“What are your hobbies?” is common question that I’ve been asked over the years and one that I’ve never really been able to answer. Sports? Not a chance. Woodworking? Not if it should look good. Handyman? My wife does a better job than me.
In the last few years I’ve come to realize that my hobby is reading. I love to read while sitting in my Kammock (a camping hammock) and drinking coffee (yep, that would be HOPE Coffee). As I’ve read book after book after book seeking to learn how to become a better husband, father, leader, businessman, I’ve often found myself recommending these books to others who are on this same journey.
I owe many of these book recommendations to my friend and mentor, Keegan Williamson, who invested his life in the younger, arrogant, me to pray together weekly and talk through what God was teaching us in these books. It took many years of the saturation of meeting with Keegan and letting God speak to me through these books that I finally realized how close to burning out and crashing I had been. Keegan’s ministry of Seek First (English) and Buscad Primero (Spanish) has helped hundreds of leaders look at life and ministry holistically and to hold oneself accountable.
So here is Brian’s Book List with a few comments included. Perhaps this will be encouraging to you on your journey…
- Dreaming Big – Helpful in reviewing how God has designed you and what direction he may have for you in the future.
- Integrity – Life is determined by character. Good leadership requires active growth in ones character. This book is a worthwhile read that gets to the heart of the issues of life.
- Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership – Excellent material to check your heart and keep you spiritually on track as God allows you to lead others.
- 40/40 Vision -This is a great study in Ecclesiastes and a very helpful preparation book on how to avoid a “mid-life crisis” – or at least to be prepared for the warning signs.
- Mission Drift – This is a great book for all board members of a church / mission agency / kingdom business to read in order to keep from drifting from the gospel focus.
- Entrepreneurial StrengthsFinde
r – Are you an entrepreneur? Find out with this book the likelihood of your abilities to launch and sustain a new business. The beginning chapters hold a great economics lesson before it dives into the well laid out material to help you identify your skill / passion and gifting for business. - Never Fly Solo: Lead with Courage, Build trusting Partnerships, and Reach New Heights in Business – This is a helpful book for those that think they can “make it on their own” without delegating or without any help. This book helps one understand their need to place a team around them that they mutually trust and respect.
- Deep Change – If you are in an organization that has potential but is lacking direction, then this book is a helpful guide to what it would take to bring about the necessary change.
- Strengths Based Leadership – If you are curious about your leadership style, this book will help you identify where you should focus your energy.
- Leadership as an Identity – If you are leading others, this book is helpful in understanding your heart and purpose as you lead.
- Replenish – If you are looking to lead from a healthy soul, this book, with its short chapters, will help guide you into topics and areas that you may have overlooked.
- Sacred Waiting – Waiting on God in a World that Waits for Nothing – This is an excellent study on how God uses those periods of waiting in your life to accomplish His will.
- Wilderness Wanderings: Learning to Live the Zigzag Life – This short book helps to explain how God uses the wilderness times in our lives to help us grow.
- Toxic Charity – This is an easy read on a difficult subject: How to help the poor. It dives into practical ways to help people in poverty that actually help them without harming them.
- Stranger on the Road to Emmaus: Who was the Man? What was the Message? – If you want to know what the Bible is about, then this book is an excellent choice to understand the purpose behind the Bible. It starts in the very beginning of time and lays the foundation of understanding mankind, God and Jesus.
- For Men Only – If you are married, or will be soon, this book will help you understand your wife and how God made her. This book is truly a gift to help marriages grow in a healthy way.
- For Women Only – If you are married, or will be soon, this book will help you understand your husband and how God made him. This book is truly a gift to help marriages grow in a healthy manner.
- Through a Man’s Eyes – This book will indeed help wives understand how God created their husbands, and the challenges that they face that they are hesitant to share. Yet, it presents a healthy godly way of how to strengthen your marriage.
- It Starts at Home: A Practical Guide to Nurturing Lifelong Faith – An excellent book to help families teach their kids the importance of faith in God. Don’t rely on the church to instill faith in your kids; it is the responsibility of the parents.
Podcasts. Here are some of the best podcasts that have been helpful to me in my journey. They are very easy to listen to as you drive or are out on a morning jog.
- https://andystanley.com/
podcasts/ - https://www.entreleadership.
com/blog/podcast - https://www.faithdrivenentrepreneur.org/podcast-inventory
Mission Trip Resources
- PovertyCure – I highly recommend the DVD series PovertyCure as it relates to cultures, poverty along with physical and spiritual needs. A short version can also be seen at Poverty Inc.
- Helping without Hurting – for short term mission trips – This video series can be seen free if your church has a membership to www.rightnowmedia.org . Or you can also find it at Chalmers Institute.