Being a pastor, I have to do a significant amount of reading every year. A pastor needs to stay on top of current events, trends, and popular culture. Then there is the scholarly research needed to understand and teach on the historical, literary, theological, and contextual analysis of particular Biblical passages. It is essential for pastors who are responsible for vision, leading, and teaching to also read things that will help them bring the most glory to God within those tasks.
After reading hundreds of books it is clear that there truly isn’t much new under the sun…but that’s okay. It’s important to be reminded of certain truths regularly.
So I sorted through the list of books I read this year and wanted to pick the 10 best. Most of these books weren’t published this year, I just read them this year. I tried to cull the books that were exclusively written for pastors or church leaders even if they were fantastic.
You can’t expect to win or lead well if you aren’t regularly reading. For less than $20 you can have access to the best thoughts of some of the best leaders and thinkers of today or yesterday. I only know one author on this list and the rest I don’t have a relationship with yet. (If you can make that happen…hook a pastor up! 🙂 ) Even though I don’t know them personally, I have been deeply impacted by their wisdom and thoughts. What you dream of will require more of you than you currently are and reading will help you get the skills and knowledge to get there.
