A few months ago I wrote about the reading goal I set for myself last year. In January, I made a list of 25 books I wanted to read with the goal of reading 18 before the year was over. I’m proud to say that when the year ended, I had read 20.
Here’s something interesting that I learned in my quest to read 20 books in a year. It really wasn’t very hard. I read a whopping three books from January – June and 17 from July – December. Actually, I only read one book in December. I just got on a roll this Fall and cranked them out. I’d sprinkle in fun fiction books along the way to keep things interesting and different. From 2015, here were some of my favorite books:
The Martian
You probably saw the movie. It was amazing… but the book was better. I read this while on vacation in Colorado. From the first page, I couldn’t put it down.
Ready Player One
If you were alive in the 80’s and enjoy dystopian/science fiction, you’ll really enjoy this book. If not, you’ll hate it. I do and it was fantastic.
Do Over
I got an advanced copy from Jon Acuff and decided to give it a go. Although I’m not about to engage in a Do Over anytime soon (but you never know), I found the book to be incredibly helpful. It encouraged me to up my game in several areas because building my career savings account never stops.
The Prodigal God
My friend Sam Luce bought this book for me to read while I was on sabbatical. I enjoyed it thoroughly and have spent a substantial amount of time reflecting on the unique perspective of one of my favorite parables.
It’s Just a Phase
Reading it felt like “information overload”, but it was SOOO good! What a daunting challenge the people at Orange took on by putting together this book and all the books that will come out to support each phase. I look forward to seeing how these resources will impact both families and leaders in my ministry.
On to 2016. I started a new list and I currently have selected 27 books to read. My goal this year is to knock out at least 30. Some of the books I’m really looking forward to reading this year include:
What about you? What’s on your list to read this year?
Do Over and Just a Phase are great books. I need to focus on implementing systems in my ministry this year. What books do you recommend? Also, if you have any archive post I should read that would be great.
I love your church TLD… Fun to see all the new .church addresses pop up.
Yes, I can give you a couple books on processes… I think. There might be some better books, but the three that impacted me the most a few years ago were Checklist Manifesto, Eat that Frog and the Four Hour Work Week. I’ll make a caveat. The checklist book was really good about creating systems around checklists… really fascinating. Eat that frog was huge on productivity, but he required me to create systems around my time and priorities to get more done in a day and the Four Hour Work Week is really about entrepreneurship… but it taught me a LOT about delegation and how I need to systemize my work and ministry to free up time to work on more important stuff. It has nothing to do with ministry… but it was a little inspiring… what if I could get a week’s worth of ministry done in half the time… what else could I focus on? Not completely applicable… but it got the juices flowing. How, and the other book similar would be the E-Myth revisited. I might put that at the top of the list. Again, an entrepreneur book, but immensely helpful in leading an organization.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful post! Loved reading it.