New Churches Podcast | Episode 687

Reading on a Budget

Description: Episode 687: Leaders are readers and if you’re not a learner in this day and age, you’ve got a short shelf life as a leader. But acquiring books is difficult for a pastor whose finances are limited. Trevin Wax and Todd Adkins point out several ways to read great books on a tight budget.

In This Episode, You’ll Discover:

  • Why it’s important to read widely
  • Ways to read well when you can’t afford books
  • How to know which books are worth investing in
  • The importance of discerning which books to keep long-term and which to give away

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Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches):

You got to have a mix of both “book smarts” and “street smarts.” In planting, you got to learn from experience, but what you know translates into practice. @TrevinWax

You have to be selective. One of the best ways to do that is to find a couple other guys that are just as hungry to read as you are, because they’re going to help you by recommending good books. You often can borrow them from each other. @ToddAdkins

If you can’t afford books, read good book reviews. A well-done book review will summarize the book really well in a short amount of space, and then will probably get into some kind of either criticism or appreciation of the book. @TrevinWax

Some of the older books have moved into the public domain. Those are incredible books that have stood the test of time. @ToddAdkins

Books are more and more expensive these days. There’s nothing wrong with rereading the best books. @TrevinWax

Most of us have more books in our home than some of the great theologians and pastors of the Christian tradition ever had in their lifetime. Some of the great pastors and theologians didn’t have thousands of books. They had a number of books that they went super deep into. @TrevinWax

Your local library has digital ebooks available. You’re not going to get great theological classics there, but if you want to read about history or biography, you’d be amazed at how many you can download. @TrevinWax

Published on July 28, 2022

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New Churches Podcast

The New Churches podcast offers practical answers to your real ministry questions. We aren’t going to provide lofty pie-in-the-sky theories. Instead, we are going to help you in your real ministry context, with your real thoughts, questions, and issues.

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