Buzzard's Best Books of 2015

Here is my annual list (see the link at the bottom for past year's lists). These are not necessarily books published in 2015, but the books I read in 2015 that I benefitted from/enjoyed the most.The Relational Soul: Moving From False Self to Deep Communion, by Richard Plass and James Cofield. The most helpful, soul-penetrating book I read all year. During my sabbatical my wife and I slowly read, discussed, and prayed through the themes of each chapter. A healing, helpful book that I will return to.Happiness, by Randy Alcorn. Comprehensive and compelling. Alcorn's book led me to deeper happiness in God and his grace.A Passion for Faithfulness, by J.I. Packer. I'm preaching through Nehemiah right now, and this book by Packer on Nehemiah is a course in leadership that inspired, educated, and encouraged me.Natural Born Heroes: How a Daring Band of Misfits Mastered the Lost Secrets of Strength and Endurance, by Christopher McDougall. A few years ago I was glued to McDougall's, Born to Run. This is a very different book and it isn't as good (I was often frustrated with the choppiness of the writing, a technique that worked well with Born to Run), yet I couldn't put the book down. The narrative and the "lost secrets" kept grabbing my interest.The Life of Manny: Discovering Why People Follow A Leader, by Ray East. A fun read. I read this back in February and I still think about it almost every week. Want to become a more life-giving leader? Read this.Necessary Endings, by Henry Cloud. Endings are hard for me, so I read this book and it helped me.The Faith of Leap: Embracing A Theology of Risk, Adventure, & Courage, by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch. I know of nobody else writing about a theology of risk/adventure/courage. So important, so forgotten. Much more needs to be written and spoken about adventure and the Christian life, and the culture of churches.The Emotionally Healthy Leader: How Transforming Your Inner Life Will Deeply Transform Your Church, Team, and the World, by Peter Scazzero. Really good. I take this as Scazzero's best work, the best of what he's been writing about for years. I took our staff through this book. Some game-changers in here.Fire Your Gym! Simplified High-Intensity Workouts You Can Do At Home: A 9-Week Program--Fewer Injuries, Better Results, by Andy Petranek. Simple, tested wisdom by a CrossFit instructor and distance runner on how to be fit. The title is terrible. And I didn't follow the 9 week program. But what I gained was some core wisdom on how to structure and scale my pursuit of fitness for a lifetime. The big, simple takeaway: Vary high-intensity days with low-intensity days.The Power of One-on-One: Discovering the Joy and Satisfaction of Mentoring Others by Jim Stump, and Frank Martin. A friend in my church gave me this book. Really good. A forgotten power: loving and mentoring people one-on-one.Joy and Human Flourishing. by Miroslav Volf and Justin E. Crisp. With this title I had to read this book. I devour any thoughtful writing on joy, happiness, human flourishing. Worth reading.Leading Change, by John P. Kotter. If you're leading change there is proven wisdom here.

The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, by Daniel James Brown. A great story full of great lessons on teamwork.

Law and Gospel: A Theology for Sinners (and Saints), by William McDavid, Ethan Richardson, and David Zahl. In the little bit of Mockingbird content I've read I find some of it's tone "snarky" and at times drifting into antinomian zones, but there is a lot of gospel gold here.

Toughest People to Love: How to Understand, Lead, and Love the Difficult People in Your Life--Including Yourself,  by Chuck DeGroat. We're all difficult and we're all surrounded by some difficult people, so a book that addresses this problem is important.

How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor by James K. A. Smith. I'm not quite done with this one yet. It's slow-going, deep, important. I started reading it because I felt like I "should" read it, given all the recommendations it's received. The more I've read, the more I've grasped it's importance for understanding the culture I'm living in and preaching to.

Becoming Worldly Saints: Can You Serve Jesus and Still Enjoy Your Life? by Michael Wittmer. We all have people in our life that will especially benefit from this book. We need more writing that exegetes and articulates the expansive vocation(s) we're called to as Christians.

Click here for last year's list: Best Books of 2014, and a link to past year's lists.