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Reflecting
his Passion for Spiritual Growth, Pastor Reads 68 Books about Faith in
a Year
Mike
Winters challenged himself to read more books than ever before.
Averaging more than a book per week, the Southern Baptist pastor read
68 books during 2007. Winters, 57, told Baptist Press he tackled the
reading regimen in addition to his study for sermon preparation.
Reading the books "put me in a state of revival," he said. "Some of the
desire I have in ministry right now came out of those readings. I want
to see people saved.
"And I want to be a
real pastor -- not just someone who goes through the motions," said
Winters, pastor of rural Eureka Baptist Church in Rockwood, Tenn. "I
have a genuine desire to minister to people and to pray with them and
to empathize with their needs."
Noting his continuing desire "to learn and to grow and to learn more
about Jesus, and to do what He wants me to do," Winters encourages
pastors and laypeople to challenge themselves to read more of the Bible
and other books "because we have a great Lord. He has been so gracious
to us that we ought to learn everything we can about Him."
Starting on Jan. 1 of last year, Winters tacked several volumes of
significant theological and academic content, including H.C. Thiessen's
"Lectures in Systematic Theology," which Winters read in six weeks.
Counting the Old and New Testaments as separate books, Winters read
through the entire Bible several times last year as part of the
undertaking.
"'Spurgeon's 'Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit,' Vol. 1, was the most
challenging to read," said Winters, who read others classics by C.S.
Lewis, J.I. Packer, John Bunyan, Andrew Murray, E.M Bounds and Oswald
Chambers.
Winters read books written by some notable, contemporary Southern
Baptist authors such as Charles Stanley, former SBC president and
pastor of First Baptist Church in Atlanta; Gene Mims, a former LifeWay
Christian Resources vice president and now pastor of Judson Baptist
Church in Nashville, Tenn.; David S. Dockery, president of Union
University in Jackson, Tenn.; O.S. Hawkins, president of GuideStone
Financial Resources; and Thom S. Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian
Resources.
"Reading Dr. Rainier's book, 'The Bridger Generation,' was the most
eye-opening because I didn't realize how much the generations differ in
their beliefs," Winters said. "His book made me want to get out there
and reach the next generation for Jesus, get them involved in church,
and to see them grow them for Christ."
Crediting Rainer's book, Winters said it caused him to switch from
reading his King James Bible to the Holman Christian Standard Bible, to
lead the rural Eureka Baptist Church to adopt a more blended style of
worship music and to use PowerPoint presentations with his sermons.
Winters has served at Eureka Baptist 15 years, during which time the church's attendance has doubled.
Source: Baptist Press
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