Paul Chappell - Reading For Leading: Recommended Books

[RSS Robot]

Mark Twain said it well: “The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read.”
I have found consistent reading to be an invaluable resource for personal and leadership growth. I read all year long, but in the summer, I always endeavor to spend extra time reading and studying. (I already have a reading list of a couple dozen books that I hope to finish this summer.)

I posted a reading list here on the blog a few years ago, but I recently updated it with books I have read over the past few years. Of course, I don’t agree with everything I read, and there are some books below that require you to exercise spiritual discernment as you “eat the meat and spit out the bones.” The reference to any book is not an endorsement of the entire book or to the other works of a particular author. Yet, these books have been generally helpful to me, and I hope they can be a help to you.

 

TITLE	AUTHOR	PUBLISHER
Bibliology / Doctrine
A More Sure Word	Ouellette	Striving Together
Basic Bible Interpretation	Zuck	Victor
Dispensationalism	Ryrie	Moody Press
From God to Us	Geisler	Moody Press
Heaven	Randy Alcorn	Tyndale
Salvation and Sovereignty	Keathley	B&H Academic
The DaVinci Deception	Lutzer	Living Books
The Gospel According to Jesus	MacArthur	Zondervan
The King James Version Defended	Hills	Christian Research
Touch Not the Unclean Thing	Sorenson	Northstar Baptist Ministries
Which Bible?	Fuller	Institute for Biblical Textual Studies
Whosoever Will	Allen/Lemke	B&H Academic
Biography and History
50 People Every Christian Should Know	Wiersbe	Baker Books
An American Life	Reagan	Simon & Schuster
Bold as a Lamb	Anderson	Zondervan
Cast Your Bread	Hester	Temple Baptist Church
Christianity through the Centuries	Cairns	Zondervan
David Livingstone: His Life and Letters	Seaver	Harper
David Livingstone: The Story of One Who Followed Christ	Houghton	Nabu Press
John R. Rice: Captain of our Team	Rice	Walden
John Wesley’s Sermons	Outler	Abingdon Press
Oswald Chambers	McCasland	Discovery House Publishers
Seven Men: And the Secret of Their Greatness	Metaxas	Thomas Nelson
The AutOBiography of Charles G. Finney	Finney	Bethany House Publishers
The Last Founding Father	Unger	Da Capo Press
The Shadow of the Broad Brim	Day	Striving Together
Through Sunshine and Shadow	Parker/Monroe	Sword of the Lord
Tom Malone: The Preacher from Pontiac	Vick	Sword of the Lord
Unbroken	Hillenbrand	Random House
Christian Counseling
Adrenaline and Stress	Hart	Thomas Nelson
Counterfeit Gods	Keller	Riverhead Trade
Emotionally Healthy Spiritually	Scazzero	Thomas Nelson
Repentance and the 21st Century Man	Miller	Christian Literature
Respectable Sins	Jerry Bridges	NavPress
The Anxiety Cure	Hart	Thomas Nelson
The Biblical View of Self-Esteem, Self-Love, and Self-Image	Adams	Harvest House Publishers
The Christian Counselor’s Manual	J. Adams	Zondervan
The Dark Side of Internet	Rand Hummel	BJU Press
The Five Languages of Apology	Chapman/Thomas	Northfield Publishing
The Spirit-Controlled Temperament	LaHaye	Tyndale
Contemporary Theology
Biblical Separation	Ernest Pickering	Regular Baptist Press
Broad Is the Way: Fundamentalists Merging into the Evangelical Mainstream	Sorenson	Northstar Ministries
Grace Gone Wild	Jeffress	Waterbrook Press
Kingdom of the Cults	Martin	Baker Publishing Group
New Evangelicalism: The New World Order	Smith	Paul R. Smith
Set Apart	Hughes	Crossway Books
The Charismatics	MacArthur	Zondervan
The Courage to Be Protestant	David F. Wells	William B Eerdmans
The Tragedy of Compromise	Pickering	BJU Press
The Truth War	John MacArthur	Thomas Nelson
There Really Is a Difference	Renald Showers	Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry
This Little Church Stayed Home	Gilley	EP Books
What Love Is This?	Dave Hunt	The Berean Call
Why I Left the Contemporary Christian Music Movemnet	Lucarini	Evangelical Press
Why We’re Not Emergent	DeYoung/Kluck	Moody Publishers
Christian Growth
10 Power Principles for Christian Service	Wiersbe and Wiersbe	Baker Books
Beyond Halftime	Buford	Zondervan
Changed Into His Image	Berg	BJU Press
Come Thirsty	Lucado	Thomas Nelson
Contentment: The Secret to a Lasting Calm	Swenson	NavPress
Eat to Live	Fuhrman	Little, Brown and Company
Embraced by the Spirit	Swindoll	Zondervan
Experiencing God	Blackaby	B&H Books
Experience the Cross	Blackaby	Zondervan
Half Time	Buford	Zondervan
How to Win Over Worry	Haggai	Harvest House
If God is Good	Alcorn	Multnomah Books
In Search of Balance	Swenson	NavPress
Leading on Empty	Cordeiro	Bethany House
Living in an Imperfect World	Ouellette	Striving Together
Margin	Swenson	NavPress
My God is True!	Wolfe	Banner of Truth
Rescuing Ambition	Harvey	Crossway Books
Resilience	Wright	Servant Punbs
Revival	Lloyd-Jones	Crossway Books
Running Scared	Welch/Lutz	New Growth Press
Songs in the Night	Wiersbe	Baker Books
Surprised by Grace	Tchividjian	Crossway
Switch	Heath	Crown Business
Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health	Whitney	NavPress
The Calvary Road	Hession	CreateSpace
The Christian Atheist	Groeschel	HarperCollins Publishing
The Hidden Smile of God	Piper	Crossway
The Promise	Morgan	B&H Books
The Purity Principle	Alcorn	Random House
The Incredible Power of Kingdom Authority	Rogers	Broadman/Holman Publishers
Travelling Light	Lucado	Thomas Nelson
Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts	Bridges	NavPress
Family
Christian Living in the Home	Adams	Baker Book House
Family Life	Swindoll	Multnomah Press
Finishing Strong	Farrar	Multnomah Books
Firm Foundataion	Chappell	Striving Together
God in Your Family	Rice	Sword of the Lord
King Me	Farrar	Moody
Shepherding a Child’s Heart	Tripp	Shepherd Press
Finances
The Total Money Makeover	Ramsey	Thomas Nelson
The Wall Street Journal. Complete Personal Finance Guidebook	Opdyke	Crown Business
Leadership
360 Degree Leader	Maxwell	Nelson
Amusing Ourselves to Death	Postman/Postman	Penguin Books
Attitude 101	Maxwell	Thomas Nelson
Biblical Leadership	Collier/Williams	Ambassador International
Built to Serve	Sanders	McGraw-Hill
Everyone Communicates, Few Connect	Maxwell	Thomas Nelson
Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done	Bossidy	Crown Business
Getting Things Done	Allen	Penguin Books
Good to Great	Collins	Random House
I3: Devotions for Leadership and Life	Dan Brokke	Summerside Press
In Search of Excellence	Peter Waterman	Warner Books
Lincoln on Leadership	Phillips	Warner Books, Inc.
Lead Like Jesus	Blanchard	Thomas Nelson
Love Works	Manby	Zondervan
Making it All Work	Allen	Viking Adult
Replenish: Leading from a Healthy Soul	Witt	Baker Books
The Daily Drucker	Peter Drucker	HarperBusiness
The Effective Executive	Drucker	Harper/Collins Publishers
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team	Lencioni	Jossey-Bass
The Measure of a Man	Getz	Regal Books
The Power of Less	Babauta	Hyperion
The Way of the Shepherd	Leman/Pentak	Zondervan
Your Iceberg Is Melting	Kotter	St. Martin’s Press
Missions
A Strategy to Start Churches on the Missions Field	Martin
Christian Mission	Cook	Moody Press
Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream	Platt	Multnomah
Sending Forth Laborers	Tomlinson/Chappell	Striving Together
Starting a Church on the Mission Field	Martin
Understanding Christian Missions	Kane	Baker Books
Church Leadership
Activate	Searcy/Thomas	Regal
Beyond the First Visit	McIntosh	Baker Books
Called to Be God’s Leader	Blackaby/Blackaby	Thomas Nelson
Criswell’s Guidebook for Pastors	Criswell	Broadman
Dear Timothy	Ascol	Founders Press
Disciple Making Pastor	Hull	Baker Books
For the Hurting Pastor	Pickering	Regular Baptist
God isn’t in a Hurry	Wiersbe	Baker Books
Guided By Grace	Chappell	Striving Together
Heartbeats of the Holy	Krauss	Faithful Life
John Ploughman’s Talk	Spurgeon	Pilgrim Press
Leading with Integrity	Smith	Bethany House Publishers
Lectures to My Students	Spurgeon	Baker Book Press
Less Is More Leadership	Burke	Harvest House
Pastors At Risk	London/Wiseman	Victor Books
Pastoral Leadership	Weirsbe	Moody Press
Preaching for Preachers	Jones	Zondervan
Prodigals & Those That Love Them	Graham	Baker Books
Shepherding the Church	Stowell	Moody Press
Sifted	Cordeiro	Zondervan
Sticky Church	Osborne	Zondervan
Sunday School in HD	Taylor	B&H Books
Sunday School That Really Works	Parr/Rainer	Kregel Academic & Professional
The Heart of a Great Pastor	London	Regal Books
The Integrity Crisis	Wiersbe	Oliver Nelson
The Vanishing Ministry	Kroll	Kregel Publishing
They Call Me Pastor	London	Regal Books
The Apostles	Malone	Sword of the Lord
The Church	Malone	Sword of the Lord
The Contemplative Pastor	Peterson	William B. Eerdmans
Thirty Minutes to Raise the Dead	Bennett	Thomas Nelson
Understanding Islam	Feghaly	Feghaly
When Life Is Hard	MacDonald	LifeWay Christian Resources
Prayer
How to Pray	Bounds	Barbour Publishing
On Earth As It Is In Heaven	Wiersbe	Baker Books
Prayer	Rice	Sword of the Lord
Prayer for Revival	Beckum	Intercessor Ministries, Inc.
The Pastor in Prayer	Spurgeon	Whitaker House
Prophecy
A Woman Rides the Beast	Hunt	Harvest House Publishers
Epicenter	Rosenberg	Tyndale House Publishers
The Coming Economic Armageddon	Jeremiah	FaithWords
The Late Great State of Israel	Klein	WND Books
The Popular Bible Prophesy Workbook	LaHaye/Hindson	Harvest House Publishers
Prophetic Untimeliness	Guinness	Baker Books
What in the World is Going On	Jeremiah	Thomas Nelson

Related posts:

1. Recommended Reading
2. The Janitor
3. Guidelines for Christian Reading

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[Steve Schwenke]

Wow - that explains a lot about Chappell's ministry.  There is a lot of junk on that list I would not touch with a 10 ft. pole. 

I am all for reading, learning, and growing.  I am not for fooling around reading a bunch of junk from people who are theologically world's apart from where I am - like Piper, Swindoll, MacArthur, etc. 

 

If only he would be more careful to apply Mark Twain's quotation at the top of this article!

[MountainChristian]

When does he have time to read the Bible? 

[DaveW]

When does he have time to read the Bible?

I did wonder the same....
I have a bit more time lately than I have previously and I find it difficult to fit in any extra reading.......

[John81]

These are books he's read over the years so that would leave plenty of time for that plus the Bible.

 

I read the Bible every day, first thing in the morning. Typically I will read some more at other points during the day. At the same time, I generally read between 40-80 books every year.

 

Over the years I've read many of the books on the list above. Not all of those would I recommend. I'm usually very selective in what books I recommend, and then it also depends upon who I am talking with (their maturity level, etc.) as to what I recommend.

 

Swindoll is one I would never recommend. While he occasionally turns a good phrase that is meaty, he has far too many prOBlem areas to even think of recommending his stuff.

 

While I've never read a complete book by Piper, I wouldn't recommend his books either. He's another that may produce a good sounding quote but has so many prOBlems I wouldn't recommend him.

 

MacArthur does have some good stuff and someone mature in the faith could benefit from some of his stuff, but on an overall recommendation list I wouldn't add his name/books. There are other, what I would consider better, books by other authors where one could get the same meat without concern of risking contamination in some area.

 

While Jeremiah typically uses the NKJV he puts forth some biblically sound books and his presentation of the pre-trib eschatology position is the best I've ever read.

 

Some don't like Rice because he wasn't KJO but his book on prayer is the best I've read.

 

Spurgeon has some very edifying books but some would want to avoid them due to his Calvinism.

 

I don't think I've ever seen a big book list that everyone would agree with. As with the one above, some of those books I've read were very much worth the read. Some were not. Some are tainted simply by the authors too far out there positions in other areas. Others I've not yet read, and for some of them, I don't know that I would want to read them.

[Pastor Scott Markle]

Indeed, I am also a bit concerned at this recommended list.  My concern is not so much that Brother Chappell has read these books per se.  Rather, my great concern is that he has chosen to publicly recommend some of these books and authors.  In our time, far better books than some of these in their doctrinal and spiritual substance are readily available, even if only through some kind of digital format.  So why recommend some of these that are so greatly compromised?

 

On a separate note, did anyone else notice that the "leadership" lists are the longest of the various categories.  To me this does reveal some things.  From my own perspective concerning the books that I have read, most of the "leadership" type books of our present day tend to be more psychological then Biblical.  Now, that is just my personal two cents (which is prOBably even less valuable than US minted two cents).

[EKSmith]

When I was called into the youth ministry my brotherinlaw  gave me some good advice to be very careful of what I may read that man has written he had made that mistake early in college spending most of his time debating and arguing about what someone had written about what the word of God said and not studying the Word of God as he should have. when he was pastor of his first church he continued on reading many books and debating arguing becoming very arrogant and self centered until God showed him how fruitless he was in the ministry.

He has been the pastor of his church (IFB) for 45 years staying on the path that God put him on that day being fruitful in the Ministry. 

 

I'm very careful of what I read and will always compare it to the word of God but I also believe It's good to learn from what some men have wrote but one needs to be careful not to let man stop their growth in the Lord staying on the path in which God has put them on.                                                                             .

I don't know many of the names listed above but I do know the many names of great men written in the word of God, that's important to me

The Word of God (KJB) is all that I have ever used or needed to have a fruitful an lasting ministry.

 

God bless 

[Steve Schwenke]

Pastor Markle, I was thinking the very same thing today about that leadership section.  I do not understand this generation's OBsession with "leadership," because I personally have not met very many good leaders.  The world tries to create "leaders" with their books, but most of the people I have met who promote these types of books, or who say they have read these types of books, are not good "leaders."  Leaders must be flexible, and able to adapt to the people around them.  Most people I find in "leadership" positions are looking for a list to complete.  Completing lists might make a person a good manager, but managing and leading are two different things.

Further, Biblical "leadership" is far different from secular "leadership."  Secular leadership is psychology based and man-centered; Biblical Leadership is Bible based, and God-centered.

 

I like to read, and wish I could read more.  But working a secular jOB and pastoring has its complications.  Even if I didn't have to work a secular jOB, I don't know that I could keep pace with John81 (40-80 books per year) - that is an average of one book per week, outside of Bible reading, work, family, chores, honey-does, etc. 

Of course, much of my reading is hard to quantify.  I regularly consult commentaries, dictionaries, encyclopedias, periodicals, and such, plus my regular Bible reading. In addition, I have to peruse some other books I have previously read to refresh my memory on some things as I teach them for our church.  So I would venture to say that I read maybe 12 or so NEW books in a year.  If I didn't work a secular jOB, that number would go up dramatically.

[John81]

For the most part, true leaders are born. From a Christian perspective this is especially true as it should be the Lord placing folks in leadership positions. If the Lord places someone in a position of leadership, whether as a pastor or Sunday school teacher, He will equip them to the task.

 

I fully agree those in Christian leadership positions shouldn't be looking to worldly techniques of leadership to try and enhance their abilities. That's how (at least in part) we ended up with those "seeker sensitive" churches which were based upon worldly business models which advocated worldly leadership.

[John81]

As has been mentioned here, the Bible is of the utmost importance for reading and studying, and I believe that point should have been made in the introduction to his reading list. While this may seem like common sense to some of us, it's not for everyone and not even for myself in my early Christian life. It needs to be made clear that nothing, no book by any author can take place of Bible reading or can work in our hearts, minds and souls as does the Bible.

 

In my early Christian walk, before the Lord directed me to the KJB, I somehow came to the conclusion that I had already read the Bible so much there wasn't much more I could get out of reading it so much. So, it seemed I could learn so much more and get more practical applications of what the Bible teaches by spending more time reading books written by those who know the Bible well. Mind you this was while I was reading a selection from the NIV out of a devotional NIV someone had given me and my other Bible at that time was an NASB. Anyway, I foolishly began spending less time in the Bible and more time reading Christian books. Being yet a young and immature Christian I expected that if a book was Christian that meant it was good to read. I hadn't yet learned of all the vast differences between and among Christianity. Needless to say my spiritual life suffered and I ended up reading books that served more to confuse or put wrong ideas in my head that would later need to be cleaned out.

 

Thankfully it was after going through that mess the Lord "spoke" to me so very plainly that I was to read the KJB. Wow! Like a huge spotlight shining the Word was so open to me, was so alive, truly pierced me and I developed such a hunger for reading the Word. I also found that memorization became almost easy and I had a great hunger for that as well. That's when I truly started growing in Christ.

 

So, I think if a pastor gives out a book list he should make it very clear that the Bible is the most important book and should be read every day (and not just out of a quick duty) and that any other book is secondary.

 

It would also help if the pastor would have pointed out which books in his list were biblically solid and which ones were not so solid (as he mentioned some he didn't totally agree with, needed to be read with discernment so one could spit out the bones while getting at the meat). The not so solid books (which I wouldn't even put on a public list) shouldn't be read by anyone who isn't mature enough in the Word to have solid discernment. (and even if one is mature enough to read them, it might not be the best thing to do)

 

As Pastor Markle mentioned above, with there being so many biblically sound books out there, why even recommend books that are not totally sound when whatever meat is in them can be found in better books?

[Pastor Scott Markle]

Further, Biblical "leadership" is far different from secular "leadership."  Secular leadership is psychology based and man-centered; Biblical Leadership is Bible based, and God-centered.

 

Brother Schwenke,

 

I "liked" your posting above in order to indicate my agreement overall.

 

However, concerning the above quote, I desire to give a very public and hearty -- Amen, and AMEN!

 

A study of God's Holy Word concerning truly Biblical leadership principles would be of great value, and a book written in accord with that study would also be of great value.  However, most of the "leadership" books that are written today, no matter how they quote various portions of Scripture, are founded upon secular minded principles, rather than spiritually minded principles.