So my blog has basically devolved into one post a year – this one right here. Enjoy this year’s version of the books that shaped me over the last 12 months.
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – Rowling
- How to be Filled with the Holy Spirit – Tozer
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – Rowling
- The Holy Spirit: An Introduction – Bevere
- Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit – Chan
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – Rowling
- The God I Never Knew: How Real Friendship with the Holy Spirit Can Change Your Life – Morris
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – Rowling
- Servolution: Starting a Church Revolution through Serving – Rizzo
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Rowling
- Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action – Sinek
- Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God: The Scandalous Truth of the Very Good News – Zahnd
- The Common Rule: Habits of Purpose for an Age of Distraction – Earley
- I’m Fascinated by Sacrifice Flies: Inside the Game We All Love – Kurkjian
- The Last Arrow: Save Nothing for the Next Life – McManus
- Man’s Search for Meaning – Frankl
- The Life-Giving Leader: Learning to Lead from Your Truest Self – Reagin
- Reading Romans Backwards: A Gospel of Peace in the Midst of Empire – McKnight
- Talking to Strangers: What we Should Know about the People We Don’t Know – Gladwell
- Excellence Wins: A No-Nonsense Guide to Becoming the Best in a World of Compromise – Schulze
- Divine Direction: 7 Decisions That Will Change Your Life – Groeschel
- Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future – Thiel
- Faith for Exiles: Five Ways to Help Young Christians Be Resilient, Follow Jesus, and Live Differently in Digital Babylon – Kinnaman
- Telling God’s Story: A Parents’ Guide to Teaching the Bible – Enns
The first part of this year I was doing a deep dive on the Holy Spirit. I really loved stretching and learning things that weren’t a part of my experience growing up. In some ways, I find it almost too perfect that I was also reading Harry Potter throughout that time. There’s something great about what fantasy does to us. Narnia, Middle Earth, Hogwarts… these fictional places open us up to the places where heaven and earth intertwine and make it possible for us to accept a God we can’t always understand.
In terms of cultural importance, I think Malcolm Gladwell’s book on Talking to Strangers was one of the most important books I read this year. He powerfully describes the mistakes we all make when passing judgment on people we meet and urges us to question our assumptions in a helpful way.
At any rate, as always you can follow me over on Goodreads if you’d like and see what I’m reading and interested in reading. See you next year!
