It’s been a busy year, and I haven’t met my goal (though I hope to finish two or three more books before midnight on the 31st). It was a great year, though, with some excellent books taken off my ‘to-read’ pile and added to my shelf.

Theology/Christian Living

The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Christ, Fleming Rutledge. This was the best theological book of the year. It’s a massive tome on the atonement, but well worth the endeavor.

Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Plan for the World, Tim Keller. Keller is always good, but this one was particularly excellent. At one of the college lunches, I recommended every student get and read this book over winter break.

Exiles: The Church in the Shadow of Empire, Preston Sprinkle. I cheated on this one and listened to the audiobook (free on Spotify). It’s an excellent, thought-provoking exploration of what an exilic mindset looks like today as Christians navigate the temptations of living in Babylon.

Deeper: Real Change for Real Sinners, Dane Ortlund. Ortlund explores what Christian growth looks like and, more importantly, what produces growth. Well worth the read, if for nothing more than all the wonderful quotes from Puritans!

The God Who Makes Himself Known: the Missionary Heart of the Book of Exodus, Ross Blackburn. I love this series, and this is quite likely my favorite of those I have read. It is definitely scholarly, so there is wading through various interpretations, lots of footnotes, etc. But this is what biblical theology should be—deep, warm, and evocative.

Church Ministry

The Pastor as Leader: Principles and Practices for Connecting Preaching and Leadership, John Currie. Lots of preaching books neglect the role of the pulpit in leading, and lots of leadership books forget the pastor is a preacher. This book insightfully connects the two.

The Heart is the Target: Preaching Practical Application from Every Text, Murray Caphill. A great resource that I believe has helped me in my preaching (though I’m not the best judge of my own preaching). It helped me identify some ruts I had certainly fallen into related to application.

Evangelism as Exiles: Life on Mission as Strangers in Our Own Land, Elliot Clark. We are moving into a different time culturally, and we need to learn how to be on mission in this new cultural reality. While this is not a book that necessarily covers much by way of ‘methods,’ it is an excellent, challenging call to evangelism when there is a cost involved.

Fiction (All From my Book Club!)

Fathers and Sons, Ivan Turgenev. I think this is the first Russian novel I finished. It was an excellent window into the relationship between fathers and sons amidst massive cultural shifts. It has some twists and and ending I really loved.

Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel. A fun, not overly bleak, dystopian novel that makes the point strongly – we humans need beauty.

Dune, Frank Herbert. As a kid of a sci-fi buff, I’m embarrassed I only now got to this book (thanks, Bill, for picking it). Thoroughly enjoyable read.