Pastor Godwin’s Top 5 Books of 2022
Below are my Top 5 Books from 2022 that did my mind and soul the most good. If you need encouragement or equipping, or know someone who does, grab one of these. All five will stir your mind and put wind in your sails.
#5 “Caring for One Another” by Ed Welch
Here is a short, simple, practical book designed to be read out loud with a group of brothers and sisters. It’s aim is simple: practically caring for one another’s souls. Sounds good, right? I am currently reading this with our staff and it is already producing good fruit in our relationships.
#4 “Christ from Beginning to End: How the Full Story of Scripture Reveals the Full Glory of Christ” by Trent Hunter & Stephen Wellum
I’m helping to lead a Men’s discipleship group and this was our first read. This book has many strengths: it is comprehensive but concise; it dives deep into many areas of biblical interpretation, but will help the thoughtful lay person; it takes you all over the Bible, without sacrificing clarity or overwhelming the reader. Perhaps its greatest contribution is in equipping the reader to see the passage being studied in light of the whole Bible, the covenants, and the gospel.
#3 “Be Thou My Vision: A Liturgy for Daily Worship” by Jonathan Gibson
Liturgy may be a dirty word in your view, but it shouldn’t! Every worship service and every Christian has a liturgy (i.e. order/rhythm of worship) they practice – whether they realize it or not. This book helps individual Christians to “gospelize” & “liturgize” their personal devotions. Each reading includes a call to worship, prayer of adoration, moment of confession and assurance, a reading from a creed or confession etc. I’ve used this for a few weeks now, alongside my bible reading, and find my communion with God to be enriched. This can unclutter and focus your daily bible reading and prayer times.
#2 “Deeper: Real Change for Real Sinners” by Dane Ortlund
Perhaps you’ve read his first homerun hit “Gentle & Lowly” – this one, in my book, is even better! If you want a pastorally warm, utterly biblical, and decisively practical book on growing in actual holiness, then grab this book in earnest. Let Dane guide you in not only putting to death sin and putting on righteousness, but in growing in your affection for Christ. Two enthusiastic thumbs way up.
#1 “Strange New World: How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution” by Carl Trueman
A shorter version of his epic tome “The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self,” this book was simply riveting! Do you want to know why our culture has gotten to this place of identity politics, moral compromise, and hostility towards the church? Would you like to be equipped with perspectives and postures that Christians can embrace in response? Would you like to grow in your compassion for those outside God’s church? Run, don’t walk, to get this book.