Pillar Elders Reading List: Winter/Spring 2020

If you are looking for some book recommendations and don’t want to read alone, join us as we read 6 books in the first six months of the year. The books are aimed at challenging and stretching us to grow in important ways that we might not normally consider if we are choosing on our own. Each month we have selected a book that we hope will spur on conversations of what it looks like to live out our faith in 2020. In the last week of the month we will post a video discussing insights from the book and ways they are applicable in our context.

 


January: A Treasury of Prayer: The Best of E.M Bounds, edited by Leonard Ravenhill. E.M Bounds has probably written more on the subject of prayer than anyone in the English speaking world. He also speaks to us from a past generation in a way that can be prophetic about our need to depend less on our technology and abilities and more on God as we seek Him in prayer.

February: The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, John Mark Comer. The title of Comer’s book comes from some advice that Dallas Willard once gave to John Ortberg. When asked what he needed to do to deepen his discipleship in Christ, Willard replied, “Ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.”

March: Every Good Endeavor, Timothy Keller. Few people give consideration to how their faith intersects with their work. In Every Good Endeavor, Keller provides us with a Biblical vision for “work” and helps connect the Bible to the other six days of the week. If you have ever wondered whether God cares about your work, be sure to join us as we read through this together.

April: The Weight of Glory and The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis. These two short classics from the author of The Chronicles of Narnia are worth reading over and over again. Lewis writes with keen insight about the human soul and strengthens our moral imagination in ways that few others can.

May: 40 Questions about Interpreting the Bible, Robert Plummer. In this book you will encounter simple chapters that address the most important questions many people have about reading and interpreting the Bible. Whether you have been reading the Bible for a long time or are new to it, you will find insight and guidance here as you read the most important book in your library.

June: Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, Eric Metaxas. What does it look like to stand against the tide in a culture of death? Travel into WWII era Germany with this biography and consider what it means to be a voice in the wilderness and to act with courage for values that are eternal when the world is pressing in on you.