The Mentoring Manifesto, Vol. 48: Building a Habit of Reading Well

Recently, we helped Houston’s First Baptist Church train their mentors and launch their latest round of mentoring groups. During our training time, the topic of reading came up, as it usually does, and their questions were consistent with the ones we typically receive…

• What’s a net-out?
• What if someone hasn’t read a book since high school?
• Does it matter what format they use for their book?
• What if they don’t like the book?
• Is reading nine books in nine months possible?

I think there is one big question underlying all these questions: “Does reading really matter?”

In short, yes, it does. One of our goals is to help churches develop leaders and we agree with Harry Truman when he said, “Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” So, you could say that in addition to being in the leader development business, we are also in the “reader” development business.

Our formula for this is straightforward: each month, choose a book that combines biblical truth with practical application and have the mentees read it and net out what they learned. On average, it takes sixty-six days to build a habit, so by the end of a nine to twelve month mentoring season, the practice of reading is firmly in place, and these new leaders are now also readers.

The resources below will provide you with some practical tools to make the most of your reading habit in 2022.

PODCAST: WITH THE AUTHORS OF READ TO LEAD

In this episode of The Call to Misery podcast, author Jordan Raynor interviews Jeff Brown and Jesse Wisnewski about reading, why it’s the best thing you can do to improve yourself, and how to absorb and retain what you read so it can really impact your life.

Listen to the episode here.

THE TOP TEN BOOKS WE READ IN 2021

Because reading is such an important part of mentoring groups and a great way to grow your faith, our team wanted to share some of the best books we read in 2021. Specifically, books that will either fill up your cup as a mentor or could be used in your mentoring group.

Check out the list here.

THREE EFFECTIVE WAYS TO TAKE NOTES WHILE READING

This article from Farnam Street unpacks a helpful process for taking effective notes while you read. Let it improve your reading habits or pass it along to your mentees to inform how they complete their net-outs. This site contains lots of great resources and articles on reading well, so be sure to look around as well.

Read the article here.

MENTOR-TO-MENTOR TRIBE CONVERSATION ON READING

Over the past two years, we’ve invited our mentors to a monthly conversation to build community and exchange best practices. Our first conversation of 2022 will be 2/16 to discuss books and reading. We’ll talk best practices for reading in mentoring groups and share some favorite books to use.

RSVP for the conversation here.