As a young, inexperienced youth worker, I don’t benefit from the wisdom of years of fruitful experience. Thankfully many of those who have gone before have written books to help those of us who are young, impetuous, and foolish. This is why I read.
The challenge is that there is a wealth of wisdom to be gleaned from all the books that are available. So I’ve been thinking of how best to spend my time reading, so that I benefit most strategically from these literary mentors. Here are three thoughts:
1. **Reading must be strategic.** One of the biggest challenges for those in my position is deciding what books one should. This challenge is compounded if you are a slow reader as I am. So how do you decide?
First, we should always prioritize God’s book, as it is the only book from which God speaks directly and the only one from which we can receive life.
Second, I personally try to read across several topics. Since Mondays is my family day, I try to focus my reading on something related to marriage or parenting. I’m currently reading Andreas Kostenberger’s *God, Marriage, and Family*. On other days I’ll read books on youth ministry. And this year, since I have tried to learn more about prayer, I’ll concurrently read a book on prayer. My current list of books is divided into *biblical & theological studies, youth ministry, marriage and family, and personal development*. Now this is a fairly rough division and oftentimes books will overlap.
Finally, I try to get the opinion of those whom I respect. Since we have a limited amount of time and energy, I want to spend it reading those books that are most helpful. So I ask my wife, pastors, other youth pastors and teachers, read blogs, trust particular publishers. From the suggestions of these sources, I construct a working reading list.
2. **Reading must be a long-term endeavor.** Being a slow reader makes the process of getting through a book an arduous one. And because there is a large number of books that I would *like* to read, the temptation to stop reading one book prematurely to start another is strong. I’ve tried to shift my thinking from getting a particular book done a specific time-frame, to just finishing. Finishing is better than not finishing, even if it is a slow, laborious process. In this case, “slow and steady” does win the race.
3. **Reading must be a consistent practice.** I watched a very helpful soundbite from Bill Hybels, where he makes the statement that he does leadership development as a discipline. He doesn’t read books on leadership because he likes to. He reads them out of discipline. You can watch the video at Matt Perman’s blog, What’s Best Next. I suppose for many, the idea that reading is a discipline comes as second nature. But, this has been a revolutionary truth for me. So I try to make it my practice to read for a minimum of fifteen minutes every morning as a way of making consistent progress in reading.
What are your thoughts on reading?