Book Recommendations from my Best Reads in 2020

Here is a list of some of the best books I read this year. I will BOLD the ones I highly recommend and leave a few notes about them. So many of the non-bolded ones were fantastic too - so all of these books are recommended but I tried to highlight only 20. 

Take the Stairs – Rory Vaden : I loved this book. Simple advice on life success. 

Nine Lies about Work: Marcus Buckingham

Half Time - Bob Buford : I have read this book multiple times. It's a classic and a life changer. 

Confidence – Tomas Chomorro : Very intriguing book about how LOW confidence actually helps us. So counter-cultural! So fun!

Live Fearless – Sadie Robertson

What’s Next – Chris Hodges : I love everything this guy does. His sermons, his church (Church of the Highlands), his leadership material, his books - all so good! Fantastic material that every follower of Jesus should read. 

The Jesus creed – Scot Mcknight

Church Growth Flywheel – Rich Birch

The Jesus Experience – Bill Perkins

John Commentaries – x 5

The Jesus Life – Stephen W. Smith

Divine Direction – Craig Groeschel

Regrace – Frank Viola

The Primes

Teaming – Amy Edmundson

Who is this Man – John Ortberg

The Jesus I never knew – Philip Yancey

Jesus the King - Tim Keller : Fantastic book that will help you get to know Jesus better. 

The End of Religion – Bruxey Cavey : A great and edgy challenge. Be ready to be offended and transformed. 

Portraits of Christ – Laird (John)

Jesus is… Judah Smith : Judah Smith has a way of communicating that gets right to my heart. He shares about God's love and grace in a balanced and yet over the top powerful way. I highly recommend this book. 

State of the online church – Jay Kranda

Seeing and Savouring Christ – Piper : Everything by Piper is fantastic.

Jesus – Pure and Simple - Wayne Cordiero

Laugh Again - Charles Swindoll : Everyone should read at least a couple of Swindoll books at some point. This guy is one of my ministry heroes. Many of his sermons hit home for me like almost no one else's preaching. 

Better than Before – Gretchen Rubin

Leadership Strategy and Tactics – Jocko Willink : I was pleasantly surprised by how applicable this book is for everyone. Definitely a high recommend. 

Your New Money Mindset – Brad Hewitt and James Malone

Crushing - TD Jakes

SOAR – TD Jakes

Extreme Ownership  – Jocko Willink : I loved this book. I wish every leader could read it. I have bought 8 copies so far for others to read and handed them out. My son Joel and I had a blast reading and reflecting together on this book and the one above by Jocko. 

Success From the Inside Out – Nona Jones : This is another top book of the year for me. I literally wept and wept as I read it. The transforming power of Jesus is so evident here. I highly recommend this book for everyone. 

Phil – Commentary – Barclay

Phil – Commentary – Life Application

Phil – Commentary – Weisrbe

Phil – Commentary – Briscoe

 Real Life Discipleship Training Manuel – Jim Putman

Discipleshift – Jim Putmann

Joy – CS Lewis

The Dangerous Duty of Delight – John Piper

You’ll get through this – Max Lucado

Leadershift – John Maxwell

The Release of the Spirit – Watchman Nee

Talk like TED

Waking the Dead – John Eldredge

How to Get a Date Worth Keeping – Henry Cloud - Just to clarify. I am happily married. I read these books as I prepared for a series of sermons I was preaching on this topic. This one by Cloud really blew my mind, he had a fresh perspective that I think might be helpful for some Christians stuck in a "non-dating" mode. 

New Rules for Love, sex and dating – Andy Stanley : This is a classic that every single should read. 

Beginners Pluck - Liz Bohanon

Spiritual Leadership – J Oswald Sanders : One of the top 3 leadership books of all time. Every Christian leader must read this book. 

Apostolic Advancement – Various Victory Asia Authors

Leadership Can Be Taught – Sharon Parks

Irresistible – Andy Stanley

Happiness – Henry Cloud

Proverbs – Kroll

Get Wise – Bob Merritt : The best book on wisdom I have read. I have read this book several times and given it to many people. 

The Intangibles of Leadership – Richard Davis

Prayer: The Key to Revival – Cho : My favourite book on prayer of all time. 

Prayer is the Answer – Various (Bounds / Murray / Wesley)

30 Days of Prayer – Spurgeon

Walking in Wisdom – Dr. Raymond Barber

The Problem is You – John Burke

A Great Classic Book: Spiritual Depression: It's Causes and Cure - Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Spiritual Depression: It's Causes and Cures: Dr. Martin Llyod-Jones

I have been richly blessed reading this book lately. What an incredible presentation on a difficult topic. He stays away from trite answers and simplistic responses but still argues passionately for victory over depression. 'Miserable Christianity' is a contradiction in terms, he says. Maybe it's the fact that he was a medical doctor before he was a preacher. Maybe it's because he is so thoroughly saturated in scripture. I think one of the main reasons is his basis for ministry. He longs to reach the mind with truth, the heart with passion and the will toward action (in that order). He insists that God first brings us truth (the 'form of doctrine'), which God enables us to believe from the heart and then obey. Mind, emotions, will. We must have all three in that order. When we do we have true spiritual transformation. I love it!

A Case For The Classics

Anyone who follows this blog knows I am passionate about books and reading. I usually have a line up of 4 or 5 books that I am planning to read next. I try to mix up my reading with different styles and topics. Some secular, some Christian; some leadership, some more contemplative; some that are recommended to me, some that I would choose myself. There are always new books on the market that attract my attention and beg me to read them. In order to counter this, I try to read classics fairly regularly.

Here is what I find. Most classics are a feast of great reading. They are usually powerful in content and challenging. Although I have a hard time bringing myself to start them and even sometimes finish them...they more often than not beat out the modern books by a landslide.

Modern books (especially Christian ones) often have one or two totally quirky ideas that are the author's pet concept that they want to espouse. These books will likely never become classics, because it's hard to recommend a book that is "mostly" good.

What got me thinking about this? A modern book that had some great concepts, but some "wonky" ones too! A classic that has been absolutely awesome. Curious? I will tell about the classic in my next blog.

Five Reasons to Read

1. To bring in outside input. Only very proud people would think they don't need to learn more from others.
2. To enrich my life. Many wonderful joys are found in great reading. This is one of the artistic benefits of reading.
3. To be able to share and give out more. The more we have, the more we can give.
4. To exercise our brain muscles. I have heard that our brains do very little while watching TV (almost as if we are dead) and are very active when we are reading (translating little marks on a page into concepts).
5. Because God wrote a Book.

A very interesting and challenging book on this topic is "The Disappearance of Childhood" by Neil Postman.

The Great Books of October

Well, I read some great books in October; maybe a few of them would be good reads for you too.

The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland – Bob Sehlinger - Yup, not very spiritual, I know. But it was a very well written book. If you're planning a trip there, this is a must read. Recommended to us by very good friends.

7 Practices of Effective Ministry – Andy Stanley  - This guy's leadership stuff is the best I have ever heard. Check out his leadership podcasts! We took our staff through this book over 6 months of slow, careful discussion and reading and planning. Great stuff.

Everyone is Normal Until You Get to Know Them – John Ortberg - This is some of the best material I know of on building Biblical Community. God's dream for His church! The other book that should be a companion to this one is "Life Together" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Your People Shall Be My People – Don Finto - A good read. This guy's heart is warm, genuine and definitely comes out as you read his book.

Faith and Doubt – John Ortberg - This book rocked my world and strengthened my faith. This is his latest book; I read everything this guy writes. It's awesome!

A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 – Phillip Keller - This is a classic. Well worth reading several times over.

The War of Love – Frank Laubauch - An oldie. Written as a call to social justice. Laubauch is one of recent Christian history's greats.

Soul Cravings – Erwin McManus - WOW! Want a window into your own soul? Curious about faith but not sure yet what you believe? Excellent!

Emotional Intelligence 2.0 – Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves - Ouch. This book reveals so much of my lack of EI it's scary...but good. An area I must continually grow in.

The Old Testament - The Book of all Books. Amazing to me how little Christ's followers actually read it through. Sure enjoyed it again this round. Or maybe 'enjoyed' isn't the right word. Pain, excitement, discomfort, adventure...those would be better words to describe the journey of reading this book with the Holy Spirit. I give it a 10/10.

Reading, Reading and More Reading

I love learning and growing. My hobby is collecting and reading books. Admittedly, I have gotten less reading done since the Flames began hockey season again. This morning I just finished reading the Bible and journaling, and then read a chapter of a book and my heart feels full. Ahhhhhhh.

I track the books I read; it's fun to look back and see the books I have read over the last few months and years. Funny thing is, sometimes I don't remember a thing about them when I look at the title. I feel bad until I realize I don't remember most conversations, sermons, articles, etc...but they still impact me.

Here are the books I read last month (September, 2009).

Well Intentioned Dragons – Marshall Shelley
A great book for leaders and pastors in churches. Helps us not feel so alone when being attacked by people and gives us some wisdom on how to handle problem people.
Covenant Relationships – Dr George Hill
This guy continues to be one of the greatest leaders of our day. This is his flagship book, what he calls his "life message". It's worthwhile.
Building Stronger Marriages and Families – Billy Joe Daugherty
Better than I expected; lots of little tidbits of wisdom.
Strong Families – Charles Swindoll
It's no wonder he is a bestseller. This guy is absolutely brilliant.
The Dip – Seth Godin
My current favourite non-Christian writer. Fun to read, good material, and useful in many applications.
Go Team! Take your team to the next level – Ken Blanchard
Not a bad book. Basically about empowerment and servant-leadership. Describes well that changing an organization or group to a team model takes time and effort and can't just happen overnight. He encourages a several-year process. Helped me be more realistic in some of the change efforts I am working on.
Strike the Original Match – Charles Swindoll
Still amazing, not quite as good as "Strong Families", but you can't really ever go wrong with my buddy Chuck. (No, I have never met him, but he keeps calling and asking if he can fly to Moose Jaw in his private jet and get my advice on some things. So far I haven't had time, but I will try to squeeze him in soon.)
Spirit-Controlled Family Living – Tim and Beverly Lahaye
This book was the most suprising read of the month. An old book sitting on the shelf never expecting to be read. I read it and loved it. Best family book I have read in awhile.
The Prodigal God – Tim Keller
This guy is taking the world by storm right now. One of the most theologically astute, intellectually honest, and yet culturally relevant guys in the pastoring circuit. I highly reccomend this book to anyone, especially those seeking for the truth about Christianity.
Reveal – Greg Hawkins
This series of books is very helpful to pastors. Based on massive research; gets you thinking. Felt a little overwhelmed and challenged by the time I was done.
Made to Stick – Chip and Dan Heath
Secular bestseller for good reason. Lots of cool stories and analogies. Great material for teachers and marketers. These guys are coming out with a new book on change soon, called "Switch". I read a pre-released copy and it is the best book on change I have ever read.
Our Iceberg is Melting – John Kotter
A fun fictional book (fable) on change management by the most well respected teacher and writer on the subject. We did this book as a book club book in my church; sold 27 copies and got phenomenal response.
Gifted to Lead – The art of leading as women in the church – Nancy Beach
I actually cried a couple of times reading this. A very moving account of one of the great women leaders in the church today. Definitely a must read for any woman who feels called to senior leadership in the church.
10 Ten Stupid Things That Keep Churches from Growing – Geoff Surratt
Fun read. Great advice. Could easily skip to the chapter you are interested in/struggling with and only read it. Works as a reference book. Definitely should be on the shelf of smart (not stupid) church leaders.

Happy reading! Happy Thanksgiving!