I apologize for not having posted for the past week or so. I took my wife to Cancun for a week and she requested I take a week off. So I did. Note: We stayed at the Aventura Spa Palace, which we highly recommend (if you want to get away from it all). If you do go (and want to get away from it all), then ask for the spa side (versus the aventura side) and a room on the third floor (for the best view of the ocean).
As for the books I read, I think four of the eight are must reads for church leaders.
1. Breakout Churches by Thom Rainer is worth reading because it takes a look at churches that have grown, hit a plateau or a period of decline and then have started to grow again. It's the church's version of Collin's "Good to Great" book and highly motivating since very few church only go up. In other words, misery loves company.
2. A Community of Kindness by Steve Sjogren (of Servant Evangelism fame). Steve is coming to our church to do a servant evangelism training event next week, so I thought I would read his book on leading a church/church planting before he arrived (why ask a question he's already answered?). In essence, the book reads like a blog in a book. it's chock full of great advice about churches and leading them well. You probably won't agree with all 106 of his ideas, but at least he'll make you think. Great read!
3. When Good People Write Bad Sentences by Robert Harris. Harris writes that most of us are addicted to malescribism, the habit of writing badly and he sets out to correct it with his new 12 step program for freedom from this addiction. At first the metaphor is funny, but as the book goes on it does wear on you. However, the actual content about the writing mistakes we all make is worth reading the book (and then re-reading it!).
4. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. I mentioned that I had started reading this before I left on vacation, but I would still highly recommend this book to any writer, speaker, preacher, artist or human being. Her language isn't always the most refined (i.e. she does cuss) and her theology clearly isn't mainline evangelical, but her writing helps us to be human beings who write. Personally, I found this to be very refreshing because as pastors, especially senior pastors, we're rarely allowed to be human beings. Our people expect so much of us, that we're not allowed to be human like them. So, while I loved this book for writing, I also loved it for what it did for my soul.
I hope you'll like these four books—I did. Remember, "Readers are leaders and leaders are readers." So feel free to share any new books you're reading that you'd recommend for other church leaders.
