On My Shelf is a new feature designed to help you get to know various ministry leaders through providing a behind-the-scences glimpse into their lives as readers.
I corresponded with Jared Wilson, pastor of Middletown Springs Community Church in Vermont, about what’s currently on his nightstand, books he re-reads, his favorite fiction, and more.
What’s on your nightstand right now?
I’ve got a tall stack of books and manuscripts on my office desk that I’m in various stages of processing through, but these are the three titles I’m working through before bedtime:
The Third Bullet by Stephen Child Tom Brady vs. The NFL by Sean Glennon The Great Awakening by Thomas Kidd
What are you learning about life and following Jesus?
I have been learning something that I’d been resting in for almost a year but couldn’t quite define until I came across this bit of truth in Mike Cosper’s book Rhythms of Grace: “In Christ, we are never misunderstood.” That little phrase really ministered to me and gave definition to what I’ve been learning over an occasionally very difficult last 12 months. I can trust Jesus with my reputation. I can take my lumps, even unjustly, and I don’t have to be anxious about trying to explain myself—even with good intentions it can be an exercise in self-justification, in people pleasing. I’ve been learning more and more what it means to be so secure in Jesus that I have nothing left to hide and nothing left to prove.
What are some books you regularly re-read and why?
The one book I keep coming back to is Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Life Together. It was profoundly helpful in my thinking through the meaning and purpose of the church during the gospel renaissance in my life about nine years ago, and I return to it constantly and refer to it at my church a lot.
I actually don’t re-read a lot of books, but I’m always noodling around in the same C. S. Lewis books I’ve always loved—usually in the same actual copies I’ve had since childhood.
What are your favorite fiction books?
Perelandra (Lewis), The Lord of the Rings (Tolkien), The End of the Affair (Greene), The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald), The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Twain), and John Updike’s Rabbit novels and In the Beauty of the Lilies.
Is there enough evidence for us to believe the Gospels?
In an age of faith deconstruction and skepticism about the Bible’s authority, it’s common to hear claims that the Gospels are unreliable propaganda. And if the Gospels are shown to be historically unreliable, the whole foundation of Christianity begins to crumble.
