1. Great By Choice – Jim Collins 
2. Think & Grow Rich – Napolean Hill 
3. Boundries – Henry Cloud
4. Choosing To Cheat – Andy Stanley 
5. The Meaning Of Marriage – Tim Keller 
6. Made To Stick – Heath Brothers
7. Fields Of Gold – Andy Stanley 
8. E-Myth Revisited – Michael Gerber 
9. Dream Manager – Mathew Kelly 
10. She Calls Me Daddy – Robert Welgemuth
11. Benjamin Franklin – Walter Isaacson
12. The One Minute Manager – Ken Blanchard 
13. Read This Before Our Next Meeting – Al Pittampalli
14. Leading On Empty – Wayne Corderio 
15. Speak To Win – Brian Tracey 
16. Thou Shall Prosper – Rabbi Daniel Lapin 
17. Screwtape Letters – CS Lewis 
18. Content Rules – C.C. Chapman
19. Getting Naked – Patrick Lencioni 
20. Mindsight – Daniel Seigal
21. Rework – Jason Fried
22. Different – Youngme Moon
23. Data-Driven Marketing – Mark Jeffery
24. Leading From The Second Chair – Billy Hornsby 
25. Start Something That Matters – Scott Mycoskie 
26. Mastering The Rockefeller Habits – Verne Harnish 
27. The Raggamuffin Gospel – Brennan Manning
28. The Lean Start Up – Eric Ries
29. The Upside Of Irrationality – Dan Areily 
30. Predictably Irrational – Dan Areily 
31. Stones In Schools – Greg Mortenson 
32. Leaving Microsoft To Change The World – John Wood 
33. The Good Soldiers – David Finkle 
34. The Tipping Point – Malcomb Gladwell 
35. Collapse – Jared Diamond 
36. The HP Way – David Packard 
37. The Call Me Coach – John Wooden 
38. Once An Eagle – Anton Myrer
39. The 5 Dysfunctions Of A Team – Patrick Lencioni 
40. Grace Of God – Andy Stanley 
41. Next Generational Leader – Andy Stanley 
42. Gung Ho – Ken Blanchard 
43. Nessecary Endings – Henry Cloud 
44. Integrity – Henry Cloud 
45. The Coaching Leader – Daniel Harkavy 
46. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality – Peter Scazzaro 
47. One Thing – Marcus Buckingham 
48. Tale Of Three Kings – Gene Edwards 
49. Tempted and Tried – Russell Moore 
50. Sheet Music – Kevin Leman 

HELP: I am building the list for 51-100, what am I missing? Where do you see holes in my reading plan? I think I want some more fiction and fun. Any good ideas for that?

Comment and let me know!

See if these New Year’s Resolutions sound familiar?

• I want to lose weight and get in shape.
• I want to spend more time with my family.
• I want to work less.
• I want to be a better husband/father.

How about these?

• I want to get out of debt.
• I want to save money.
• I want to give more money.

If the second set sounded familiar to you and if they could be applied to your life, I want to challenge you to set financial goals for 2012.  Don’t leave these resolutions open-ended.  Clearly define what each one looks like for you.  The more clearly you define your goal the more achievable.

For example, if you have a resolution to get out of debt, what is the overall debt amount, how is the debt broken down, and what can you realistically and ideally pay off without acquiring more debt?  If you have a resolution to save money, but don’t have any savings, start with a goal of getting $1000 of emergency savings as quickly as possible.  If you want to give more money, what is that goal amount?  Once you have set that goal amount, incrementally begin giving more until you reach that goal.

Once you’ve met each of these goals, it’s time to set more goals!

Not too long ago, I listened to a fantastic sermon on money from Dr. Tim Keller, the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City.  I wanted to share those notes with you.

The title of the sermon is “Grace and Money” and the main text is Acts 4:32-37.  The main point was that money is the bottom line in faith…it illustrates if we’ve been changed by God’s grace.

The early church was different when it came to money.  They were unreasonably generous and that generosity was an engine that influenced the community.  People paid attention to the Apostles teaching because they backed up their words with generosity.  “Nobody treats money like this,” people thought.

In 252, there was a plague in Carthage.  Healthy people left town, but Cyprian called Christians to serve.  Emperor Julian, who wanted to destroy Christianity wrote, “Their success lies in their charity to all.  They take care not only of their own poor, but ours as well.”

Here are some benefits of giving.

1.  Grace revolutionizes our attitude towards money.

We believe that it’s not really our money.  After receiving grace, Scrooge changed his attitude when it comes to money.  If you’ve experienced grace, you should look at money different.  The Bible says money is a bottom line in our lives – how we spend it shows what matters to us.

Martin Luther used to get up every day and look up to heaven and say ‘You are my goodness, I was Your punishment. You assumed everything I deserved and was so that I can receive everything You deserved and are. I’m rich. I’m adopted into the family of God. I have an imperishable inheritance. I’m going to shine like the stars in the kingdom of My Father. And even now I’ve got His holy power and joy has come into my life through the power of the Holy Spirit and it’s begun to grow and it will eventually swallow up all my foolishness-es and all of my sadness-es and all of my weaknesses.’

Paul says in 2 Corinthians, when he’s asking for giving to hunger relief, ‘I’m not commanding you to give. I’m just looking for the sincerity of your love for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who, though He was rich, for us became poor so that through His poverty we might become rich.’

We don’t give out of guilt, we give out of grace!

In Luke 18:18-23, Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell everything he had and give it away.  Jesus knew that money was his god, so he challenged him to give it away.  You will always give money to your god.  If your salvation is in Jesus, you should want to give money to His mission.  Your expenses reveal your religion.

2.  Grace changes the procedure of your giving.

Our generosity should be an active and intentional part of our grace experience.  We should scheme about how to give money away, not scheme about how to get more of it.

You have to decide ahead of time to do this.  If we plan for retirement, shouldn’t we plan for generous giving?

In the Bible, the guideline is the tithe.  In an agricultural time, the tithe was the first fruits – the gifts given off the top.  We have a tendency to give out of the leftovers, instead, the Bible says that we give first and live off the leftovers.

There’s no legalism here.  It’s an attitude.  We’re indebted to God and we’re appreciative.

3. Grace changes the benefits of giving.

Others benefit.

Jerry Lewis said ‘If you give, you’ll be able to look in the mirror tomorrow and say ‘You are a caring person.” It’s true, and that’s about as great a benefit as you get if you’re doing it simply because Jerry Lewis got you to feeling guilty. There’s nothing wrong with what he does. The kids need the money, that’s the only way you can get it out of people who haven’t experienced God’s grace.

A billion years from now, your generosity can make a difference.  Not because of a foundation or a college endowment, but because of Kingdom giving.

You benefit.

If you can’t give, then money has you by your throat.  You’re worried.  God’s grace changes that.  He gave His son for you.  Change your lifestyle…it may mean you can’t do some of the things you’re doing now.  That will actually create freedom!

If you think this is a cheeky sermon or you’re irritated, you don’t need to give your money away. You need to find the Christ that turns you into a person of radical generosity.

We’re not primarily interested in getting your money…we’re interested in you being blessed.  The Bible says it’s more blessed to give than receive.

God loves a cheerful giver.

With just 4 days left before we begin a brand new year, I wanted to challenge you to do something in these next four days.  I want you to visualize what next year will look like!

• What will your walk with Christ look like at the end of 2012?
• What will your marriage look like at the end of 2012?
• What will your relationships with your kids look like at the end of 2012?
• What will your friendships look like at the end of 2012?
• What will your health and body look like at the end of 2012?
• What will your bank account look like at the end of 2012?
• What will your church look like at the end of 2012?

Do you have a picture for each one of these?  If not, spend more time visualizing the picture of these important areas of your life?  Once you have a picture, work backwards to the present day.  What will be required of you to make these pictures become a reality?

• Do you need to repent of anything? Establish a daily time of prayer?
• Do you need to say you’re sorry to your spouse? Establish a date night?
• Do you need to establish boundaries at work to spend more time with the kids?
• Do you need to spend more time with friends?
• Do you need to hire a personal trainer?
• Do you need to open an online savings account?
• Do you need to stop doing certain things at church in order to better at other things?

What you visualize, you will realize.  Get the picture and then get practical.

This month on the blog, I want to offer some practical financial advice to pastors.  My goal here is to help you save money.  Today, let’s talk about mortgages.

Imagine for a moment what life would be like without a house payment!  What would you do with all that extra money?  You could buy a new car after just a few months of saving all the extra cash.  You could take that trip you have always wanted to go on without bringing the cost of the trip back with you.  You could give away more money to the church than you ever expected to give.  Without a house payment, there is a lot you could do with all that money.

That’s why I want to encourage you to pay extra on your mortgage.  With just a little extra payment on the principle payment, you could significantly decrease the time it takes to actually own your home, save a significant amount of money on interest payments, and be completely debt free.  Here are a couple of ways you can pay extra on the principle:

• Make an extra payment each month!  Whatever you pay per month on your home, add a little more towards the principle.  Automate this portion so that it becomes a regular part of what you do.
• Make one extra mortgage payment each year!  This may seem like a lot of money up front, but it will save you thousands of dollars in interest over the life of the loan.
• Switch to bi-weekly payments instead of monthly payments.  Your payment will be exactly the same, but instead of making 12 payments, you’ll make 26 payments. Making bi-weekly over the course of the year will actually end up being equivalent to one additional payment.
• Use non-expected gifts or cash to pay on your principle!  If you are a pastor who officiates weddings, speaks at conferences or retreats, or gets monetary gifts for Pastor Appreciation Month, use that unexpected money to pay on the principle of your home loan.
• Refinance your home to a shorter term loan!  If you have enough equity in your home, refinance to a shorter term loan.  Loan rates on a 10-year or 15-year loan are currently in the 3%.  You will pay more on a monthly basis, but most of that will go towards principle, and it will save thousands and thousands of dollars in the long run.

Whatever you decide to do, make sure that you designate your gift toward the principle.  As you do, count down the days until you own your home, become completely debt free, and let Giving Rocket know when you do!

That is a tough question to ask of you, but it is an important one to answer. Even if you are not literally yelling at your people, could it be perceived as such? I’m talking about the moment where you become passionate about their need to give that your passion is perceived as yelling. If you are not yelling, are you helping?

While it’s true that you should be passionate about people giving, you should be equally passionate about helping people become great managers of God’s money beyond just giving!

You can help your people become great managers every week through an offering talk. By sharing a stat, story, or a scripture, you can speak to one of the major areas of a person’s finances, which are giving, saving, and spending. During this time, you can also teach them how to give. Many people would give, but they don’t know how. Take time each week to explain how they can give and have a well prepared offering talk. If you are interested in getting 52 weeks worth of giving talks, click here .

You can also help people by offering short-term finance classes. Yesterday, I recommended two that are widely popular among churches. These classes will help people get out of debt, save money, and build wealth. Oh yeah, in return for helping them, they will also give more.

Finally, you can help your people by offering free financial counseling. There will be some cost involved in this, but the investment is definitely worth it.

One of the biggest barriers for churches developing a financial ministry is not knowing which financial curriculum to use for an on-going class. Fortunately for pastors and churches, there are a multitude of curriculums available for educating and encouraging Christ-followers and churches in the area of finances.

If you belong to a denomination, one of the best places to start in discovering what is available to you might be through your denomination. Beyond that, here are two widely popular financial curriculums.

•Financial Peace University (FPU)-This curriculum was created by Dave Ramsey. It is a 2-hours per week, 13-week, dvd-based teaching with small group discussion after Dave’s recorded lecture. The cost of the curriculum is approximately $100 per kit for participants. Leaders of the class are equipped with guiding questions for discussion.

•Financial Learning Experience (FLE)-This curriculum was created by Joe Sangl. It is a 1-hour per week, 6-week, dvd-based teaching with small group discussion after Joe’s recorded lecture. Leaders of the class are equipped with guiding questions for discussion and for counseling.

If you are offering a curriculum for the first time to your church, it might be helpful to first preach a message series focused on finances and faith. If your church will be offering FLE, you could even invite Joe Sangl to preach! Use the class as a practical application for the message series. Whether it is providing food or childcare, be sure to eliminate any excuses for people attending these classes.

This month on the blog, I want to offer some practical financial advice to pastors. My goal here is to help you save money. Today, let’s talk about retirement.

Pastors know that the very first thing they do with their money is return the very best portion to God. We call the portion the tithe or the first fruits. However, once that portion is returned to God, what should pastors do with the rest?

Well, according to the Bible, a wise person stores choice food and oil (Proverbs 21:20). In other words, after you give God the very best, you give yourself the next best.

On a percentage basis, if the Bible defines 10% as the baseline for giving God the best, then perhaps people should do the same. Otherwise, you might give God the best, you give your mortgage company the next best, or you might give the grocery store the next best until you are left without anything. Proverbs 21:20 says that this person is a fool! It’s foolish not to have money for inevitable emergencies, for major one-time purchases, or for retirement. By saving money, you’re wisely preparing for things that will inevitably happen in life.

One of the best ways to save for retirement is through an Individual Retirement Account or an IRA. There are two types of IRAs with two different tax ramifications. You need to decide which option will be most beneficial for you. However, many experts are proponents of the Roth IRA. IRAs allow you the flexibility of managing them yourself or through an investment group as well as the diversity of how you invest. Regardless of who you invest with or how you invest your money, the sooner you begin investing in an IRA, the better. Because of compounding interest, time is of the essence. Before you begin the new year, set up an IRA!

With Christmas quickly approaching, shopping for gifts is in full swing.  Many people in your church will buy presents now, open them on Christmas, and pay for them in January.  That is a debt hangover.  So, this is a perfect time to talk with your people about debt, and at the same time honor the birth of Christ.

The most popular Bible passage concerning debt is probably Proverbs 22:7 where it states, “the borrower is slave to the lender.”  As Christ-followers approach the manger to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, we need to be reminded that Jesus is the Messiah.  The Messiah is not money and certainly not the lender of money.  If anything we should be bringing gifts to the manger like the Magi, but we often use the manger to accrue more debt as we bring gifts to others.  Furthermore, Jesus teaches us that people cannot serve two masters.  We will either serve money or the Lord, but not both.  Borrowing money at Christmas to buy gifts makes one a slave to the lender, and therefore, disqualified from serving Jesus.

Remind your people serve one master, the Savior, not a credit card statement.  Remind your people that one of the greatest gifts they can give themselves and the Lord this Christmas is a debt-free Christmas!