2013 Summer Reading List
Have your reading planned for the summer? I think there are a few books that you need to be reading to be up on the grouplife conversation.
For starters…I think you need to be reading DiscipleShift: Five Steps that Can Help Your Church Make Disciples Who Make Disciples. Trust me…this is one you’re going to want to carefully work your way through. There are some very important ideas in this book.
Putman, founding pastor of Real Life Ministries in Post Falls, Idaho, is also the author of Real Life Discipleship and the Real Life Discipleship Training Manual (with Avery Willis, Brandon Guindon, and Bill Krause). Known for one of the strongest disciple making models in America, DiscipleShift (with Bobby Harrington and Robert Coleman) is a great addition to the collection.
Read my full review right here.
Next up? I think you need to add The Church in an Age of Crisis. The newest book from James Emery White, founder and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, White is the former president of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and the blogger behind the Church & Culture blog (a must-read for anyone interested in life at crowd’s edge).
The Church in an Age of Crisis: 25 New Realities Facing Christianity is a fascinating, gut-wrenching, and terrifying read. Anything but a page-turner…but only because every other paragraph contains a wait…what? Can that be true? moment. Definitely in the category of The Next Christians as essential reading for anyone attempting ministry in the 21st century.
Read my full review right here.
John Burke’s Mud and the Masterpiece is a masterpiece itself and immediately joins the required reading list for anyone who wants to reach people at crowd’s edge.
Burke, the founding pastor of Austin’s Gateway Church, is the author of two previous books; No Perfect People Allowed: Creating a Come-as-You-Are Culture in the Church and Soul Revolution: How Imperfect People Become All God Intended. If you’re sensing a trend, your eyes don’t deceive you. With 16 years as the lead pastor of one of the very best examples of how to reach people in a post-modern, post-Christian culture, Burke is both passionate about the mission and a very compelling story-teller.
Read my full review right here.
I’ve read pretty much everything Dallas Willard ever wrote. The Divine Conspiracy might be one of my most marked up, starred, underlined, dog-eared books. Renovation of the Heart and The Spirit of the Disciplines are right on its heels. I’ve bookmarked websites. I’ve printed reams of articles…and they’re just as marked up as any of the books.
Last week I finally picked up a copy of The Great Omission. Containing “several previously published articles and addresses on discipleship, spiritual growth and formation,” I can tell you that my copy is now no different than anything else I’ve ever worked my way through of Willard’s. Lots of notations, underlined passages, and dog-eared pages!
Read my full review right here.
One of the most important reads I’ve worked through lately is Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works by A.G. Lafley and Roger L. Martin. If you can base the value of a book by the amount of underlining, starring, and dog-eared pages…this is a veryvaluable book!
I first discovered Roger Martin a few years ago when I tripped across The Design of Business. Easily one of my top 5 reads in the area of design-thinking, it included several key questions and concepts that I use almost daily. Very, very good stuff. So, when I saw the announcement for the upcoming release of Playing to Win…I had to have it. And I was not disappointed. Playing to Win is literally jam-packed with great content and is very transferable to what all of us do!
Read my full review right here.
