Paul Madson

THOUGHTS, QUOTES & REFLECTIONS

Month: January 2024

My Top “Honorable Mention” Books of 2023

Last week, I shared the list of My Top 10 Books for 2023. This week, I wanted to follow it up by sharing my Top 10 ‘Honorable Mentions’ from this past year.
 
Here’s my list:

#10

Atomic Habits
by James Clear

(Re-Read) I first read this outstanding book several years ago. I have since read it four times—it’s that good. Bottom line: if you want an easy, proven way to build good habits and break bad ones, this book will help you. This book was written six years ago, yet it still landed on the New York Times Best-Seller List this past year.


#9

Your Future Self Will Thank You: Secrets to Self-Control from the Bible and Brain Science
by Drew Dyck

 
(Re-Read) This book’s ‘Sub-Sub’ Title is A Guide for Sinners, Quitters & Procrastinators. This book is biblically-based and filled with practical insights that will help anyone wanting to develop greater self-control (self-discipline). Lee Strobel said this about the book: “Few books have the potential to change your life as much as this one.” Drew Dyck is an editor at Moody Publishers and has written several outstanding books.


#8

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less 
by Greg McKeown

This book isn’t about getting more done in less time; it’s about getting only the right things done. This book will help you to ‘focus’ on that which is most important in your life. Have you ever found yourself stretched too thin? Are you often busy, but not productive? Do you feel like your time is constantly being hijacked by other people’s agendas? Here are four brief quotes I saved from the book:
 
“Remember, if you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.”
 
“It is about making the wisest possible investment of your time and energy in order to operate at our highest point of contribution by doing only what is essential.”
 
“Sometimes what you don’t do is just as important as what you do.”
 
3 End-of-Day Questions:
What went well?
What could have been better?
What will I change for tomorrow?


#7

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
by Cal Newport

(Re-Read) You may have noticed that three of the last four books were ‘re-reads’ for me. The reason? In order to finish my Ph.D., I knew I needed to increase my ability to do deep work, prioritize what is most important, increase my self-discipline, and develop and maintain better habits.
 
The above four books will help anyone wanting to grow in these areas of life. Deep Work (in my opinion) is desperately needed in our ‘distracted, entertainment-focused, social-media-saturated, internet-dominated culture’ in which we live. Attention spans to accomplish deep thought and deep work continue to shrink—this is why fewer and fewer people read books. They are losing their ‘mental muscle’ to read, think, and write carefully and thoughtfully. This book was both encouraging and challenging.


#6

The Gospel: How the Church Portrays the Beauty of Christ
by Ray Ortlund

(Re-Read) I have read this several times since it first came out in 2014. It is simply one of the best little books on ‘What is the Gospel?’ Ortlund also develops the concept of ‘gospel culture’ and why it is so necessary that we pay attention to it within our churches and organizations.

Here are two short quotes from the book on Gospel Culture:

“Our unity exalts Jesus in the eyes of the world as the true Son of God sent from the Father—all his claims convincing, all his purposes desirable, all his promises inevitable. This was important enough to Jesus that he prayed for it.”

“Our churches should rejoice over one another’s successes and grieve over one another’s setbacks. We should speak well of one another across denominational lines and humble ourselves in our own eyes by forgiving past injuries and promoting the common good in the gospel.”


#5

Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity
by Dr. Peter Attia, MD

I heard about this book from several people, and then when Pastor Kevin DeYoung (Christ Covenant Church and part of The Gospel Coalition) listed it as one of his “Top 10” books of 2023, I purchased it in late December and read it over the holidays.

Dr. Attia contrasts “lifespan” (how long we live – the quantity of our years) with “healthspan” (how well we live – the quality of our years). He gives numerous highly reputable PhD research studies to support his assertions on the importance of maintaining a healthy diet, regular exercise, and a good sleep regimen.

Here is one brief quote on the importance of regular exercise as we age:

“More than any other tactical domain we discuss in this book, exercise has the greatest power to determine how you will live out the rest of your life… [regular exercise] delays the onset of chronic diseases, pretty much across the board, but it is also amazingly effective at extending and improving healthspan… So if you adopt only one new set of habits based on reading this book, it must be in the realm of exercise… And if exercise is not a part of your life at the moment, you are not alone—77 percent of the US population is like you… Even a little bit of daily activity is much better than nothing.”


#4

The Genesis of Gender: A Christian Theory
by Dr. Abigail Favale, PhD

To say that we are living amid ‘gender confusion’ in the U.S. is certainly an understatement. The question of gender – who we are as men and women – has never been more pressing or more misunderstood. In this book, Dr. Favale weaves her own personal experience with expert knowledge.

She writes with substance, clarity, and compassion. She lays out a powerful, moving articulation of a Christian understanding of reality: a holistic paradigm that proclaims the dignity of the body, the sacramental meaning of sexual difference, and the interconnectedness of all creation. If you want to better understand the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of gender confusion today, read this book.


#3

Bullies and Saints: An Honest Look at the Good and Evil of Christian History
by John Dickson

How do we answer people in today’s culture who bring up some of the atrocities that have been done in the name of Christ (by Christians) down through the centuries? Whether those atrocities include violence, bigotry, war, oppression, racism, greed, child abuse, or something else. Do we turn a deaf ear? Try to sweep it under the rug?

If you know anything about history, you are aware that there have been Christians down through the centuries who have been “bullies” and have not represented Christ honorably. How do we respond intelligently and graciously? This book will help equip you to answer many of those questions. John Dickson is an excellent historian and apologist. I’ve read almost all of his books.


#2

Why Believe? A Reasoned Approach to Christianity
by Neil Shenvi

This has become one of my favorite ‘go-to’ books that I recommend to people who want to investigate the claims of Christianity (in an accessible 250-page book). It does a beautiful job of exploring the evidence for the Christian faith. It is written with the 2020s and many of the current issues in apologetics in mind.

Dr. Shenvi received his PhD from the University of California Berkeley (where he came to faith in Christ!), then worked as a research scientist at Yale University and Duke University. Neil has published over thirty peer-reviewed papers.


#1

Rooting for Rivals: How Collaboration and Generosity Increase the Impact of Leaders, Charities, and Churches
by Peter Greer and Chris Horst

This is a book that I wish I had written. It describes my heart through my years of pastoring and now leading Global Training Network. I kept saying “Amen!” as I read it. It describes why we should work together as church and para-church organizations to further God’s Kingdom for His Glory.

Too often, there is rivalry, envy, or jealousy between local churches in the same city or fellow mission organizations seeking to serve Christ around the world. These authors look at the “Seven Deadly Sins” and show how they often show up in churches and Christian ministries—so that rather than working together for God’s glory, they criticize, compare, and divide.

Rather than ‘rejoicing with those who rejoice’ and ‘weeping with those who weep’ (Romans 12:14), they instead ‘rejoice with those who weep’ and ‘weep with those who rejoice.’ Read this and be encouraged about the importance Scripture places on working together for God’s glory.


My Top 10 Books of 2023

In case you’re interested, below is a list of my Top 10 books of 2023. Enjoy!
 
One quick reminder about the reading of books: Reading books is meant to make us think, to challenge assumptions, to deepen our faith, to grapple with issues we would normally not wrestle with. And ultimately, reading books is meant—not simply to ‘check off my list’—but to think through, pray through, and apply so that we are more like Jesus after reading them. Reading books isn’t a race—read slowly, drink deeply, process thoughtfully, markup and highlight, and let your heart be enriched.


#10

Humility: The Joy of Self-Forgetfulness 
by Gavin Ortlund

Simply put, this is a short 90-page book(let) on the link between our joy and humility. Ortlund does a beautiful job of showing how true humility leads to greater joy in life. And who doesn’t want (and need) more joy? You can read it in an hour.


#9

What’s So Amazing About Grace? (25th Anniversary Edition)
by Philip Yancey

 (Re-Read) I first read this when it came out in 1997, and it continues to inspire and encourage me to be a more gracious person in all areas of life. Christians aren’t always known as being gracious toward others—particularly those with whom we may disagree. This book will help answer the question: How well are we dispensing grace to a world that knows far more of strife and unforgiveness than mercy?


#8

Christianity and Liberalism (100th Anniversary Edition) 
by J. Gresham Machen

(Re-Read) I first read this classic book in the 1980s, and it continues to be even more relevant today in the 2020s.

This book was first written in the 1920s during the height of Liberalism’s push to normalize a “non-supernatural, Bible-can’t-be-trusted, Jesus-didn’t-really-physically-rise-from-the-dead” era.
 
Ray Ortlund writes, “Is our Christianity today the Christianity of the New Testament? Let’s not assume that it is. Let’s examine whether it is. J. Gresham Machen’s profound classic, Christianity & Liberalism, can help us face this urgent question with courage and clarity. And may God grant us wonderful rediscoveries of his grace in Christ, ushering in a new era of reformation and revival.”


#7

The Steward Leader: Transforming People, Organizations and Communities
by R. Scott Rodin

The subject of my Ph.D. dissertation is Steward Leadership, so I am acutely interested in this book. I’ve always believed that the best leadership is an Acts 20:24 model, where the Apostle Paul states, “But I consider my life of no value to myself; my purpose is to finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of God’s grace.”

In other words, my life does not belong to me—it belongs to God. All of life is about stewardship. Your life, job, business, assets, gifts, and talents belong to God. We are simply stewards of all God has entrusted to us.
 
To give you a snippet of what a ‘steward leader’ is, Rodin says this in his introduction:

“As steward leaders we have no need to seek to increase in our positions of power. We have no desire to build our own kingdoms and advance our own reputations. Our lives are ‘hidden with Christ in God’ (Colossians 3:3)… Steward leaders empower their people, give away authority, value and involve others, seek the best in and from their people, and constantly lift others up, push others into the limelight and reward those they lead—all so that God’s will may be done in a more powerful way. They seek no glory for themselves but find great joy in seeing others prosper. They take no account of their reputation, but desire that Jesus’ face be seen in all they do.”


#6

Surprised by Doubt: How Disillusionment Can Invite Us into a Deeper Faith
by Joshua D. Chatraw and Jack Carson

Josh Chatraw is a fellow with The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics (which is part of The Gospel Coalition). This book is written for this generation of those struggling with doubt and questions about their faith. It’s an apologetics book written especially for the 2020s.

Chatraw and Carson write from a gracious perspective as they seek to answer the real existential questions that even believers in Christ struggle with occasionally. They write in the same spirit of Jude 1:22, “Be merciful to those who doubt.” This book certainly won’t answer all the questions you may wrestle with, but I believe it will deepen your faith in Christ and His Word.

Though this book doesn’t quote Rachael Denhollander, I couldn’t help but think about one of her statements in recent years.

After all that happened to Rachael and her fellow gymnasts (from Dr. Larry Nassar), she said:

“And while I still have huge unanswered questions, I realize I have more real answers through my faith than without it.”

In case you are wondering who Rachael is, here is a brief bio to give some context to the above quote:

Rachael Joy Denhollander (née Moxon; born December 8, 1984) is an American lawyer and former gymnast. She was the first woman to publicly accuse Larry Nassar, the former Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics doctor, of sexual assault. Denhollander is 2018 Glamour Woman of the Year and was included in Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2018. She is the recipient of the 2021 Abraham Kuyper Prize for Excellence in Reformed Theology and Public Life.

Denhollander has been bestowed with many honors for bringing Nassar to justice, including Time magazine naming her to its 2018 list of the world’s 100 Most Influential People. On May 16, 2018, it was announced that the survivors of the USA Gymnastics sexual abuse scandal would be awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. On December 12, 2018, Denhollander was announced as the winner of Sports Illustrated‘s Inspiration of the Year Award.

Rachael’s husband (Jacob) is currently working on his Ph.D. at Southern Seminary.


#5

Agents of Grace: How to Bridge Divides and Love as Jesus Loved
by Daniel Darling

What’s worth fighting for? How do we navigate disagreement? And how do we live as agents of Jesus’ love? Darling explores practical ways to follow the Bible’s command to ‘strive for peace’ even in a painfully divided church, country, and world.

This book will help people climb out of cynicism about how the people of God treat each other, especially when we are trying to heal from such pain in our own lives, and issues a clarion call to live as bridge builders in a divided country, healers in a hurting church, and countercultural Jesus-followers in a world that needs to know God’s love.

Bethany Jenkins, Vice President of Media for the Veritas Forum, says, “This book will inspire you to work toward the beautiful vision of unity that Jesus desires for his messy but glorious bride.”

This is a much-needed book, especially as we enter 2024. 😊


#4

Born to Wonder: Exploring Our Deepest Questions – Why Are We Here and Why Does It Matter? 
by Alister McGrath

In the spirit of C.S. Lewis, McGrath writes compellingly about the macro issues of life, specifically the meaning of life. It seeks to wrestle with and answer questions such as: What is the point of life? Why does it matter? What does it mean to be a human being?

This is a great book for a seeker to wrestle with. McGrath writes especially for those who have no particular faith—atheist or agnostic—but I believe it will benefit all who read it.

McGrath writes in his introduction, “Life is a gift. We never asked to be born. Yet here we are, living in this strange world of space and time, trying to work out what it’s all about.

So what is life about? As far as we know, we’re the only species on earth that asks this question and dares to hope that we might find an answer. It seems that we are born to wonder, not merely to exist.

To wonder is to reflect, to turn over in our minds what is known, to expand our imaginative capacity, and to ask what greater truth and beauty might lie behind our world or beyond our settled horizons of vision. We want to know why things take their present forms and whether they point to something deeper… Human beings seem to yearn for a ‘big picture’ which helps us feel that we are part of something greater than ourselves.”


#3

Remaking the World: How 1776 Created the Post-Christian West
by Andrew Wilson

Even if you don’t love history, you will love reading this book. And if you love history (like I do), you’ll especially enjoy it! Wilson can flat-out write in an engaging, colorful manner that makes history come alive.

Don’t let the book’s title mislead you—this is not about the founding of America (although it intersects with the pivotal year of 1776). It is a book about how we got to the current “post-Christian West” in which we live today—and how we can best be salt and light in a culture where Christianity is diminishing rather than flourishing (as it is in the global South). Believe it or not, the roots of our current post-Christian West go back to key events in 1776. Wilson states, “The big idea of this book is that 1776, more than any other year in the last millennium, is the year that made us who we are. We cannot understand ourselves without it.”

The inside of the book jacket sums it well: “A single year in the late eighteenth century saw several monumental transformations—indeed, revolutions—that changed the trajectory of the Western world. Some are more familiar than others, but most of us know only a fraction of what occurred during that pivotal year or how those events still shape the post-Christian West today.”

In Remaking the World, Andrew Wilson investigates seven major developments arising from events in 1776:

  • Globalization
  • the Enlightenment
  • the Industrial Revolution
  • the Great Enrichment
  • the American Revolution
  • the Rise of post-Christianity
  • the dawn of Romanticism

Drawing on key documents and historical figures, he demonstrates how these political, philosophical, economic, and industrial changes shaped the modern West into a “WEIRDER” society: Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic, Ex-Christian, and Romantic.

In case you have not heard of Andrew Wilson (Ph.D., Kings College London), he is the teaching pastor at King’s Church London and a columnist for Christianity Today. He has degrees in history and theology from Cambridge and King’s College London and is the author of several books.


#2

Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation
by Collin Hansen

This book was one of the most enjoyable biographies I’ve ever read (some of that certainly has to do with my great respect for the late Tim Keller). What were the key ideas, people, and events that shaped Tim Keller’s life? John Thune, US senator from South Dakota, said this about the book, “Collin Hansen brilliantly examines the story behind one of the greatest thinkers, teachers, and writers of our time. If you’ve been as blessed as I have by Tim Keller’s work and ministry, you must read this book.”

Reading this book was pure joy for me!


#1

Being Elisabeth Elliot: Elisabeth’s Later Years (Volume 2 of The Two-Volume Authorized Biography)
by Ellen Vaughn

This book took me by surprise. I knew I would enjoy it—because I enjoy biography and have read most of Elliot’s books over the years—but I had no idea how much I would enjoy it and how many “surprising” things I would learn about Elisabeth’s life. I told someone recently, “After reading this book, I could write an article entitled, ’10 Surprising Things I Never Knew about Elisabeth Elliot.’” Some of these things were (for me) ‘drop-your-jaw-you-have-to-be-kidding-me’ kind of things. Not scandalous. Just “Wow! I never would have imagined that when thinking about Elisabeth Elliot.”

I read Through Gates of Splendor when I was in college and knew most of the backstory of Elisabeth and Jim’s lives before 1960. But Volume 2 starts in the early 1960s after Elliot moved back to the U.S. from Ecuador.

This book is filled with primary source material from Elliot’s journals over the years. Personal reflections, deep and honest questions, struggles, surprising joys, and deepest heartaches. It filled in many of the missing pieces I never knew about the second half of her life.

Elisabeth Elliot has impacted hundreds of thousands of people through her writing and speaking (myself being one). This book will give you a much greater appreciation for the woman behind her many books.

Read this and deepen your understanding of Elisabeth Elliot, and maybe you’ll figure out what my “10 Surprising Things…” are. 😊

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