Now that we are in November, Black Friday and the Christmas shopping season is now upon us!  In an effort to help you know what to purchase for the Christian leader in your life, the following are a number of quality resources to choose from.

Leaders are readers.  Therefore, you can never go wrong with books.  The books listed below provide a nice cross-section between business, leadership development, instruction, inspiration, prayer, church growth, and challenging personal development.  There is something here for everyone.

The following are The Top 20 Books Christian Leaders Need To Read In 2020:

  1. Covert Cows and Chick-fil-A: How Faith, Cows, and Chicken Built an Iconic Brand by Steve Robinson. My favorite book of 2019.  Simply put – THIS IS THE BEST BUSINESS BOOK I HAVE EVER READ!!!  During his thirty-four-year tenure at Chick-fil-A, Steve was integrally involved in the company’s growth–from 184 stores and $100 million in annual sales in 1981 to over 2,100 stores and over $6.8 billion in annual sales in 2015–and was a first-hand witness to its evolution as an indelible global brand. In Covert Cows and Chick-fil-A, Robinson shares behind-the-scenes accounts of key moments, including the creation of the Chick-fil-A corporate purpose and the formation and management of the now-iconic “Eat Mor Chikin” cow campaign.  Drawing on his personal interactions with the gifted team of company leaders, restaurant operators, and the company’s founder, Truett Cathy, Robinson explains the important traits that built the company’s culture and sustained it through recession and many other challenges. He also reveals how every aspect of the company’s approach reflects an unwavering dedication to Christian values and to the individual customer experience.
  2. The Original Storyteller: Become a Better Storyteller in 30 Days by Robert Carnes.  Robert is one of the key players for Orange Leaders, so he knows what he is talking about.  What makes stories so powerful? Why are they so universal?  How is a good story able to penetrate the distractions of a busy world?  What causes a story to activate the minds of people anywhere?   The Original Storyteller seeks to answer those questions through the lens of God’s stories.  He is the first and best storyteller.   His stories reveal the essence of all great stories.  Take the 30-day journey towards becoming a better storyteller.  For more from Robert on storytelling, read his guest post for this site 4 Ways Leaders Can Tell Better Stories.
  3. New Thinking, New Future by Dr. Sam Chand. With candor, humor, and personal stories, Sam peels back the layers of our assumptions to challenge us to think more deeply, more clearly, and more productively than ever before. He addresses fundamental topics all leaders instinctively address, including security, location, ownership, team, growth, and benchmarks of success.
  4. The Proximity Principle: The Proven Strategy That Will Lead to a Career You Love by Ken Coleman. Right now, 70% of Americans aren’t passionate about their work and are desperately longing for meaning and purpose. They’re sick of “average” and know there’s something better out there, but they just don’t know how to reach it. In his latest book, The Proximity Principle, national radio host and career expert Ken Coleman provides a simple plan of how positioning yourself near the right people and places can help you land the job you love.
  5. Recovered: How an Accident, Alcohol, and Addiction Led Me to God by Robby Gallaty. In Recovered, pastor and author Robby tells the story of how God radically saved him from his addictions and called him into a life of discipleship.  Robby grew up in a very religious Catholic family who attended church every Sunday and confession on Saturday if needed. Very rarely did he miss a Saturday night dinner and a movie with his parents and sister Lori. You can imagine how devastated they were when Robby stole $15,000 from them to fuel his drug addiction. Two years earlier, he was rear-ended on his way home from work by an 18-wheeler. Two herniated discs in his neck and back forced him to rely on pharmaceutical drugs to cope with the pain. Within three months, he transitioned to street drugs, heroine, and cocaine, after blowing through his thirty-day prescription in two weeks. Robbing his parents was the only option to prolong his drug habit.Shortly thereafter, Robby hit rock bottom. But God wasn’t done with him. After a trip to rehab followed by a relapse and a second rehab visit, Robby surrendered his life to Christ, and nothing has ever been the same. This story—a story of salvation and new life—is for any reader who:
    • wonders if God is done with them
    • has messed up time and time again
    • is battling drug or alcohol addiction or other destructive behaviors
    • has a loved one in the throes of addiction
    • needs to be reminded of the miraculous salvation found in the gospel
  6. Justice. Mercy. Humility.  A Simple Path to Following Jesus by Rusty George.  More than two thousand years ago, the prophet Micah implored Israel to return to its true calling: “Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with your God.” Could this plainspoken Bible verse not only sum up how we should live today but breathe a fresh purpose into our souls?  In this practical and freeing book, pastor Rusty George shares the simplicity of what God desires from us. Living a faithful life should not be a chore, and George teaches how to put away our checklists and walk humbly according to God’s will for our lives. 
  7. Jesus in Me: Experiencing the Holy Spirit as a Constant Companion by Anne Graham Lotz.  This book is a masterpiece! In Jesus in Me, Anne Graham Lotz draws on her rich biblical knowledge as well as her personal journey—including her recent cancer diagnosis—to help us understand that the Holy Spirit is not a magic genie, a flame of fire, or a vague feeling. He is a Person who prays for us, guides us in our relationships and decisions, comforts us in pain, and stays by our side at all times. In this seminal teaching, she explores seven key aspects of the Holy Spirit that will revolutionize how you understand and relate to this vital third Person in the Trinity.
  8. Know What You’re FOR: A Growth Strategy for Work, An Even Better Strategy for Life by Jeff Henderson.  Working with companies like Chick-fil-A and the Atlanta Braves, then serving as a pastor for 15 years at one of the country’s largest and most influential churches, North Point, Jeff knows what success looks like for healthy organizations and healthy lives.  With fascinating stories from a host of entrepreneurs and Jeff’s remarkable career, Know What You’re FOR equips you with a simple strategy and the tools for extraordinary growth.  You can learn more about this great book by clicking  25 Leadership Quotes And Lessons From Jeff Henderson’s Book Know What You’re FOR.
  9. Everyday Millionaires: How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth―and How You Can Too by Chris Hogan.  Everywhere we turn, we hear negative financial news—that the American Dream is dead or that the little man can’t get ahead.  Our culture feeds us the lie that it’s impossible to become a millionaire in America today, but it’s time you heard the truth.   In his newest book, Everyday Millionaires: How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth—and How You Can Too, Chris Hogan destroys millionaire myths that are keeping everyday people from achieving financial independence. Chris and the Ramsey research team surveyed over 10,000 US millionaires, discovering how these high-net-worth people reached their financial status. And the formula might surprise you.
  10. Building Your Leadership Résumé: Developing the Legacy that Will Outlast You by Dr. Johnny Hunt. Building Your Leadership Résumé is Dr. Hunt’s presentation of wisdom-focused lessons like investing in people, earning respect, living intentionally, daring to dream, and being courageous, that will simply yet greatly enhance any business or ministry.  Each five-to-six page entry guides the reader toward becoming a selfless leader whose impact on others can be immediately rewarding as well as eternally significant.  For more leadership lessons from Pastor Johnny, read 62 Quotes And Lessons On Vision And Leadership From Dr. Johnny Hunt.
  11. Everything You Need: 8 Essential Steps to a Life of Confidence in the Promises of God by Dr. David Jeremiah.  Many Christians feel unprepared and uncertain when it comes to living each day as followers of Christ. We often know what we are supposed to do, and even why we are supposed to do it. Yet when we lack confidence in ourselves and our spiritual development, we fail to live boldly as difference makers in our world.  As one of the world’s leading Bible teachers, Dr. Jeremiah wants readers to know that this lack of confidence is both unnecessary and unhelpful. In fact, the Bible makes it clear that—in the same way skilled hikers pack all the necessary supplies before a journey—God Himself equips all believers with everything they need to walk and work with confidence as members of His kingdom.  Everything You Need continues Dr. Jeremiah’s focus on helping the church strive for spiritual victory through Christ. Using his signature depth, wisdom, and compassion, Dr. Jeremiah explores 2 Peter 1:5–10 to highlight seven critical tools God provides each of His people: virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. When we use the equipment God provides, we can live confidently in the knowledge that we will never stumble.
  12. The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith by Dr. Tim Keller. Newsweek called pastor Tim Keller “a C.S. Lewis for the twenty-first century.”  In this book, Keller offers a rational explanation to understanding Christianity and uses the parable of the prodigal son to reveal an unexpected message of hope and salvation.   Within that parable Jesus reveals God’s prodigal grace toward both the irreligious and the moralistic. This book will challenge both the devout and skeptics to see Christianity in a whole new way.
  13. Measuring Success: Your Path to Significance, Satisfaction, & Leading Yourself to the Next Level. by Shawn Lovejoy.  Releasing this week, my good friend Shawn Lovejoy has written another excellent book.  What is success?  Will you know it when you see it?  Shawn has seen false measures of success do damage in his own life and has lived to tell about it. He has since radically recovered and rediscovered healthy leadership and leading healthy organizations. He has spent nearly two decades now helping thousands of leaders do the same.  This book will help anyone struggling with the “success question”.
  14. Leadershift: The 11 Essential Changes Every Leader Must Embrace by John Maxwell.  In his latest book Leadershift releasing on February 5th, John helps leaders gain the ability and willingness to make leadership changes that will positively enhance their organizational and personal growth.  He does this by sharing the eleven shifts he made over the course of his long and successful leadership career.  Each shift changed his trajectory and set him up for new and exciting achievements, ultimately strengthening and sustaining his leadership abilities and making him the admired leadership expert he is today.  For a preview of lessons from Leadershift, read 55 Leadershift Quotes And Lessons From Dr. John Maxwell.
  15. Something Needs to Change: A Call to Make Your Life Count in a World of Urgent Need by David Platt. While leading a team on a week-long trek of the Himalayas, bestselling author and pastor David Platt was stunned by the human needs he encountered, an experience so dramatic that it “changed the trajectory of my life.” Meeting a man who’d lost his eye from a simple infection and seeing the faces of girls stolen from their families and trafficked in the cities, along with other unforgettable encounters, opened his eyes to the people behind the statistics and compelled him to wrestle with his assumptions about faith.
  16. Confident Leader!: How to Overcome Self-doubt, Influence Others, and Make Your Leadership Dreams Come True by Dan Reiland.  This book does not come out until April 21, 2020 so why I am promoting it now?  Because it’s Dan Reiland, that’s why!!! All leaders struggle with confidence at some level. However, they can’t avoid the need to become more confident if they are to live up to their leadership potential. In Confident Leader! pastor, author, and leadership expert Dan Reiland shares proven strategies that lead to a transformational process in a person’s ability to become a more confident leader. It begins with heart level decisions, moves to character devilment, and concludes with practical leadership disciplines. Together these essentials present a step-by-step plan to greater confidence, increased influence, less uncertainty, and more significant accomplishments.
  17. How to Lead in a World of Distraction: Four Simple Habits for Turning Down the Noise by Clay Scroggins. Clay teaches leaders four simple habits that create space for emotional evaluation and exploration.  These helpful practices will empower leaders to replace the chaos of their busy days with emotional competence and awareness that leads to a calmer, more fulfilling life.  How to Lead in a World of Distraction:
    • Teaches leaders four simple habits that create space for emotional evaluation and exploration
    • Empowers leaders to replace the emotional chaos in their increasingly busy days with an emotional awareness that will lead to a calmer, more fulfilling life
    • Encourages leaders to fully embrace tangible steps each day until emotional distractions–the numbing nature of entertainment and social media and the urgency of the daily grind–are permanently replaced by calm, effective, and gratifying leadership
  18. Excellence Wins: A No-Nonsense Guide to Becoming the Best in a World of Compromise by Horst Schulze.  Another great, great book which I cannot recommend enough.  Schulze knows how to win. In Excellence Wins, Schulze, in his absolute no-nonsense approach, shares the visionary and disruptive principles that have produced immense global successes over the course of his still-prolific fifty-year career.  As the co-founder and former president of Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co., Schulze fearlessly led the company to unprecedented multi-billion dollar growth, setting the business vision and people-focused standards that made the Ritz-Carlton brand globally elite.  If you’re searching for the blueprint to beating the competition and out-performing everyone around you, look no further than Excellence Wins. For a preview of this great book, read 5 Things Leadership Is from Horst Schulze’s book Excellence Wins.
  19. The Will of God: Understanding and Pursuing His Ultimate Plan for Your Life by Dr. Charles Stanley. God’s will for you doesn’t have to remain a mystery. In fact, your heavenly Father wants to reveal the plans He has for your life. In this book, Dr. Charles Stanley, beloved pastor and respected Bible teacher, teaches you how to discern what it is, see the different ways God communicates His plans, shares wisdom on how to know you’re really hearing Him, and gives specific steps to walking in God’s will for your life.  The One who saves you is worthy to lead you. And whether you’re facing a major life decision, planning for the future, or simply trying to walk with the Lord day by day, The Will of God can help you draw you closer to God and discover His awesome plan for your life.
  20. Every Pastor’s First 180 Days: How to Start and Stay Strong in a New Church Job by Dr. Charles Stone. 80 days–that’s the critical time every pastor has to establish their role in a new church position to onboard successfully. That first six months can make an enormous difference and give them a powerful foundation to impact the Kingdom of God in a positive way, or it can present them with growing challenges that linger for years to come.
    Pastor Charles Stone draws on 40 years of ministry service to present an easy-to-read guide for new and seasoned pastors alike who want to make the most of those first 180 days.

If you have not purchased my book Timeless: 10 Enduring Practices Of Apex Leaders it is available for purchase as well.  If you have ever wanted to become the leader God created you to be, this book is for you!  By combining leadership lessons from biblical heroes like Jesus, Daniel and Joseph, along with modern day leaders like Bill Gates, Nick Saban, Kobe Bryant and multiple pastors, Timeless will equip and inspire you.  This book is not to be read alone.  Discussion questions are included in each chapter allowing you to develop those in your circle of influence.  Click HERE or on the image provided and order your copies TODAY.