As some of you guys know, I am an avid reader. They really help me to grow as a person, and as a follower of Jesus.
In 2023, I was able to devour some really great books.
In no particular order, these were my favorites. I hope they help you:
Take Back the Family by Jefferson Bethke
I absolutely love this book. It articulates and summarizes many of my thoughts about what it takes to build a Kingdom family today.
Whenever I talk with new parents or married couples, this is the book I start recommending. It dismantles so many broken aspects we inherit in our culture about the nuclear family and instead provides a vision for what is possible.
Business Made Simple by Donald Miller
This is not a spiritual book, but I believe that a gifted writer can take complex ideas and make them very simple.
Donald Miller has done exactly that. I have many friends in small businesses who struggle with a cohesive framework for thinking about their approach.
Additionally, I found that any small organization, including churches and nonprofits, would benefit from this book as it goes through the nuts and bolts of the core elements that help organizations grow and thrive.
Donald tackles subjects such as cash flow management, vision, people management, leadership, and provides a very simple, easy-to-grasp framework for excelling in these areas right off the bat.
For anyone in small business or leading small organizations (under $100mil), this is a fantastic read.
He Came to Set the Captives Free by Rebecca Brown
Recently, I became friends with people who came out of the occult and started following Jesus.
This is new territory for me, so I asked them for book recommendations to help me understand a bit of their journey. This is what they recommended to me.
This book is a bit old, from the 90s I believe, but it is a powerful story and testimony.
It details the journey of a person who was deep into Satanism and how they were delivered. The book goes into excruciating details about what following Satan is like, including stories of demonic encounters and spiritual warfare. It portrays an understanding of spirituality that I feel is reflective in the scriptures, the only difference being that it's spoken from the other side.
This book prompted me to pray more.
Turning Donors into Partners by Brad Layland
Being in a Christian space, I constantly meet people trying to raise money for great causes.
I'm a big proponent of allocating wealth towards good things.
But fundraising has always been a challenge for nonprofit organizations and churches.
This book provides a really great framework to rethink what it means to raise money by focusing on relationships.
For anyone in the nonprofit space, doing great work and needing a framework for how to raise funds consistently, this is a gem.
What Were Your Favorite Books Recently?
Did you read any books that really impacted your life?
Let me know in the comments below!
You are made for greatness,
Phil