2020 is in the Books.
By: Mike Weston
Tags: Leadership Development, Christian, Book Review, Books, Book Recommendations

This year I re-read some of my favorite books.

The Burden is Light by Jon Tyson — I’ve always struggled with Jesus’ teaching in which he declares his burden “light” (Matthew 11:28–30). Ultimately I’ve come to discover the weight I’ve felt is more related to the expectations of others and less on the expectation that Jesus has placed on me. Tyson’s book helped me adjust several areas of life discrepancies where I was placing guilt instead of grace. Thankful this work has helped me lighten the faith journey to better reflect the joy found in Jesus’ teaching. Conscience by Andy Naselli — One of the largest causes of division within various Christian circles isn’t actual theology. Instead, it’s personal opinion. Your understanding of accusing or excusing yourself from sin is your conscience. Your conscience can be in line with Scripture. But it can also be misaligned and in need of adjustment. My favorite line from Naselli is this, “…stop trying to force others to obey the rules of your conscience: Your conscience is for you, not them.” This is exactly where we are in the church today (and have been and will continue to be). A timely read for Fundamentalists and Evangelicals alike. Disappearing Church by Mark Sayers — With the individual self taking the place of God as ultimate authority in the Western world, Sayers points out that: “Throughout history God has replenished cultures, through the witness of minorities of believers who hold true to their beliefs while blessing the surrounding culture. It is to this position we must return.” He calls this position characterized by gospel resilience, “the creative minority.” A term I’ve come to love and encourage staff and students to emulate. It is also a challenge to the church to alter its method of apologetic convincing and political domineering. Sayers’ podcast, This Cultural Moment, with the legendary John Mark Comer coincide nicely for a more robust understanding. Highly recommended. It will be required reading in my Church History courses moving forward. The Search for God and Guinness by Stephen Mansfield — I love this story of Arthur Guinness utilizing beer to create healthy communities and organizational culture in Ireland motivated by his faith. The Guinness family’s ability to create an organization marked by love for people and actively seeking to do good on their behalf is an inspiring story that reminds me that what makes a company successful is as much “how” they work as “what” they provide. Also, it’s about Guinness. Hard to go wrong there.

I have a plan to read at least 10 of my all-time favorites in 2021. Cycling back through a few old favorites refreshed my memory of ideas that were formative of my past in order to continue to impact my future. I really enjoyed adding this practice to my reading habit in 2020.

This year I read multiple books from one author.

In fact, I did this with two different authors. It was fun to feel like you’re getting to know these authors personally as you’re exposed to the breadth of their ideas.

Sean Benesh — Writing from the perspective of ministry and entrepreneurial leadership with a passion for education, coffee and neighborhoods, I had an instant connection with Sean’s writing. His photography is also inspiring. Of the five works I read, The New Cartographers was my favorite. This work focused on leveraging social entrepreneurial-ship for the good of others, specifically within the “urban hinterlands” an area Benesh describes as “uncool and undesirable neighborhoods…becoming more economically isolated.” This is a goal we’re certainly working toward as a health center for the good of the community were located within. Insightful works. Henri Nouwen — Since reading my first Nouwen book at the recommendation of Frank Bealer in 2019, I’ve started to work his writing into my diet consistently. His humble insights, connection to the Spirit and pastoral gentleness are a breath of fresh air in an age of pastoral malpractice (for more on pastoral malpractice, read the awesome book When Narcissism Comes to the Church by Chuck DeGroat).

In my favorite of his works, In the Name of Jesus, Nouwen chastises pastors working from their strength and calls them to serve from their weakness. He writes: “The mystery of ministry is that we have been chosen to make our own limited and very conditional love the gateway from the unlimited and unconditional love of God.”

This year I went deep into health care.

This makes sense as I’ve been named the Interim Executive Director of a Community Health Center in Rochester called His Branches. There, we work to create quality, accessible and affordable healthcare in an area of our city where medical care is limited. You can find out more about our group or donate to help repair our roof or meet the needs of patients through our Patient Assistance Fund anytime you’d like. We have big plans to ramp up the Community Development arm of the ministry in 2021. Keep an eye out for more info.

As far as books, my favorite was How Neighborhoods Make Us Sick. Written by the leaders of Good Samaritan Health in Atlanta, Georgia, the book does an excellent job exposing social determinants that exist within poorer zip codes. These determinants (think economic, environment (housing), education, nutrition, etc) reduce quality of health and ultimately length of life. Common Ground Health and NCRC have both revealed the existence of health disparities within our own city of Rochester. I’m a big fan of the authors’ model to “promote health rather than simply diagnose illness” and with a similar goal we’ve passed this book around for our staff, donors and board to walk through together this year in order to better strategize for our community’s good moving forward. Been a good team read.