Here’s a rundown of the 6 books I read in February. This brings my 2024 total to 13 books. A slow start to the reading year. May your pages quickly turn. Happy reading!

(I must always clarify that I read many books with which I disagree. I learn the most by reading things that do not represent my position.)

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann

This book tells a little-known story. Perhaps the book and the subsequent movie (I have not seen it) will help it be widely familiar. In the 1920s, the Osage Nation in Oklahoma became the richest people per capita in the world as oil was discovered on their land. White men began to marry Osage women. Then, slowly, Osage people began to mysteriously die. It is a story of strange “illnesses” and gunshot wounds.

The book belongs in the same category as Capote’s “In Cold Blood.”

Acts and the Movement of God: From Jerusalem to the Ends of the Earth by Steve Addison

I’ve loved Addison’s previous books “What Jesus Started,” “Movement that Changed the World,” and “Pioneering Movements.” This book is just as good but drastically different. “Acts and the Movement of God” is a running commentary through the book of Acts. Addison slowly walks through the narrative and provides insights, lessons, and stories. A great companion for a series through Acts.

Life Together (Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works-Reader’s Edition) by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Life Together makes yet another appearance on my book log. I’ve read this book countless times (over a dozen?).  Previous copies copied are filled with underlines, exclamation points, and stars in the margin. My last two readings of the work have been done in a reader’s edition which includes large print and plenty of white space.  

If you’ve never read Bonhoeffer, Life Together is a great introduction to his theology and ministry. Bonhoeffer provides a glimpse into the Christian community he experienced while leading students of an underground seminary during the Nazi years in Germany.  The book explores the virtues of personal prayer, worship, everyday work and service, and much more.  

Land of My Sojourn: The Landscape of a Faith Lost and Found by Mike Cosper

On a superficial note: This book is in the running for book cover of the year. Cosper, perhaps best known for the podcast The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, provides his memoir alongside a reflection on Elijah and 1 Kings 18 and 19. In an unexpected turn, you also get commentary on church life in the age of Trump. The books centers upon Cosper’s disillusionment after helping to lead a church plant plagued by a crisis of leadership and the effects of narcissism and cover-up. The book is a travel guide for Cooper’s march through wilderness.

Everything Sad Is Untrue: (a true story) by Daniel Nayeri

I don’t know if I’ve ever been more betrayed by bookish people. Numerous well-respected voices I turn to for book recommendations gave this one a glowing review. I had high hopes. Yet, I was frustrated from the very beginning. This is a free flowing narrative. Stories are told at random. Stories are told with the flare of fiction. I had heard of its Christian themes. I patiently waited through three-fourths of the book for them to slowly peak through the sentences. Just not enough for me. The book has won tons of awards – it doesn’t need my seal of approval!

Expositional Leadership: Shepherding God’s People from the Pulpit by R. Scott Pace and Jim Shaddix

Fantastic. This is a book on leadership but it has nothing to do with common fodder found in business books and church growth manuals. The focus is upon the pulpit. The book casts a vision for leadership through the preaching ministry. Pace and Shaddix provide chapters on scriptural leadership from the pulpit, spiritual leadership from the pulpit, strategic leadership from the pulpit, servant leadership from pulpit, situational leadership from the pulpit, and sensible leadership from the pulpit. The book is one of a kind. There should be more like it.