I had stepped away from the Cohort for a couple of years as I was adjusting to new roles in different churches. I am happily back in Oregon, but I had not been reading as much because I was having some issues with being able to focus long enough to read without being distracted.

I believe I am getting a better handle on that and this year I did well in my reading. I want to share the books I read this year, but start with the ones that impacted me the most. So what you’ll see here are my favorites and then I will end with the remaining list of everything I read (being on the large list is not necessarily an endorsement, but favorites are).

Losing My Voice to Find It by Mark Stuart
Mark Stuart was the lead singer for the popular Christian band of the 1990s – 2000s. It was until Stuart began noticing his voice going out on him on a daily basis and getting worse that he sought out medical attention. He found out he had a disorder of his vocal chords and would likely not regain his ability to sing. But through his story of losing his voice, his marriage, his ministry, and his identity, Stuart found his true identity in Christ and a bigger purpose and mission to reach orphaned children in Haiti and find them adoptive families (including his own family–he and his wife have adopted children from Haiti). I found a connection with this story as I have had similar issues with my voice and ability to sing like I used to, leav1ing worship ministry but still struggling with worship music and what we do as churches made this book easily one of my favorite reads. I highly recommend it.

Tombstones to Cornerstones by Rick Krug
Churches of Christ are hemorrhaging members every week and many of us are seeking ways to bring them back or at least fix our issues to prevent them from leaving to begin with. It will take some paradigm shifts for us to grow and seek to be more like Christ as we reach out to our communities. I believe Krug’s work is important to bring us back to the Gospel and down to earth when it comes to what we need to be focused on as churches on mission.

At the Blue Hole by Jack R. Reese
Again, I have been seeking to discover our roots and find tools to help Churches of Christ grow again and end the open back door. From the description on Amazon: This book is an elegy for those churches. But it is also a story of hope and promise. As from the “Blue Hole”—the tiny, hidden spring from which flows the San Antonio River, near where Jack Reese ministers—there is still abundant life and grace to be found flowing into Churches of Christ, waiting to be uncovered. Anyone wondering how to stem the seemingly inevitable ebb of the fading Western church will find solace and help in Reese’s account of a once-thriving fellowship of churches that, God willing, may yet emerge from the grave into the light of resurrection. Jack Reese has been writing on this issue for some time and 20 years ago, when I read his book The Body Broken, I have been fond of Reese’s perspective.

Finding Phoebe by Susan E. Hylen
Male and female roles within the church have been a hot topic for a long time. This book was recommended to me as I was just seeking to learn more about the history behind roles in the church but also in society back when Scripture was written and why. Hylen’s book is less about the role within the church and more about what ARE women doing and allowed to do in the First Century society. A great history of women in society, property ownership and management, marriage, working, speech, education, and industry. Once you see what women were able and not able to do, you can make that apply as you need to.

OTHER BOOKS READ IN 2025
LEAD by Paul David Tripp
Twelve Ordinary Men by John MacArthur
The Church Revitalization Checklist by Sam Rainer
Counter Culture by David Platt
Lectures to My Students by Charles Spurgeon
The Gospel Driven Life by Michael Horton
The War on Conservatives by Mark Dice
The Great Omission by Dallas Willard
Empty Church by Stan Granberg
Who Moved My Cheese? by Dr. Spencer Johnson
Naked Man Running by Dave Jacobs
Shepherds, Wake Up! by J. J. Turner
Deacons, Wake Up! by J. J. Turner
Forgotten God by Francis Chan
One At A Time by Kyle Idleman
Deacons: Male and Female? by J. Stephen Sandifer
Women Serving God by John Mark Hicks