Books

One of the things you should know about me is that I love to read. Here is a compilation of my favorite reads over the past couple of years.

2011 Top 15 Reads

1. The Great Omission, Dallas Willard
2. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain
3. One.Life, Scot McKnight
4. Kisses From Katie, Katie Davis
5. Prophets, Abraham Joshua Heschel
6. Decision Points, George W. Bush
7. Strengths-Based Leadership, Tom Rath & Barry Conchie
8. Living on the Black: Two Pitchers, Two Teams, One Season to Remember, John Feinstein
9. The Tea Party Goes to Washington, Rand Paul
10. How We Decide, Jonah Lehrer
11. The Mentor Leader, Tony Dungy
12. Resurrection: The Power of God for Christians and Jews, Kevin J. Madigan and Jon Levenson
13. Managing Polarities in Congregations: Eight Keys for Thriving Faith Communities, Roy M. Oswald and Barry Johnson
14. Practicing Gospel: Unconventional Thoughts on the Church’s Ministry, Edward Farley
15. Cultivating Humanity: A Classical Defense of Reform in Liberal Education, Martha C. Nussbaum

2010 Top 20 Reads

1. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, Doris Kearns Goodwin
2. The Jesus Creed, Scot McKnight
3. What Good is God?, Philip Yancey
4. Poets Against the War, edited by Sam Hammill
5. Practice Resurrection, Eugene Peterson
6. The War for Late Night, Bill Carter
7. After You Believe, N.T. Wright
8. American Lion, Jon Meachem
9. The Yankee Years, Tom Verducci & Joe Torre
10. Traveling Mercies, Anne Lamott
11. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson
12. Rediscovering Values, Jim Wallis
13. The Pocket Guide to the Apocalypse, Jason Boyett
14. Stories That Feed the Soul, Tony Campolo
15. The Justice Project, Brian McLaren
16. Jesus Feast, Joshua Graves
17. The Vertical Self, Mark Sayers
18. Weezer Changes the World, David McPhail
19. Imaginary Jesus, Matt Mikalatos
20. The Intimate Mystery, Dan Allender & Tremper Longman III

2009 Top 12 Reads

1. The Hole in our Gospel by Richard Stearns
2. Jesus Wants to Save Christians by Rob Bell
3. The Jesus Way by Eugene Peterson
4. Walk On: The Spiritual Journey of U2 by Steve Stockman
5. The Sermon on the Mount by Clarence Jordan
6. Essential Judaism by George Robinson
7. Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller
8. God Works by Randy Harris
9. Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis
10. Simply Christian by N. T. Wright (re-read from 2006)
11. Fantasyland by Sam Walker (re-read from 2006)
12. Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places by Eugene Peterson (re-read from 2008)

2008 Top 12 Reads

1. Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright
2. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
3. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
4. Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places by Eugene Peterson
5. God in the White House: How Faith Shaped the Presidency from John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush by Randall Balmer
6. Red Letter Christians by Tony Campolo
7. The Year of Living Biblically by A. J. Jacobs
8. The Preacher King: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Word That Moved America by Richard Lischer
9. Three Nights in August by Buzz Bissinger
10. Living the Sermon on the Mount: A Practical Hope for Grace and Deliverance by Glen Stassen
11. Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger by Ron Sider
12. The Great Awakening by Jim Wallis

2007 Top 10 Reads

1. Theology for the Community of God by Stanley Grenz
2. The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness by Simon Wiesenthal
3. The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical by Shane Claiborne
4. Renewing God’s People: A Concise History of Churches of Christ by Gary Holloway and Douglas Foster
5. Preaching and the Literary Forms of the Bible by Thomas Long
6. Leaving Church by Barbara Brown Taylor
7. The End of Words: The Language of Reconciliation in a Culture of Violence by Richard Lischer
8. Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball’s Last Hero
9. Shepherds After My Own Heart by Timothy Laniak
10. Like A Shepherd Lead Us: Guidance for the Gentle Art of Pastoring / Good Shepherds: More Guidance for the Gentle Art of Pastoring. Edited by David Fleer and Charles Siburt

2006 Top 10 Reads

1. Mere Discipleship by Lee Camp
2. Simply Christian by N. T. Wright
3. The Shaping of Things to Come by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch
4. Fantasyland by Sam Walker
5. Grace Based Parenting by Tim Kimmel
6. The Last Days According to Jesus by R.C. Sproul
7. Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
8. God’s Politics by Jim Wallis
9. Trolls & Truth: 14 Realities About Today’s Church That We Don’t Want To See by Jimmy Dorrell
10. The Witness of Preaching by Thomas Long