thinking and acting in men. He highlights the progress that sexual sin takes and helps Christians think carefully about how to break cycles and help others. It’s a good book even if it is a bit too psychologized at points.
  6. Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan. Chan makes a passionate plea for Christians to be sold out for God. He picks apart with grace and truth the self-absorbed, materialistic church which makes Jesus an accessory to our lifestyle instead of the center of it. His is the first in a string of books on this subject that I aim to read, but if the others are as compelling and honest it will be a challenging road ahead. A must read for Christians today!
  7. The Ministry of the Missional Church by Craig Van Gelder. I was pretty excited about reading this book, but it in fact turned out to be utterly disappointing. It was repetitive in its content, repeating almost word for word what was stated in Missional Church and was completely irrelevant in other parts. Of particular uselessness was Van Gelder’s history of organizational theory. Even writing this summary about it makes me want to sleep.
  8. A Book You’ll Actually Read On Church Leadership by Mark Driscoll. This is another book I reread regularly. Driscoll presents a very simple and yet Biblical understanding of the basic structures of church leadership. With countless Scriptural references and supports he builds a case for church leadership that is informed by context as well as by Scripture. I particularly love his discussion on leadership teams and on women deacons. Very sound exegesis combined with commonsense.
  9. Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. Gladwell is increasingly becoming reading material for pastors, despite that he actually writes from a business world perspective. His research in this book reveals just how success actually works, which is quite contrary to the self-propelled myth of western culture. Success is about opportunity and the myriad of factors that play into creating a person who will seize it. No one individual can claim success is of their own making. Gladwell points out all the cultural and contextual issues that go into shaping individuals and opportunities that move them closer to success. The conclusions that we can draw from his research are really multi-faceted but for church leaders this means creating more opportunities to help our people succeed, cultivating an environment where more people have that opportunity and the help necessary to propel them forward. I loved this book and can’t wait to read more from Gladwell, his communication style makes this an easy and enjoyable read, while his research makes it at various points utterly shocking and compelling.
  10. God’s Big Picture by Vaughan Roberts. One of the major deficiencies, in my opinion, among the church today is in the area of Biblical Theology. Most Christians today view the Bible as a collection of quotes and parenthetical statements about their lives. The Scriptures are, however, a masterful single story about the God’s plan of redemption through His Son Jesus. Vaughan Roberts communicates this point as he traces the single story line across the entirety of the Bible, looking at how the big picture is developed in nearly every book of the Old and New Testaments. He is looking at it from the angle of the Kingdom of God, building of the work of Graeme Goldsworthy, but he stresses that this does not have to discount the issue of covenant, as so many see it as the central theme of Scripture. The book is simple, easy to read, and because of the nature of its content exciting. I love the way Roberts reveals Christ throughout all of the Old Testament in a very comprehensible way. He interacts with major themes where necessary, but leaves off all the technical discussions for other works. There are also some great questions at the end of each chapter to facilitate small group discussions. I recommend that every church use this book to educate their people on the one storyline of God’s Holy Word.

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