Tom's Top Influential Books

+ tom's take personal spirituality Mar 03, 2025

Recently, a friend of mine sent me an Instagram post, the video introduced the five books he would recommend for spiritual growth. The post got me thinking what would be the books I would recommend. As I began to review the list, I found myself starting to categorize the books I have read over the years and what would be the top five in each category.

In my review, I found that my reading could be broken down into the following six major categories. The categories are a bit arbitrary in how I would describe the books. They might not be where you would find them in a bookstore, and maybe not how the authors would describe them. But hey, it is my list.

Below are my categories and my recommended books for each one. (Please note I didn't include my own books on the list - because I just don’t think that’s right, and these are the books that influenced me)

Spiritual Growth

I do have a long list of books that in some way touch on spiritual growth. By spiritual growth, I mean books that offer thoughts on how to follow Jesus more fully, how to care for the interior self, and how to remove the obstacles that get in the way of a deeper faith in God. These books give us practices and practical tips that lead to spiritual growth.

Purpose Driven Life; Rick Warren
Waking the Dead; John Eldredge
The Bait of Satan; John Bevere
Counterfeit Gods; Timothy Keller
Spiritual Warfare and Discernment of Spirits; Dan Burke

Prayer

While prayer is a key part of spiritual growth, I separate books on prayer simply because there are so many books focused on the topic and it is such an essential part of spiritual growth. To read about prayer is not as important as actually praying, but it can be very helpful because as Thomas Merton said, “We do not want to be beginners at prayer but let us acknowledge, we will always be beginners.”

Prayer for Beginners; Peter Kreeft
Circle Maker; Mark Batterson
Moving Mountains; John Eldrdege
Prayer; Phillip Yancy

Leadership and Strategy

Through the years I have read several books on leadership and adopting good leadership strategies. The books on leadership have helped me to grow as a leader personally while strategy books have helped our parish grow and make better decisions. They are also helpful in developing the overall strategy of your parish ministry

From Good to Great; Jim Collins
Purpose Driven Church; Rick Warren
Great by Choice; Jim Collins
Practices of Effective Churches; Andy Stanley
Next Generation Leader; Andy Stanley

Basic Faith in Catholicism and Christianity

These books are ones that make an argument for Christianity or Catholicism. I would not call them apologetic books per se, but they do show the reasonable nature of our faith and why it just makes sense to follow Jesus.

Christianity for Modern Pagans; Peter Kreeft
Mere Christianity; CS Lewis
Problem of Pain; CS Lewis
Between Heaven and Hell; Peter Kreeft
I don’t have enough faith to be an atheist; Norman L. Geiser & Frank L. Turek

The person of Jesus Christ

At the core of our faith is the person of Jesus Christ. I read somewhere that we should read at least one biography on the person of Jesus Christ. These books on Jesus are biographies and reflections on Jesus. They give us unique insights into the person of Jesus and get to know him better.

Who is this Man; John Ortberg
Beautiful Outlaw; John Eldredge
Life of Christ; Fulton Sheen
Jesus a Pilgrimage; James Martin
Jesus the King; Timothy Keller

Authors I have read

In addition to categorizing the books I have read, I wrote down the authors whose names recurred over and over again. The authors that appeared most on my list included those below. These are the authors that have influenced my own thinking and writing.

John Eldredge
Timothy Keller
John Ortberg
Scott Hahn
Henry Cloud
Andy Stanley
Peter Kreeft
NT Wright
CS Lewis

I’d encourage you to take a few minutes to look at your own library. What are the books that have influenced you the most? Who are the authors you read? It’s a fun exercise and will help you see your own leadership journey.

If you don’t read, I’d encourage you to do what you can to start. Leaders are learners and reading is a vital way we learn.

Rooting for you,
Tom