As 2020 comes to a close, we offer this list of favorite reads for the year. As always, this is not a list of favorite books published  in 2020, but books read  in 2020, whatever the publishing year. If a book is on the best of  list, I recommend you give it a read in 2021. 

In 2020, as is usually the case, I read a number of good books, a few great books, some why-the-big-deal books, and a couple of why-was-this-ever-published books (I partially read these). L’année 2020 was another great reading year with many happy hours invested in the “Big Three”: good music, good coffee and a good book.

ADMISSION:  I am not a fad reader: fad reading breeds fat minds.  Many fad books remind me of the great Ambrose Bierce quote: 

“The covers of this book are too far apart.”

When people cry out, “You have to read this latest-and-greatest book” I generally run – the other way. I am just not a follower of fads when it comes to books and authors. With limited time and resources at my disposal, I wait for the dust to settle before putting my money down on a book that may be a great investment of my time and money or a waste of both.  

Rather than follow the latest-and-greatest, I follow the sage counsel of C.S. Lewis, who said, 

“It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between.”

It’s advice I follow with joy as rereads of previously read books are like visits with the oldest and best of friends. 

We offer this year’s reading in three lists:  

1.  The complete list of books read;

2.  The old friends read again; 

3.  The most important reads of 2020

THE COMPLETE LIST OF BOOKS READ IN 2020 (ALPHABETICALLY LISTED):

• A Peculiar Glory – John Piper (2016, 304 pages)

• Above All Earthly Pow’rs: Christ in a Postmodern World – David F. Wells (2005, 234 pages) 

• Along the Way – Josiah Smith (2019, 148 pages)

• Animal Farm – George Orwell (1945, 140 pages)

• As Iron Sharpens Iron: Building Character in a Mentoring Relationship – Howard and William Hendricks (1995, 272 pages) 

• As Kingfishers Catch Fire – Eugene Peterson (2017, 400 pages)

• Captivated: Beholding the Mystery of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection – Thabiti Anyabwil, (2014, 95 pages)

• Coaching for Performance – John Whitmore (2017, 271 pages)

• Comparative Economic Systems – Morris Bornstein, ed. (1974, 529 pages) 

• Countdown to Socialism – Devin Nunes (2020, 90 pages)

• Finding Truth: 5 Principles for Unmasking Atheism, Secularism, and Other God Substitutes – Nancy Pearcey (2015, 388 pages)  

• Hard Things – Alex and Brett Harris (2008, 240 pages) 

• Honor’s Reward – John Bevere (2007, 240 pages)

• How to Read Slowly – James Sire (1978, 191 pages)

• If God Be For Us – Paul Rees (1940, 120 pages)

• Justification – N.T. Wright (2009, 244 pages)

• King’s Cross – Timothy Keller  (2011, 239 pages)

• Les Contes du Chat Rouge Perché, Marcel Aymé (1982, 190 pages)

• Letters to a Diminished Church – Dorothy Sayers (2004, 288 pages) 

• Mentoring – Bobb Biehl (1996, 192 pages)   

• Mid-Course Correction – Gordon MacDonald (2005, 268 pages) 

• No God But God – Os Guinness (1992, 223 pages) 

• On Pastoring – H.B. Charles (2016, 208 pages)

• Philippians – Gordon Fee (1999, 204 pages) 

• Pilgrim’s Progress – John Bunyan (240 pages)

• Prodigal God – Timothy Keller (2008, 139 pages) 

• Resilience – H. Norman Wright (1997, 235 pages)

• Saving Leonardo: A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals, and Meaning– Nancy Pearcey (2010, 328 pages)

• Steve McQueen: The Salvation of An American Icon – Greg Laurie (2019, 240 pages)

• Survive or Thrive – Jimmy Dodd (2015, 320 pages) 

• The Care of Souls – Harold Senkbeil (2019, 312 pages)

• The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis (2009, 800 pages)

• The Complete Father Brown Mysteries – G. K. Chesterton (2017, 300 pages)

• The Contemplative Pastor, Eugene Peterson (1993, 192 pages)

• The Gospel-Driven Life – Michael Horton (2012, 272 pages)

• The Holy Spirit: A Pentecostal Perspective – Anthony Palma (2001, 302 pages)

• The Purpose Driven Life – Rick Warren (2002, 334 pages)

• The Quest for Cosmic Justice – Thomas Sowell (2002, 224 pages)

• The Saints’ Eternal Rest – Richard Baxter (1650/2010, 184 pages)

• The Supremacy of Christ In A Postmodern World – John Piper, ed. (2007, 191 pages)

• United State of Socialism – Dinesh D’Souza (2020, 304 pages)

• We Believe – Ralph Riggs, (1954,180 pages) 

• Windows of the Soul – Ken Gire (1996, 219 pages)

OLD FRIENDS, READ AGAIN

This year I reread these old friends. Almost all of them would make my “Best Reads of the Year” list in any year:  

• Animal Farm

• Comparative Economic Systems – Morris Bornstein, ed. 

• Les Contes du Chat Rouge Perché, Marcel Aymé 

• On Pastoring – H.B. Charles 

• Philippians – Gordon Fee  

• Pilgrim’s Progress – John Bunyan 

• Survive or Thrive – Jimmy Dodd 

• The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis 

• The Holy Spirit: A Pentecostal Perspective – Anthony Palma 

• The Quest for Cosmic Justice – Thomas Sowell

• We Believe – Ralph Riggs 

Note:  Several of the above books are essential reads for the times in which we live. These give a philosophical background for understanding the changes taking place in American culture and American church today. Books by Guinness, Pearcey, and Wells are always must reads on church and culture.  

• Above All Earthly Pow’rs: Christ in a Postmodern World – David F. Wells

• Comparative Economic Systems – Morris Bornstein, ed. 

• Finding Truth: 5 Principles for Unmasking Atheism, Secularism, … – Nancy Pearcey

• No God But God – Os Guinness 

• Saving Leonardo: A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals, … – Nancy Pearcey

• The Quest for Cosmic Justice – Thomas Sowell

• The Supremacy of Christ In A Postmodern World – John Piper, ed.

• The United State of Socialism – Dinesh D’Souza

THE BEST READS OF 2020

And so, drum roll please, Journey presents in alphabetical order, A “Baker’s Dozen” of favorite reads for 2020 (doing a top ten was just too difficult). Each title is followed by the author’s name and a brief description of the “what” and the “why” that lead to the book making our list. Enjoy.

NOTE: if there is one author I read in 2020 that I would recommend to you as a must read author, it is Nancy Pearcey. Her content is rich and her writing clear, a far cry from the pop theology that fills so many ministry shelves. Highly recommended. 

You can always find our list of recommended books online in the Journey Library. Check out our shelves at journeypastoralcoaching.com/the-jpc-library/

• Above All Earthly Pow’rs: Christ in a Postmodern World – David F. Wells 

From the Publisher: The deflation of the Enlightenment worldview and rise of the post-modern mood over the last decades has altered the relation of Christian faith to culture. How, in this new situation, should the church confess Christ? “Above All Earthly Powers” paints a picture of the West in all its complexity, brilliance, and emptiness.

As David F. Wells masterfully depicts it, the postmodern ethos is relativistic, individualistic, therapeutic, and yet remarkably spiritual. By placing a premium on marketing rather than truth, the evangelical church is in danger of selling authentic engagement with culture for worldly success. Christians need to confess Christ as the center in a society lacking a center, as the sovereign in a world seemingly ruled by chance, and as the one who can give meaning in a nihilistic culture. “Above All Earthly Powers” issues a prophetic call to the evangelical church that it cannot afford to ignore.

• Along the Way – Josiah Smith 

From the Publisher: Designed to help answer this question, this practical guide covers seven essential themes of living a Jesus lifestyle in short, easy-to-read chapters. If you’ve ever wondered about …

• The overarching story of the Bible

• What it means to be in relationship with God’

• The role of the Holy Spirit in our lives

• How spiritual warfare affects the average believer

• The purpose of spiritual disciplines

• The nature of spiritual gifts

• Why we are here and what we should do about it 

… this book is for you! Questions to consider and activation exercises throughout make this resource ideal for one-on-one coaching, group discussion, and personal growth. Believers both young and old will be equipped to understand their role in God’s Kingdom and actively grow as they choose to follow Jesus and learn from Him along the way.

As Iron Sharpens Iron: Building Character in a Mentoring Relationship – Howard and William Hendricks 

From the Publisher: Why did they do it? What did they do? How did they go about it? Answer these questions and you will be hooked on mentoring for the rest of your life.

In As Iron Sharpens Iron, respected authors Howard and Bill Hendricks show that the most dramatic spiritual and personal growth often happens through the influence of a mentor.

Rooted in biblical principles, this book is both a profound and practical guide to mentoring relationships for men. You’ll learn how to:

Identify the kind of mentor you need

Maximize your mentoring relationship

Model your relationship after biblical examples

Grow through the shared wisdom of another believer

Influence others as you replicate the mentoring process.

Whether you are looking for a mentor or wish to mentor someone else, this book provides specific steps to begin the relationship and make the most of it.

Finding Truth: 5 Principles for Unmasking Atheism, Secularism, and Other God Substitutes – Nancy Pearcey 

From the Publisher:  Don’t Think, Just Believe?

That’s the mantra in many circles today – whether the church, the classroom, the campus, or the voting booth.

Nancy Pearcey, bestselling and critically acclaimed author, offers fresh tools to break free from presumed certainties and test them against reality. In Finding Truth, she explains five powerful principles that penetrate to the core of any worldview – secular or religious – to uncover its deepest motivations and weigh its claims. A former agnostic, Pearcey demonstrates that a robust Christian worldview matches reality – that it is not only true but attractive, granting higher dignity to the human person than any alternative. Finding Truth displays Pearcey’s well-earned reputation for clear and cogent writing. She brings themes to life with personal stories and real-world examples.

Letters to A Diminished Church – Dorothy Sayers

What must a person believe to be a Christian? Dorothy Sayers lays out age-old doctrines without prettying-up or watering-down. She brings them vividly to life by showing how the Bible, history, literature, and modern science fit together to make religion not only possible but necessary in our time.

So whether you are reading the great works of Western literature, thinking about your place in God’s universe, or simply dealing with the thousand-and-one problems of daily living, this powerful book has words of both challenge and comfort for you.

Excerpt:

Somehow or other, and with the best intentions, we have shown the world the typical Christian in the likeness of a crashing and rather ill-natured bore–and this in the Name of One who assuredly never bored a soul in those thirty-three years during which He passed through this world like a flame. 

 Let us, in Heaven’s name, drag out the Divine Drama from under the dreadful accumulation of slipshod thinking and trashy sentiment heaped upon it, and set it on an open stage to startle the world into some sort of vigorous reaction.

Mid-Course Correction – Gordon MacDonald 

From the Publisher: Mid-Course Correction is written for those who sense a need for putting order back in their lives again. It offers hope not only for those who have experienced defeat and disappointment in their lives, but also for those who have been “successful” yet yearn for something more. MacDonald focuses on making choices that lead to personal transformation, significant communal relationships, practical service in the kingdom of God, and a revitalized life of faith and worship. He demonstrates that new significance and meaning are available no matter what your situation has been.

No God But God – Os Guinness 

From the Publisher: The evangelical movement is in deep disarray. Many doubt it can be defined; some question whether it has a future. But the authors of this book forcefully declare otherwise. Beginning with a trumpet call for revival and reformation, they confront the heart of evangelical captivity–the idols in our churches and our hearts. Modern tools and insights taken to excess–from politics, psychology, marketing, and management–have become points of false reliance and substitutes for God. NO GOD BUT GOD is an urgent reminder for all evangelicals who sorrow over our condition. Temptation to idolatry is everyone’s problem, and often the worst temptations come from the best gifts. In order to let God be God, Christians must worship and love God alone.

Pilgrim’s Progress – John Bunyan 

THE allegory of the Christian life. Bunyan presents his dream of the Christian’s pilgrimage from spiritual death to life as he journeys from the City of Destruction through the Slough of Despond, the Hill of Difficulty, the Valley of the Shadow of Death and Vanity Fair and over the River of the Water of Life and into the Celestial City – aided and fought by friends true and false along the way. A must read for all followers of Christ. A welcome read that lifts our eyes from this world system and its illusions to the kingdom of God and its ultimate reality. 

Saving Leonardo: A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals, and Meaning – Nancy Pearcey 

From the Publisher: Is secularism a positive force in the modern world or does it lead to fragmentation and disintegration? In Saving Leonardo, best-selling award-winning author Nancy Pearcey (Total Truth, coauthor How Now Shall We Live?) makes a compelling case that secularism is destructive and dehumanizing.

Pearcey depicts the revolutionary thinkers and artists, the ideas and events, leading step by step to the unleashing of secular worldviews that undermine human dignity and liberty. She crafts a fresh approach that exposes the real-world impact of ideas in philosophy, science, art, literature, and film—voices that surround us in the classroom, in the movie theater, and in our living rooms.

A former agnostic, Pearcey offers a persuasive case for historic Christianity as a holistic and humane alternative. She equips readers to counter the life-denying worldviews that are radically restructuring society and pervading our daily lives. Whether you are a devoted Christian, determined secularist, or don’t know quite where you stand, reading Saving Leonardo will unsettle established views and topple ideological idols.

The Care of Souls – Harold Senkbeil 

Pastors care for a soul in the way a doctor cares for a body. In a time when many churches have lost sight of the real purpose of the church, The Care of Souls invites a new generation of pastors to form the godly habits and practical wisdom needed to minister to the hearts and souls of those committed to their care.

Harold Senkbeil helps remind pastors of the essential calling of the ministry: preaching and living out the Word of God while orienting others in the same direction. And he offers practical and fruitful advice—born out of his five decades as a pastor—that will benefit both new pastors and those with years in the pulpit.

Drawing on a lifetime of pastoral experience, The Care of Souls is a beautifully written treasury of proven wisdom which pastors will find themselves turning to again and again.

The Saints’ Eternal Rest – Richard Baxter

In this abridged edition of his work written during the first half of the 17^th century, Baxter addresses the great theme of life beyond the grave for the saints, our eternal rest in God after this earthly life. It is an invitation to begin that rest, that enjoyment of God even now in this life. Baxter writes as a man living in the presence of God, sending back to us who follow, messages from the front, causing us to long for the joys he is experiencing as he writes. A far cry from the usual sugary pablum available from Christian publishers today, this book is meat that requires quiet and careful chewing to fully digest. But you’ll never be dissatisfied with the feast in its pages. 

The Supremacy of Christ In A Postmodern World – John Piper, ed. 

From the Publisher: Six of today’s leading pastor-theologians-John Piper, Voddie Baucham, D. A. Carson, Tim Keller, and David Wells-have joined together to offer Christians a practical, biblical vision of Christ’s supremacy, so they will be better prepared to present the undeniable truth to a searching society. After grounding readers in the important truths of Christ’s deity and the gospel, The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World strives to help believers understand how to share these truths in a postmodern society. As readers begin to apply the lessons from this book, they will gain a practical, biblical vision of ministry for the twenty-first century.

Windows of the Soul – Ken Gire 

From the Publisher: Only when we pause to listen do we discover God speaking through us, tapping at the windowpane of our souls–telling us why we are here, where we are going, and what is required of us to complete the journey. Windows of the Soul is a rare book, reminding us that our search for God and his search for us meet at the windows of our everyday experiences.

Gire points to a world infused with the voice of the One who can transform an ordinary experience into a life-changing discovery lit by his presence. God’s voice penetrates the clutter of our daily lives, speaking through Scripture and prayer, a painting or a poem, the remark of a friend, or a night sky filled with stars. Windows of the Soul will open your eyes to a fresh way of seeing, hearing, and enjoying the presence of God in your life.

FINAL THOUGHT

As is always the case, the listing of a book above is not an endorsement of all of the ideas contained in its pages. This should not be surprising: the wise minister of the Gospel makes it a point to read outside of his echo chamber. There is much to be learned from our brothers and sisters in other streams of the faith once delivered for all (Jude 3). 

For example, while I am not a Calvinist, I found J.I. Packer and Mark Dever’s book, “In My Place, Condemned He Stood,” to be a very worthwhile read. Two reasons. First, for their strong defense of substitutionary atonement. Second, for their explanation of core Calvinism. Their defense of substitutionary atonement strengthened my understanding and belief in this critical doctrine of the Old and New Testaments. Their defense of core Calvinism strengthened my understanding of Calvinism and my belief in Armenianism. Al Mohler, a Calvinist, writes one of the very best, if not the best, books on leadership I have read. A minister who is afraid to read outside of his own predilections remains childish in his insistence that his world be preserved, while a minister who is willing to choose carefully and read critically, even outside of his personal tastes, remains a child in his passionate pursuit of God’s truth and its application.  

In his encouraging and challenging book, Under the Unpredictable Plant, Eugene Peterson describes the result of this mindset. In his case, it was the people he pastored. How much sadder, and dangerous, it is when it describes those charged with handling the Word of God and watching over the souls of God’s people (Hebrews 13.17)

The people who gathered to worship God under my leadership were rootless and cultureless. They were marginally Christian. They didn’t read books. They didn’t discuss ideas. All spirit seem to have leaked out of their lives and have been replaced by a garage sale clutter of clichés and the stereotypes, securities and fashions. . . . It was a marshmallow culture, spongy and without substance. 

And so, to encourage – and challenge – you to quality reading in 2021, seven quotes on the value of reading. And thinking. All are from authors mentioned above. May these quotes stir you to grow in the knowledge of God’s Word, the knowing of God, and the wisdom of living God’s Word and Ways in this world:

“Christians, of all people, should reflect the mind of their Maker. Learning to read well is a step toward loving God with your mind. It is a leap toward thinking God’s thoughts after Him.” James Sire, How to Read Slowly

“Reading the great classics of Christian literature is a must for spiritual growth. Down through the centuries there have been men and women who have recorded their insights and the exercises for us to read. . . They contain an enormous amount spiritual food.” Gordon MacDonald, Ordering Your Private World

Those with the power to define what qualifies as knowledge wield the greatest power. Nancy Pearcey, Saving Leonardo

Unless the church embraces theology and teaches doctrine, Christianity will remain simply a cultural convenience that will be discarded every time its teaching threatens our way of life. It will be powerless to yield the meaning that we need, powerless to preserve us in the way of God as we seek. David Wells, No Place For Truth

“In my library I have profitably dwelt among the shining lights, with which the learned, wise, and holy men of all ages have illuminated the world.”  Richard Baxter

Behavior follows belief as surely as lightning follows thunder. What starts in the studies will end in the streets. Os Guinness, Time for Truth

However unpopular I may make myself, I shall and will affirm that the reason why the churches are discredited today is not that they are too bigoted about theology, but that they have run away from theology. Dorothy Sayers, Letters to a Diminished Church

But we have lost the Christian mind. There is now no shared, biblically based set of assumptions on subjects like law, education, economics, politics, science, or the arts. As a moral being, the Christian follows the biblical ethic. As a spiritual being, he prays and attends worship services. But as a thinking Christian, he has succumbed to secularism. Nancy Pearcey, Total Truth

Be sure to read our 2019 Best Reads of the year article, available here.

Here’s to more great reading in 2021, should the Lord delay His coming. 

_______________

Saddled with large student debt, just beginning to set up homes and start families, and serving in low paying first and second positions, Millennials are those who most desire but can least afford to pay for pastoral coaching.

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