John Wesley told young ministers to “read or get out of the ministry.” Those are strong words, but Wesley believed reading was essential for development.
Of Wesley, A.W. Tozer wrote, “He read science and history with a book propped against his saddle pommel as he rode from one engagement to another.”
Oswald Sanders, in his classic work Spiritual Leadership, devotes a chapter to the subject of “The Leader & Reading” and insists that “the leader who intends to grow spiritually and intellectually will be constantly reading.”
While I would not consider myself a “reading expert,” reading has been a significant part of my development for the last 20 years. I view reading as an opportunity to interact with great thinkers and leaders.
I typically am working through multiple books at a time. Before kids entered our world, I averaged reading two books a week. The quantity of my reading has slowed for this season, but I still take reading very seriously.
Here are some suggestions based on my experiences with books.
Suggestions for reading:
1. Choose several categories you want to dive into.
Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., President of Southern Seminary, suggests a disciplined plan in the first point in this post.
I hesitate to add to his blog because of his pure awesomeness in reading. If you think you are an avid reader, a trip to his library will quickly remind you of your mortality.
I suggest you plan your reading every year or every few months. Choose several categories you want to read in and select books in each category.
Common categories for me have been church ministry, leadership, organizational design and theology. I will often choose a particular discipline as a category where I feel I need more learning and development, and I will read a lot in that category for a season.
For example, when I moved into the role of leading the Church Resources Division at LifeWay, I felt I needed more development in the discipline of finances, so I made that a category for a season.
