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Discipleship & Evangelism

19 Spiritually Impactful Reads

by Lifeway Voices | May 21, 2021

One of our goals at Lifeway is to design trustworthy resources that help you grow in your walk with Christ, no matter what you do, where you’re from, or what stage of life you’re in. We thought it would be fun—and would help build our to-be-read piles!—if we asked some of our teammates what resources (outside the Bible) contributed most significantly in their walks with Christ.


When I was 15 years old and a young believer, my brother came home from Bible college with a book he had read for a class and excitedly told me I had to read it. The book was Delighting in the Trinity by Michael Reeves. I spent the next few weeks diving into this text, covering the pages in neon orange highlighter and notes in the margin. For the first time, I understood the way in which God being triune impacts everything—the creation of this world, my faith, and my daily actions. Although Reeves deals with this weighty theology intently, he writes of the beauty of the Trinity in a poetic and witty way, and as I read, I was truly brought to a place of delighting in who God is. Years later, I continue to recognize this book as the agent by which a rooted affection for God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit was cultivated in my life. 

– Ravin McKelvy, marketing writer, Lifeway Kids


Mere Christianity taught me to be a thinking Christian. John Piper’s Desiring God taught me to think theologically and to connect my head to my heart. Jonathan Leeman’s The Church and the Surprising Offense of God’s Love taught me about the nature of the local church and its centrality in the Christian life. John Owen’s Mortification of Sin spurred me on to pursue “the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” Andy Crouch’s Culture Making revolutionized the way I see vocation, work, and image bearing. Augustine’s City of God helped me see the relationship of the kingdom of God and this world and how to live in the latter as a citizen of the former. Finally, I read Tim Keller’s little booklet The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness every year.
– Taylor Combs, associate publisher, B&H Publishing

Reading the Scriptures is my anchor, but in 2018, I found myself in a season of spiritual dryness. My parents died 40 days apart, and I was emotionally, physically, and spiritually exhausted. And to complicate matters, the Scriptures weren’t speaking to me like they had in the past. I’d open the Bible in search of comfort, and even though I knew those promises are true—at that moment they seemed to be for somebody else. A friend had gifted me with the Legacy of Faith series published by B&H. I started to read, and the words of Charles Spurgeon and Andrew Murray were balm to my weary soul. Of course, no book can take the place of Scripture, but when the Bible seemed silent, those books pointed me back to the only One who could heal my broken heart. Eventually, that season of suffering came to a close. Looking back, I realized those authors were the traveling companions I needed to help me get to the other side of grief.

– Susan Hill, editor


I am a voracious reader and landing on one or two resources is harder than I thought. In my 20s, Christian music challenged me to go deeper with my faith and Josh McDowell’s Evidence That Demands a Verdict gave a strong foundation for my faith. John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress had a strong impact. In my 30s, I discovered Experiencing God. I think I’ve been through it three times now, and it deepened my walk with Christ. And every Philip Yancey book has challenged my thinking. And then there’s . . .  I could keep going.
– Lynn Pryor, team leader, Adult Ministry

There is no shortage of powerful resources that have made a difference in my life. Those that most profoundly set the course for me early were Mere Christianity (C.S. Lewis), The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne), and Believing God (Beth Moore). Each deepened my understanding of the character of God and drew me to worship Him. More recently, I’d point to books like Michael Reeves’ Delighting in the Trinity and Kenneth Bailey’s Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes as those that have truly expanded my understanding of Scripture, cultural contexts, and authorial intents. I cannot recommend these resources highly enough!
– Mary Wiley, marketing manager, B&H Publishing

Growing up Catholic, I really wasn’t aware that resources outside our family Bible and catechism were available. I had workbooks in religion class, but that’s about it. Imagine my surprise when I came to Christ as an adult and was exposed to a vast variety of Christian resources to help me in my walk with Christ. Our little Baptist church gave me a gift certificate to use in our local Christian bookstore, and it was the shopping spree of my life. Little did I know how much it would impact me. One of the resources that would have the greatest effect on me was MasterLife by Avery Willis. I learned a solid, personal discipleship pathway through this Lifeway resource and used it several times as I taught young married couples as a pastor. Later, we modified it and used it on the mission field among Muslim-background believers in Central Asia. I’m not sure we would have ever gone to the mission field without the influence of Christian Bible studies like MasterLife, but I’m forever thankful the Lord drew my wife and me to them early on in our Christian journey.
– Brian Gass, content editor

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