Books I Read in 2011….How About You?

I am always on the look-out for good books to read on a variety of different topics. Most of the books that I read this year were on my Kindle. Personally, I have found that the Kindle has made me a better, and more avid reader.Hopefully, within a month I will be upgrading to the Kindle Fire (I could do it sooner if you would like to contribute to the fund ) But, not all my books were eBooks. Many came from a couple different publishers that I review books for, for free. So while I might not normally choose to read them, I do for the blogging review program and am pleasantly surprised sometimes. Here is my list that I read in 2011 with a quick thought about each (many of these have full a full review if you check through my 2011 blog posts):

1. The Faith of Ronald Reagan by Mary Beth Brown – Not a bad read, though it seemed a little thin, almost like it was written by a PR firm.

2. Awakening: A New Approach to Faith, Fasting, and Spiritual Freedom by Stovall Weems – Would not recommend this book. I only read it as a part of book review program.

3. Roadmap Through Revelation by Rick Schworer – A good commentary on Revelation that was sent to me via eBook form by the author for review. Like all commentaries, you may not agree with everything, but I would definitely refer back to it when I preach through Revelation.

4. Pursuit of God – AW Tozer – I have never came across a book written by Tozer that disappoints, this one included. It is not quite to the level for me of  Knowledge of the Holy, but very close.

5. Daddy Dates by Greg Wright – A surprisingly good book. There is not much “Bible” mentioned outright in it, but it is still good none the less, and look forward to implementing some of it when my daughters are a little older.

6. Who Stole My Church by Gordon McDonald – This was a very helpful book, even though it was a fictitious account of how a church learned to bridge the generational gap.

7. Holier Than Thou – Ergun Caner – The author recently joined the staff of a college that many of our missionaries a associated with, so I grabbed this book and began to read it and was glad that I did. It quickly became one of my favorite books to read as the author deals with the issue of phariseeism in a balanced way. I would definitely recommend this book to everyone.

8. King James Version Debated, A Plea For Realism by D Carson

9. Facts on King James Only Debate by John Ankerberg

10. One Bible Only? By Roy E. Beacham – These are three books on my list that I know many of my readers probably don’t want to see or know that I read. The reason I chose to read these three books was to balance out my understanding of the translation issue. One of the interesting facts that I gleaned from it is how both sides of the debate use the same logic to defend their position. The only difference is what verses you pick to prove your point.

11. Stuff Christians Like by Jonathan Acuff – A lighthearted and fun read, much like the website that bears the same name.

12. Sticky Church by Larry Osborne – There is a good idea here about doing small groups that are based upon the previous week's sermon. I have not quit found a way to implement that here in my church, but it still might happen in the future. This should be a book read by anyone who does small groups in their church.

13. Poke The Box by Seth Godin – This was a book on leadership/initiative that came highly recommended and it was pretty good at the time, but now that I think back on it, not much stands out.

14. Communicating For A Change by Andy Stanley – In my opinion, this is one of the best books on preaching that I have read.  It is not a text book (the first half is a narrative about how the process he explains later in the book might unfold in a preachers life), and it does not promote expository preaching – but it is a tremendous help in the area of communicating your message.

15. Seven Sayings of the Saviour on the Cross by Arthur Pink. – I read this as I preached through this subject and it did not disappoint.

16. Sunday School in HD by Allen Taylor – The reason I chose to read this book was that we were/are struggling a bit in the area of Sunday School and I was looking for a reason to not just blow it up completely. After reading this, I put away the TnT and we are devoting more time and resources into moving forward in Sunday School.

17. Going Deep by George MacDonald – I read this book because of his other book I read previously this year, and this one did not disappoint either. A great book on discipling new leadership within our church.

18. This Year Is Different: How the Mavs Won it All by Bob Sturm – Here is a book that most of you would not care about, but it was great to me because it dealt with the greatest year of one of my favorite sports teams: The Dallas Mavericks. If you are a Mavs fan, or even an NBA fan at large, you will like this book.

19. The Profile of a Leader by James Rasbeary (gifted to me by the author)

20. Nehemiah: Experiencing the Good Hand of God by John MacArthur

21. A Passion For Faithfulness by J.I. Packer

22. Nehemiah: Memoirs of an Ordinary Man by Stephen Davey

23. Hand Me Another Brick by Charles Swindoll – I read through these five books this year while preaching through the first half of Nehemiah. All five were useful at times, but I found Swindoll’s the most helpful, followed by Davey’s. Those would be the two books that I would definitely recommend to you if you were studying/preaching through Nehemiah.

Well, that’s my list. Let us know in the comment section below what books you read this year

P.S. – My next post will be about what books I plan on reading in 2012, with the recommendations of others.