RECOMMENDED READING

Here are a few books, from various different fields and perspectives, that I have found especially informative and helpful:

Nathan Hatch, The Democratization of American Christianity (a study of the rapidly changing landscape of the church in America during the early republic (1780-1830), especially the shift away from hierarchical structures and toward populist patterns under the influence of the spirit of ’76; this work helped me understand many of the cultural assumptions we bring to our churches and that we apply in relation to leaders)

Edwin Friedman, A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix (a not-quite-finished work published posthumously by his wife, this brilliant and provocative yet sometimes aggravating study by a rabbi-therapist-consultant offers a penetrating critique of contemporary culture and how it sets us up for the sabotage of leadership)

Thomas Watson, All Things for Good (an exposition of Romans 8:28 by a 17th century Puritan pastor that probes the ways in which even the hardest things Christians face are for their ultimate good—and how we need to go through such trials)

John Piper, Desiring God (a vigorous defense of the notion that we were made to pursue the greatest of all joys, namely the satisfaction of knowing and following Christ (thus the subtitle: meditations of a Christian hedonist); the biggest problem is that we are so easily pleased, so willing to settle for paltry, second-rate, fleeting pleasures of this life, when ultimate joy is offered)

Jim Cymbala, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire (a stunning picture of what God does in the lives of humble believers who really take prayer seriously)

Ruth Tucker, From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya (wonderful short stories on the lives of scores of missionaries through the centuries—honest, moving, encouraging)

Bruce Ware, God’s Lesser Glory (an extended and successful refutation of the theology of open theism; Ware ably demonstrates that an attentive reading of the whole Bible must reject the claim that future decisions of humans are not known to God)

John R. W. Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount (as always, Stott is clear, organized, concise, bold—a great book to bring a key biblical passage (Matthew 5-7) into vivid light, and a great model of an expository Bible commentary)