Books Read: January - June 2010

In light of my post about books read at the end of 2009, I knew I wanted to do it at the end of this year as well. However, I've been reading a lot this year, so I thought instead of having a post a mile long at the end of the year, I figured I would break it up into the books I've read the first six months of 2010. So here we go:

• How to Reach Your Full Potential for God by Charles Stanley
• The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey
• Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller
• Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper
• The Gospel According to LOST by Chris Seay
• Sex, Lies & Religion by Randy Elrod
• Branding Faith by Phil Cooke
• Called to Worship by Vernon Whaley
• Imagine That by Manuel Luz
• Compassionate Leadership by Ted Engstrom & Paul Cedar
• Plan B by Pete Wilson
• 66 Love Letters by Larry Crabb
• 10 Passions of a Man's Soul by Mark Elfstrand
• Blessed Be Your Name by Matt & Beth Redman
• Jesus Manifesto by Leonard Sweet & Frank Viola
• Great Leader Great Teacher by Gary Bredfeldt
• A Man's Guide to the Spiritual Disciplines by Patrick Morley
• Worship Matters by Bob Kauflin

There you have it! It's been a blast to get back into reading. Right now, I'm kind of picking up whatever I can get my hands on. I've also had the privilege of being able to review books for a few companies and that has been a great experience. Special thanks to BookSneeze/Thomas Nelson, Regal Books/Gospel Light, and Moody Publishers. I look forward to adding to this list at the end of the year as I've got quite the stack of a lot of great books waiting to be read.

Anyone have any recommendations of good books to read in the future?

Compassionate Leadership by Ted Engstrom & Paul Cedar

In Compassionate Leadership the authors seek to show us that there is more to leadership than being the one that people follow. The example they use to show us this is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Matthew 20.28 tells us, "even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve." To be a leader is to really be a servant. This is where we get the term servant-leader. This is how Jesus lived his life and its evidenced by His generosity, belief in people, meeting of needs, encouraging of friends, getting excited about good things that happen to others, and his challenge to people to draw close to God. Ted and Paul tell us that these traits of Jesus' life are the steps to compassionate service...and compassionate leadership. This principles of compassionate leadership are grounded in the Word of God and only by the power of the Holy Spirit can we even remotely begin to understand what it means to be a servant-leader. This book is a step in the right direction to learning how to be a servant in the midst of our leadership. To learn this takes obedience and submission to the authority of Jesus Christ and God's Word. The authors list eight principles for us to learn:

1) Mastering the principles of servant leadership is essential if we are to fulfill our role,
2) Servant leadership begins with our attitude,
3) Love is essential for servant leadership,
4) Biblical models teach us how to be servant leaders,
5) The role of the good shepherd illustrates servant leadership,
6) Servant leaders must also know how to be servant followers,
7) Servant leaders are accountable to God,
8) Servant leaders must lead by choice.

To learn to lead by serving others with compassion like Jesus is no easy task for any man, but we are called to live like Jesus lived, we are even made in the image of God and I believe this book is another great tool for helping learn to live our lives in the context of leadership like our Savior lived His life and ultimately gave it up for us.

Special thanks to Regal Books & Gospel Light for providing this complimentary book to read and review.