Today I'll share the remainder of my favorite reads for 2024.
5) Ignite by Nelson Searcy. I love Searcy's passion for the church and for people. I have most of his books in my library, and I've heard him present at a leadership conference in which we were both teaching. This is an excellent book for church planters and for pastors serving churches that need to relaunch (like me). He shares the tools he used to grow his new church plant in New York into a strong, vibrant congregation. I first read this book a few years ago, and felt it would be helpful to re-read it as I have begun serving as a pastor of a church that needs to rebuild. I'm putting some of his suggestions in action.
4) Transformational Church by Ed Stetzer and Thom S. Rainer. This is another re-read in 2024. One of the missing components in many churches is discipleship. Evangelism is one side of the Great Commission coin; discipleship is the other side. Churches that see people's lives transformed by the power of God are churches that disciple their members. The authors give many helpful insights on how churches can begin to do that.
3) In Search of a Confident Faith by J. P. Moreland and Klaus Issler. This book has so many highlighted passages, underlined paragraphs and notes written in the margin I hardly know where to start writing about this book. The authors address how to deal with the doubts one may have about God and faith. They point out the differences between distractions of the head and distractions of the heart. They point out how hurts in the past can impact our beliefs now and offer some help to conquer those past hurts. This is a very good book for pastors and lay persons alike. None of us are beyond having periods of doubts in our own lives, and this book can help us address those.
2) Wide Awake by Erwin Raphael McManus. The author challenges us to stop settling in our lives and to begin to live our best lives now. He (like myself) believes that God has an amazing plan for each of our lives. Our lives can never be full until we understand what that purpose is and begin to live it. Each of us had dreams when we were younger, but as we grew up those dreams often faded away. Perhaps we need to reawaken those dreams and dare to become the people God created us to become. This book can help you do that.
1) The Unstuck Church by Tony Morgan. Drum roll please! This is my favorite book for 2024. It must be because I read it twice in a row, and I've never done that with any book. As a region minister in our denomination for 14 years, most of the churches I worked with were stuck and didn't know what to do to get unstuck. Now that I am a pastor again, I am in a church that is stuck. Every day as I read this book I found things that I can do and things the church can do to get unstuck. The author warns the reader on the back cover that this book will offend you, and he's right. Some of the things he writes hurt, but they need to be said, and we need to listen. If your church is stuck, and research indicates that at least 80 percent of the churches in American are, then you need to read this book.
This is my list for 2024. These books spoke to my heart and were timely for my current situation. I believe they are all worthwhile reads for anyone in church leadership. I will close by mentioning that if you click on the link and order any of these books I may receive a small compensation, but this is not the reason I publish this list each year. I want others to know what I have found helpful to my life and ministry.
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