This year I am taking a cue my friend and co-worker, Jonathan McDuffie, and I am creating a reading plan by selecting twelve books to read for the year… the plan being to read at least one book a month for my spiritual growth and development. The list of my twelve is at the bottom of the post.
As I mentioned before, some of the books I read are “new” while some of them are a bit older. For example, John Huss’ work “On the Church” was written in 1413. (And then he was executed by fire two years later for holding to the Bible over man-made religious beliefs.)
Here is most of what I read over the past two years:
Personal Spiritual Growth
Knowing God – J.I. Packer
How to Develop a Powerful Prayer Life – Gregory Frizzell
Returning to Holiness – Gregory Frizzell
Releasing the Revival Flood – Gregory Frizzell
The Cost of Discipleship – Deitrich Bonhoeffer
Christ at Work Opening Doors – Kent Humphreys
Every Man’s Battle – Stephen Arteburn & Fred Stoeker
Missions Strategy Books
The Great Omission – Steve Saint
Serving as Senders – Neal Pirolo
When Helping Hurts – Steve Corbett & Brian Fikkert
Other Stuff to Help Me As a Pastor
Dangerous Calling – Paul Tripp
I Am a Church Member – Thom Rainer
Creature of the Word – Matt Chandler, et. al.
Transformational Church –Ed Stetzer & Thom Rainer
Building below the Waterline – Gordon MacDonald
And the Old Stuff (written over 100 years ago)
Orthodoxy – G.K.Chesterton
Pilgrim’s Progress, parts 1 & 2 – John Bunyan
In Praise of Folly – Desiderius Erasmus
A German Theology – Martin Luther, translator
Address to the Christian Nobility – Martin Luther
Augsburg Confession – Phillipp Melancthon
On Christian Freedom – Martin Luther
Treatise on the Church – John Huss
The Babylonian Captivity – Martin Luther
On Christian Liberty – Martin Luther
The twelve books I have selected to read for this year are:
1. The Jesus I Never Knew, Philip Yancey
2. The Imitation of Christ, Thomas a Kempis
3. The Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius of Loyola
4. The Seven Storey Mountain, Thomas Merton
5. Darwin on Trial, Phillip E. Johnson
6. The Pursuit of God, A. W. Tozer
7. Out of the Saltshaker and into the World, Rebecca Pippert
8. The Diary of Anne Frank, Anne Frank
9. The Hiding Place, Corrie ten Boom
10. The Wounded Healer, Henri J. M. Nouwen
11. Prayer: Conversing With God, Rosalind Rinker
12. Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, Ronald J. Sider
What about you? Earlier in the week you shared what your favorites were. What are you going to read to help you grow in Christ this year? Do you have a plan? Do you have any you are presently working on? Have you read any that are on my list?