23 Books Christian Leaders Should Be Reading In 2023

Christmas shopping is probably underway in earnest and few things are better gifts for Christian leaders than books.  Because of this reality, allow me assist you with my annual list of purchases.  Below is an incredible list of quality resources written by amazing authors.  Whatever the primary interests of the person you are buying for may be, there is something here for everyone.

A quick note, this post is brought to you by Pastor Rusty George of Real Life Church in Valencia, CA.  Rusty is one of the finest pastors in America.  However, his 10-year tenure there has not been without challenges.  In fact, some would say he has faced a level of crises few pastors have ever encountered.  The following are just some of the hurdles Pastor Rusty has recently faced:

• An attempted staff coupe
• A staff member being arrested
• A school shooting which took the life of one of the church’s students
• Two affairs on staff which ended in two suicides
• Being located in Southern California, the Kobe Bryant tragedy rocked the community
• Social and racial unrest
• Everything related to COVID

Seminary did not prepare him for this.  And it didn’t prepare you either.  But God has used Pastor Rusty and these experiences to create a gift for church leaders called the Leading Through Crisis Coaching Course.  Simply put, this is the BEST coaching course I have ever seen on this topic!!!  Trust me, I have seen the content and it is a must-purchase for you, your staff, and your leadership team!!! Simply click HERE or on the image provided to learn more and purchase.

The following are 23 Books Christian Leaders Should Be Reading In 2023:

• Coaching With Impact by Ken Adams – Written along with Chicago White Sox scout Kevin Burrell, this book is a tool for coaches to help disciple coaches.  Every coach has a certain level of influence both on and off the field. How a coach leverages this influence is critical.  Coaching With Impact is designed for coaches to come alongside each other and maximize the influence God has given them to multiply disciples in the world of sports.
• The Return of the Gods by Jonathan Cahn – This is my Book Of The Year!!! The Return of the Gods is the most explosive book Jonathan Cahn has ever written. It is so explosive and so revealing that no description here could do it justice. Jonathan Cahn is known for revealing the stunning mysteries, many from ancient times, that lie behind and are playing out in the events of our times. But with The Return of the Gods, Cahn takes this to an entirely new level and dimension.  The Return of the Gods, Cahn takes the reader on a journey from an ancient parable, the ancient inscriptions in Sumer, Assyria, and Babylonia that become the puzzle pieces behind what is taking place in our world to this day, specifically in America.  The mystery involves the gods. Who are they? What are they? And is it possible that these beings, whose origins are from ancient times, are the unseen catalysts of modern culture?
• The Story Cycle: Your Business Guide To Better Marketing by Robert Carnes – Storytelling is more than a business buzzword. You know a good story when you hear one, but how do you use them to grow your business and accomplish your mission?  Good organizational stories connect your audience, build trust, and set you apart from the crowd. The Story Cycle introduces a revolutionary (pun intended) process for how to practically achieve that.
• Ideas on a Deadline: How to Be Creative When the Clock is Ticking by Phil Cooke – Ideas on a Deadline is the definitive book for creative people who have to deliver breakthrough ideas on demand.  One of the most destructive myths about creativity is the idea that we need to wait for inspiration. But as artist Chuck Close said, “Inspiration is for amateurs—the rest of us just show up and get to work.” Whether you’re a creative professional like a designer, writer, musician, or filmmaker, or an executive, engineer, teacher or salesperson, this book will show you how to “prime the pump” of your creativity, overcome the blocks, and deliver great ideas when you need them the most.
• Divine Disruption: Holding on to Faith When Life Breaks Your Heart – Learn how to work your way through life’s unexpected challenges with grace and find a deeper faith while on your journey. In this biblical and conversational book by Dr. Tony Evans and his four adult children—Chrystal Evans Hurst, Priscilla Shirer, Anthony Evans, and Jonathan Evans—you will hear five insightful perspectives on what it means to hold on to faith when life breaks your heart. We have all been through difficult seasons and times in life when it seems like the hits keep coming and you can barely catch your breath. The Evans family knows what this is like, as they’ve experienced the deep grief of losing eight loved ones in less than two years’ time, including the devastating passing of Lois Evans, the matriarch of the family.   In Divine Disruption, Dr. Tony Evans and his children pull back the curtain on their faith-shaking experiences, in order to provide biblical wisdom and practical encouragement for how to deal with the hard, unexpected things we all inevitably face.
• Lead for God’s Sake by Todd Gongwer – The lives of an intensely-driven basketball coach, an ultra-successful CEO, and an unassuming janitor all intersect in this captivating parable about leadership, relationships, and the pursuit of success. An unforgettable story packed with profound truths, LEAD . . . for God’s Sake! will challenge you to think deeply about who you are as a leader, what success means to you, and why you do what you do. Whether you’re leading a business, a team, or your own family, this book is the first and most important step to becoming the leader you were meant to be.
• Lead Like It Matters: 7 Leadership Principles for a Church That Lasts by Craig Groeschel – New York Times bestselling author Craig Groeschel is the founding and senior pastor of Life.Church, an innovative multisite church known around the world and an organization that Glassdoor has named a #1 U.S. Best Place to Work. But it didn’t happen by accident. In 1996, a handful of congregants worshipped together in a two-car garage. Today, the church welcomes tens of thousands of attendees in multiple states across the country and globally at Life.Church Online.  Lead Like It Matters presents Groeschel’s transformative insights on how to effectively build a thriving, enduring ministry and organization.
• What To Do Next: Taking Your Best Step When Life Is Uncertain by Jeff Henderson – If you want to change your career and circumstances but aren’t sure how, this practical guide from business leader Jeff Henderson will help you reevaluate your purpose and determine your next best step.  Navigating what’s next in life–whether in your career, personal life, or relationships–often brings a level of uncertainty and anxiety and presents more questions than answers. Entrepreneur, speaker, and pastor Jeff Henderson has experienced this firsthand–first when he left his marketing position at Chick-fil-A to start a church and nonprofit, and then again when he left that nonprofit in the middle of a global pandemic to . . . well, he didn’t know. He just knew he needed to make a move.  This insightful book outlines the process he used to determine the next best step for him and how you, too, can pursue more meaning and purpose in your life and work.
• How to Thrive as a Pastor’s Wife by Christine Hoover – Every pastor’s wife is a faithful servant and leader in her own right. She has great influence on her church, her community, her family, and her husband, and she finds joy in seeing God move in the lives of others. Yet she also faces unique challenges that too often go unnoticed and unaddressed. At times, a pastor’s wife may feel she can’t talk about her struggles even with those who are closest to her, which can leave her feeling alone, depleted, and misunderstood. She may settle for this way of living, but that’s not God’s desire for her.  Christine Hoover knows firsthand the unique struggles and opportunities afforded a pastor’s wife–she’s been filling that role for more than 20 years. Coming alongside as an understanding friend, she offers encouragement and guidance to the struggling pastor’s wife, showing her how to make meaningful personal relationships with God, her husband, her children, her church community, and other women–relationships that will sustain her and help her thrive.
• Where Do We Go from Here?: How Tomorrow’s Prophecies Foreshadow Today’s Problems by Dr. David Jeremiah – Today’s headlines shout of modern plagues, social tensions, economic crises, and rampant depression. Many are asking, what day is it on God’s prophetic calendar? Trusted Bible teacher and Pastor Dr. David Jeremiah opens the Word of God to reveal what it has to say about the days we are living in.  Sharing how prophecies and wisdom from centuries ago still speak the truth today and point the way forward for tomorrow. Whether one is new to biblical prophecy or a longtime student of the Bible, this timely message will encourage and recalibrate us to the mission of God in our daily lives. Journey with Dr. Jeremiah back to the Bible to find out, Where Do We Go from Here?
• Reborn: How Encountering Jesus Changes Everything by Clayton King – With deep compassion, Clayton King shares the compelling stories of 12 broken people who came face-to-face with Jesus in the New Testament and got a second chance at life. A respected religious leader, an ostracized woman, a despised embezzler, a condemned thief–all of them flawed, sinful, full of regret–encountered Jesus and were never the same. Along with their stories, King shares contemporary stories of people struggling with addiction, lust, greed, and depression, showing that Jesus still meets people right where they are and changes them from the inside out.
• Lennon, Dylan, Alice, and Jesus: The Spiritual Biography of Rock and Roll by Greg Laurie – From the author of Johnny Cash: The Redemption of an American Icon and Steve McQueen: The Salvation of an American Icon comes Lennon, Dylan, Alice, and Jesus, which traces the journeys, rise, fall, and sometimes the redemption of famous entertainers who were brought to their knees—a great place to look up and finally meet their Maker.  Lennon, Dylan, Alice, and Jesus examines wretched excess, self-absorption and miraculous redemption; the book is a raw, sensitive, and unforgettable journey of sex, drugs, rock and roll, and sweet salvation. Author Greg Laurie traces the lives of rock stars and entertainment figures and legends who wallowed in the decadence of both the high life and low life, as they alternately experienced Heaven and Hell on Earth. He travels with them into their demonic abysses and joyfully chronicles their ultimate ascension to their prodigal moments.
• The 6 Types of Working Genius: A Better Way to Understand Your Gifts, Your Frustrations, and Your Team by Patrick Lencioni – In classic Lencioni fashion, Pat brings his model to life in a page-turning fable that is as relatable as it is compelling. He tells the story of Bull Brooks, an entrepreneur, husband, and father who sets out to solve his own frustration at work and stumbles into a new way of thinking that changes the way he sees his work, his team, and even his marriage.  What sets this book—and the model behind it—apart from other tools and assessments is the speed at which it can be understood and applied, and the relevance it has to every kind of work in life, from running a company to launching a product to managing a family.
• Building a Killer Team: Without Killing Yourself Or Your Team by Shawn Lovejoy – You don’t just need a team; you need a killer team.n this practical application guide, you’ll discover how to foster togetherness, identify, recruit, and retain top talent, have meetings that matter, build a deeper bench, inspire your team, equip underperforms, and release team member the right way.  You will not get very far without a killer team. The book you hold in your hand will help you build that team while maintaining your sanity and credibility in the process.
• For Such a Time as This: My Faith Journey through the White House and Beyond by Kayleigh McEnany – Kayleigh McEnany describes her path to the White House podium, bringing the reader behind the scenes in the world’s most powerful building and illuminating how faith got her through. From White House intern to White House press secretary, from production assistant to national television host, from Catholic all-girls high school to Harvard Law School, God has guided her path through uncharted territory.  In For Such a Time as This, she chronicles her journey to the White House and offer never-before-told anecdotes about what really happened within the Trump administration. You will experience some of the most high stakes moments in the West Wing right alongside her as she reveals how faith got her through.
• The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential by John Maxwell – In this inspiring guide to successful leadership, New York Times bestselling author John C. Maxwell shares his tried and true principles for maximum personal growth.  Are there tried and true principles that are always certain to help a person grow? John Maxwell says the answer is yes. He has been passionate about personal development for over fifty years, and for the first time, he teaches everything he has gleaned about what it takes to reach our potential.
• Smart Leadership: Four Simple Choices to Scale Your Impact by Mark Miller – Have you ever wondered what it would take to be a better leader, or achieve your wildest dreams, or make a bigger difference in the world? The answer lies in the choices you make: about everything from how you spend your time to the way you view the world.  Smart Leadership is the latest essential business title from internationally bestselling author of Win the Heart and Chess Not Checkers Mark Miller. In this book, he shares the four research-based “smart choices” the best leaders make to scale their influence and results. 
• Best Seat in the House: 18 Golden Lessons from a Father to His Son by Jack Nicklaus II and Don Yeager – Best Seat in the House, written with New York Times bestselling author Don Yaeger, gives us eighteen valuable lessons that Jack Nicklaus II learned from his father, PGA champion Jack Nicklaus. Although the “Golden Bear,” as he is known by fans, is widely regarded as the best golfer of all time, with a record number of PGA major championships, his life and values show that true legacy lives on through your children, grandchildren, and others we are blessed to call family and friends.  For the first time, the public is given the opportunity to see what made Jack Nicklaus an off-course success, including
  • how he and his wife, Barbara, fashioned fifty-plus years of marriage, understanding that they both had to give of themselves “at least 95 percent of the time”
  • the importance of having boundaries and limits that everyone in the family agrees on
  • how Nicklaus taught his son Jack, who worked as his caddie for several years, to value his competitors and treat them as he would hope to be treated
  • the need to be connected to what we’ll leave behind: our legacies
• Leadership Alone Isn’t Enough: 40 Devotions to Strengthen Your Soul by Dan Reiland – This is the book I’m most excited about this quarter. Leadership unintentionally distant from God’s presence can be discouraging, even dangerous. It can easily happen because the busyness of ministry can rob you of the blessing of God’s power.  Leading from your own ability risks needless mistakes and failures. Outside of God’s power, we lose access to fresh vision, the wisdom only He provides, the ability to lead well through conflict and even supernatural favor.  Leadership Alone Isn’t Enough is a devotional filled with practical insights drawn from both scripture and proven experience.
• The Aspiring Leader’s Guide To The Future: 9 Surprising Ways Leadership Is Changing by Clay Scroggins – You may not hold a position of leadership or think of yourself as a leader. But if you want to create, change, or impact the world around you—even in a modest way—then you’re guided by a leader’s impulse and shaped by a leader’s principles. You are an aspiring leader.  But the fact is that you’ve come to this role at a time when leadership—like everything else—is rapidly changing…and too many leaders are addressing the problems of today and tomorrow with the style and substance of yesterday’s leadership. We need an update.
• Defy the Odds: How God Can Use Your Past to Shape Your Future by Dr. Benny Tate – Pastor Benny Tate never faced a time that wasn’t filled with obstacles. Each season of life came with setbacks that often seemed insurmountable: the abusive father figure who tormented Benny and his mother, the lack of guidance in his early adulthood, and the illness and infertility he and his wife battled in their marriage.  Yet in every crisis, God was there to redeem pain for glory, transforming Benny’s life into a moving testament to His power. Through his struggles, Benny’s faith grew as he saw how God provided him with the strength, wisdom, and resources he needed to overcome each staggering challenge placed before him.  In parts a memoir that will tug on your heartstrings, a guide to get you through tough times, and a reminder to never see yourself as the victim of your own life, Defy the Odds will inspire your soul as it proves that you follow a God who can—and will—see you through the impossible.
• Bible Prophecy: The Essentials: Answers To Your Most Common Questions by Amir Tsarfati and Barry Stagner – In this age of uncertainty, Christians want and need more than ever before to understand what the Bible reveals about the future. As authors Amir Tsarfati and Barry Stagner teach on the end times, their question-and-answer sessions remain a massively popular part of their ministry, demonstrating people’s profound hunger to know more about the last days.  In Bible Prophecy: The Essentials, Amir and Barry team up to answer 70 of their most commonly asked questions. Through succinct, Scripture-focused teachings, Amir and Barry address seven foundational themes of Bible prophecy:
  • Israel
  • the church
  • the rapture
  • the tribulation
  • the millennium
  • the Great White Throne judgment
  • heaven

  When studied with wisdom and discernment, God’s Word provides all you need to know about what is to come. User-friendly and organized by topic, Amir and Barry’s thoughtful and informative question-and-answer book will become your go-to resource as you prayerfully grow in your understanding of Bible prophecy.

• Is The End Near?  What Jesus Told Us About The Last Days by Michael Youssef – This book will answer your questions about end times issues by examining statements that Jesus Himself made about what was to come. You will be encouraged as you anticipate Christ’s return.  Both inside and outside the church, people are asking the same question: Is this the end of the world? With a global pandemic that has killed millions; nations spending millions of dollars to update their nuclear weapons arsenals; and an increase in fire, floods, plagues, and other natural disasters, Christians and non-Christians alike are concluding that history appears to be drawing to a close.  Yet Dr. Michael Youssef says now is not the time to fear.
• ***BONUS***  2021 The Year In Leadership: The Stories Of Faith, Athletics, Business, and Life Which Inspired Us All by Brian Dodd – Yes, this is my latest book!  Each chapter is filled with wisdom and insights from the leaders who succeeded and struggled during 2021. I take these lessons from all walks of life and give you practical steps on how to best use them in your own leadership. As you will discover, the stories are entertaining, challenging, inspiring, and sometimes even sobering. The best leaders are the ones who sense and seize opportunity in the midst of chaos. By learning the lessons from 2021, it helps ensure you have the potential to become the leader God meant for you to be in 2022.

That is my reading list for 2023.  What other great books are you currently reading?

#CommissionsEarned

Also, I want to tell you about the recent release of my 11-module coaching course The 2-Minute Leader.  The response to this resource has been incredible and is helping thousands of leaders.  Do you want to get better as a leader, here’s your chance!  Click HERE or the image below to learn more and order.

My book Timeless: 10 Enduring Practices Of Apex Leaders is available for purchase.  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.