How I Read Significantly More This Year
I read a bunch of books this year. 72 books, to be specific. While there are certainly people who have read more books that me this year, this was 3.6 times more books than I read last year. I had hoped to end the year reading four books a month, but ended the year having read 6 books a month. So, for those who are looking to read more books, here are some how to’s that helped me read more.
Audible
For those of you who don’t know, Audible is a service offered by Amazon that sells and streams audio books for many of the books you’ve been wanting to read. When I started the year, I had been using Audible to get any reading in at all. Somewhere during this year I began using Audible to get through books that were longer or more difficult reads. Audible also began offering two free “Audible Original” books every month in addition to the one book I got with my monthly membership. This increased the number of books I was able to read from one to three on a monthly basis. I’m now able to read three books a month while I get ready in the morning, drive to work, or cut the grass, and it helped me read more than I was previously.
Less Social Media
Maybe I’m the only one who this applies to…and if so…good…but I was spending WAY too much time on social media. Early in the year I decided to spend less time on social media and more time reading. I had this shocking revelation that I can read books on my phone during the time I was looking a funny videos on Facebook! Amazing, right? This is probably why you’ve seen less of me on Facebook and Twitter, by the way. Eventually I began reading for a short time in the morning instead of scrolling through social media and it helped me get more legitimate reading done. Reading in the morning has also helped sharpen my mind’s ability to focus and process information. If you do one thing in 2020, spend less time on social media and more time in books, especially in the morning. You won’t regret it.
Man Book Club
In 2018 I had read The Vanishing American Adult by Ben Sasse. It was a great read that left me determined not only to better parent my children but also to continue growing myself. One of the five solution chapters in the book encourages readers to develop “Five Feet of Books.” This is 60 inches (theoretically an inch per book) of the best books in twelve different categories. Then, Sasse gave his list of the best books in each of the twelve categories. I was talking about this chapter with a friend who admittedly wasn’t much of a reader and we both decided that to be good fathers we needed to read more good books like the ones on Sasse’s list. And voila! Man Book Club was born.
Now, usually once a month, but sometimes less, we gather in a greasy spoon bar and talk about the latest classic we’ve read from the list. Some of us are great readers, some of us have never read much at all. But each of us are committing to stretch ourselves and read books that challenge us and should change us. Last month was the book of Genesis (from the section on “God”), this month will be the Communist Manifesto (from the section called “Tyrany”), and after we get done with that, we’re going to start reading “The History of the Peloponnesian War,” (from the section on “Greek Roots”). The beautiful thing is having a reading circle with other men has helped me read more, be more thoughtful in my reading, and bite off a bit more than I would normally try on my own. I’m reading longer, older, and more complex books because I have a group of guys doing it with me. There are plenty of book clubs for women, but if you are a man, want to read more, and have an entrepreneurial bent, I would highly recommend starting a Man Book Club.
Hoopla
Hoopla made a significant addition to my reading this year in only the last month and I expect it to make a far more significant impact for me in 2020. Hoopla is an app that works in conjunction with your local library. If your library offers access, you will be able to borrow five titles every month from a significant catalog of ebooks, audio books, music, and more. Currently I have 90+ audio books identified that I want to read, many of which I was planning to buy through Audible. Not only will I save money using Hoopla, but I’ll also be able to listen to more books in a month by using the service. In December alone, I was able to listen to an extra three audio books. It’s also important to note that Hoopla offers a significant number of Christian Audio audio books. If your library uses Hoopla, I would highly recommend signing up.
So between Audible, less social media, Man Book Club, and Hoopla I was able to read 56 more books this year. Really the lesson here is do what works for you. These are the things that worked well for me and my hope is they work well for you, too. What worked well for you this year? Let me know in the comments.
Tomorrow, I’ll post my Top Ten Books of 2019 along with my list of books read. If you’re looking for a good read for 2020, stop by. I’m sure there will be something for everyone!
Photo Credit: Man Reading Book On Beach by Ben White
This Year in Reading: Evangelism
I did a lot of reading this year.
A lot.
I read so much I surprised myself. Over the course of the next few days, we’ll talk about the how’s, why’s, and what’s of my reading this year. For now, lets just say I read more books this year than in any single year of my life.
While that level of reading by necessity must be broad, I did have one goal in my reading this year—read as many books as I could about evangelism. Now, why, you may ask would I read as many books as I could on evangelism? Well, the simple answers is I want to get better at it. The more complex answer is that I find that the more I think about a topic, the more central it becomes in my life. One easy way for me to think about evangelism more was to read more about it.
There were a lot of books. I didn’t get through all of them. I plan to continue the emphasis going forward in the New Year. Because evangelism is not just something I need to get better at, but I believe the whole body of Christ in America needs to get better at, I created a list of the ten best books on evangelism I’ve read this year. There’s a short blurb below each link that tells a bit of my journey with the book and why it might interest you.
This was the second or third book about evangelism I read this year and it was easily the best. Jean is a prophetic minister who regularly hears from Jesus and shares His heart with lost people around her. This may seem really scary and difficult, but Jean makes the process seem so simple and friendly that by the end of the book you’ll be wanting to put it into practice. Not only did I learn about hearing from Jesus and sharing what I’m hearing with the lost by reading this book, but I encountered the love of Jesus as I read the author’s testimony. I highly recommend picking up the audio book where you’ll get to hear a very personal evangelism testiomony told in the author’s own voice toward the end of the book. It’s well worth it.
Spirit Led Evangelism was such an encouraging read. The book is by Che Ahn, a stalwart in the charismatic renewal movement who has been moving in Holy Spirit-inspired evangelism since his days in the Jesus People movement. Che covered the whole spectrum of evangelism, from sharing the Gospel and partnering with the Holy Spirit in signs and wonders to church planting and its impact in the harvest. Ahn encourages believers to follow the Holy Spirit and be persistent and faithful in evangelism, which is a rare combination. I think you’ll be helped by this book.
The Master Plan of Evangelism and Discipleship
This book is a classic. You can’t go anywhere in American Evangelicalism without encountering someone whose thoughts have been impacted by this book. What I found interesting is that so much of the house church movement’s thinking finds its origin and support in the discipleship principles laid out here. The key to effective evangelism is found in sharing the Gospel and training up converts in a way of life that leads them to do the same. Without this plan in place, both our evangelism and our churches will suffer. If you haven’t read this book, I highly recommend it.
Gospel Boldness: Mission, Prayer, and Evangelism
This book has one clear focus—convincing you that you need to be more bold for Jesus. The author believes in the West, we don’t share the Gospel because we are afraid, and I agree with him. His answer is to regularly ask Jesus for boldness to share the Gospel. It’s a simple formula and a long book. I hesitated putting this book so high on this list, because the book repeats the premise so much, but I believe that the premise is so true and accurate that I think you should read it and put some of his recommendations into practice.
Evangelism in a Skeptical World
Many of the books I read on evangelism were written from a perspective that would have worked in 1990, but no longer work in 2019. This book was the first book that acknowledged that we are no longer culturally in the same place that we were in 1990 and that the tactics that worked in 1990 might not be as helpful as they used to be. My big takeaway from this book is that people need to be exposed to Christians in normal, everyday life in order to see that Christians aren’t the odd cultural phenomenon that the media makes them out to be. If you struggle with the culture being less receptive to Christianity than it used to be, I would highly recommend this book.
This book is written by Peyton Jones, a missionary to Wales who spent time planting a church in a Starbucks there. Peyton writes from the perspective of someone who has been to Western countries who have rejected Christianity at a far higher level than the United States and he plants churches and trains church planters to reach those same types of people here. I came to this book looking for strategies, I left with the conviction that God loves lost people and if we spend time with people who are far away from God and have the Gospel at the ready, we will see people come to Jesus.
Sharing Jesus Without Freaking Out
This is a good book written by Alvin Reid, a professor of evangelism at a Southern Baptist university who wrote this book to help people who don’t see themselves as evangelists get better at sharing the good news. There is a lot of good, practical advice about sharing the Gospel as part of your everyday life. If you struggle with fear in evangelism or need a good, practical starting point, this is a good book for you.
I don’t remember who, but some semi-famous preacher who has led a lot of people to Christ said this was the book that has informed all of his evangelism. After reading this book, I can understand why this book would be a solid introduction to evangelism. It’s mostly about creating a system that enables evangelism and discipleship and that works extremely well in a college environment. The trick is making it work in a post-college environment.
Out of the Salt Shaker and Into the World
This is an older book, but one that is full of stories of the author learning how to share Jesus with people. The premise of the book is that Christians need to get out in the world and bring the Gospel to where people are. There are a lot of encouraging stories that will benefit Christians trying to learn how to share Jesus with others.
Evangelism: How the Whole Church Speaks of Jesus
I didn’t intend to learn much about evangelism from this book but I couldn’t ignore the forward by David Platt that commended the author as a model for evangelism. I think the core thought that was helpful in this book was an emphasis on teaching in aiding people to come to Christ. Especially if you identify as a teacher, this book may give you insights into how you can lead people to Jesus.
So, there you have it. The top ten books on evangelism that I’ve read this year. If you haven’t read a good book on evangelism this year, pick a book from this list and start reading.
You won’t regret it.
Photo Credit: Person Holding Unfolding Book by Jazmin Quaynor on Unsplash
A Quick and Dirty Review of The Consolation of Philosophy
What It’s About:
This is an old book written in the six century by a political prisoner, Boethius, who formerly was a high ranking official in the Roman Empire. The book presents Boethius in jail being visited by Philosophy personified as a glorious woman that councils him about the meaning of life and the pursuit of virtue in his darkest hour.
What I Liked:
The book was a dialogue about the nature of life, the pursuit of virtue, and why it’s worth pursuing virtue even in the face of tremendous difficulty. In a way, this book reminded me of the book of Ecclesiastes or reading one of the well known stoic philosophers. In particular, there were a few chapters that focused on the futility of honor and titles that are conferred on you by higher authorities that is worth reading the entire book.
What I Didn’t Like:
This book was recommended to me by another believer on Twitter. I had asked my followers for their favorite Christian books that were written over 100 years ago. Having never heard of this book, I picked it up and gave it a read.
My problem with this book was that it was recommended as a Christian book when, after finishing it, I don’t believe it was. Philosophy talks to Boethisu about God regularly, but she refers to God as the highest or ultimate good. She never quotes or mentions Jesus or the Scriptures, but at length quotes Plato, Aristotle, and others.
All of this is fine if you planned on reading a book on philosophy and life. Again, there was at least one really helpful section that I felt contained a measure of earthly wisdom. But let’s not buy into the fact that just because an author uses the name “God” in a monotheistic way, that somehow baptizes the book and makes it Christian. In many ways this book follows in the footsteps of Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoic philosophers, which doesn’t make it bad, but also doesn’t make Boethius a follower of Christ.
Should You Get It:
You should pick this book up for two reasons:
- You love philosophical works from over 1500 years ago.
- If you struggle with pursuing honor from others. Again, there is a section in the first half of the book about that topic that makes the whole book worth the read for just that section.
Otherwise, I would not really recommend this book.
Rating:
Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash
Cluster Map
Pursuing Glory 