1 QUOTE

“Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.”

- Habakkuk 2:2

1 NOTE

Do you know many avid readers? If you do, they are a dying breed. Recent national data from the University of Florida reveals that less than half (48.5%) of adults read at least one book in the past year, and 13-year-olds' daily reading rates hit a low of 14%. Obviously, the rise of social media is one of the main reasons for this staggering decline.

I recently had a conversation with a young teen in our church, Holy Faith Fellowship. They were asking me a few questions about the book I am working on, Finishing Well. We began by discussing the structure of the book: core message, section construction, chapter outlines and of course title. Did you know that 80% of popular book titles are given a title by the editor, not the author? (There are more than a few authors who wrote books with mediocre content but were gifted amazing titles by their editors.) We then discussed the multi-step and multi-person process of book creation. A big light-bulb went out off in his head: “Wow, this is so much different than social media.”

I like to think of books and social media like cars and airplanes. In the United States, we sadly suffer nearly 40,000 car fatalities a year. Commercial aviation has a near-zero injury rate. When our reading diet is mainly un-researched, un-edited direct to post content, we are vulnerable. But when our reading has multiple rounds and multiple eyes, we have a much higher value rate for our reading. I agree with Steven Sample: “Failing to make a conscious choice about what to read is one of the worst mistakes a leader can make.” We are what we read!

1 QUESTION

Do you have a thoughtful process for choosing what you read?

Until Next Tuesday,

John