8 Books You Should Read in 2026

Hey crew, it's Adam. I'm a husband, a father, a pastor, a follower of Jesus who just like you is trying to learn what it looks like to fully live and follow Jesus in the middle of real life. It is one thing to be someone on Sundays, but what about Monday through Saturday? And so here, we're gonna talk about faith and making a difference in the messy, ordinary moments where it's often the hardest to live out. Some weeks, I'll share what God is teaching me. Other weeks, I'll sit down with leaders, pastors, athletes, friends. There's no fluff, just encouragement and truth for your life between Sundays. I'm so glad you're here. Well, hey crew, welcome to Life Between Sundays. We are so excited that you're tuning in. No better way to start the year. Yeah, what the heck, you're a whole new person. We're changing everything up, even the name of our podcast, Life Between Sundays. And yet, I'm really, really excited about switching it up. Because you had the conversation for what, six years? I think we had the conversation, I wanna say closer to like eight or nine years. Oh, really? Yeah, this has been going on for some time. Okay, so what's the point then? Why are you changing it up?

Yeah, so this is something I've been wrestling with maybe for the last year and a half. There's several other podcasts called The Conversation, and so I do not own The Conversation title. And then something that I've really wanted to get to is I'm a pastor, I preach on Sundays, but our lives are lived Monday through Saturday. And so what does it look like to live, and what does our actual life look like during the entirety of the week? And so whether it's faith, whether it's leadership, whether it's making an impact or difference with your life, what does that look like between Sundays? And so that's really the heart of it. And I'm really excited. I really hope that there's some huge changes, even the content, how we do episodes, whatever, with this new podcast in this brand new year, 2036. It's kind of perfect timing, honestly. Let's go, let's go. Like the first episode back. I'm a huge, I know you are too, I'm a huge New Year person. I am too, I love it, I love New Years. It's just a chance to hit reset. Even though coming back to work for the first time since kind of the break, it's kind of feel a little bit scary, but it's also kind of like, oh, it's like fresh and new. Let's do this.

Something, something, yeah, something new for the new year. I'm excited. Okay, so how has Monday through Saturday shaped your faith more than Sundays have? So you preach on Sundays. So Sundays are kind of like each week, like your show time, like let's go. How has a Monday through Saturday shaped you even more? Well, as a pastor, Sundays is the launch pad. It's not the end all, be all. And we're gonna be going through the book of James at the church I pastor and embrace here coming up. James is all about like, what are you actually doing? What is your life? And faith without works, James says, is dead. And so for me, that is the most important part. Like if we're followers of Christ, if God is moving in our lives, it doesn't just affect what we do for one hour on Sunday. It impacts everything else. And that's really where you see your walk with Jesus. And the depth of it is in your actual life. And so for me, it's everything. And I think it's so cool. I was just talking with my daughter over Christmas break. She's like, Christians, like people who really follow Jesus are different than everybody else. And I was like, yeah, that's how it should be. And our lives should just be, should be different. Yeah, should feel different.

Yeah, just in how we look. Like when we're not singing in church, when we're not, you know, dressed in our Sunday's best, like what does our actual lives look like? I even heard the other day, it's like you could listen to like sermon after sermon after sermon. Like there's literally so many out there called service after service. But if you aren't like doing anything with that, there's literally no point of it. Jesus actually gets even stronger than that. He calls that person a fool. One of my favorite stories is the wise man and the foolish man who builds his house upon the sand or the rock. Most people think that the fool is a person who doesn't hear God's word and whatever else. No, Jesus is like the fool is the person who hears God's word, listens to sermons, whatever, and doesn't do it. And doesn't do anything. That's the person who builds their house on the sand. And it's like, oh, snap. He's not living in it. So he would say like our lives between Sunday's, if they're not like lived out for him, we're fools. So Jesus, thanks a whole lot. Gosh, that's a downer on 22. I know, what the heck? I just feel like a big fat fool.

He calls us out. He calls us out. In a loving way. In the most loving way. Sometimes we need it. Okay, going off of like your life in between Sundays, have you ever heard of high-low Buffalo? I have not heard of high-low Buffalo. Okay, it's pretty straightforward. So the high-low is like your high. said either week or month or whatever like but sometime between Monday through Saturday yeah low would be like a low moment Buffalo is just kind of like a random literally anything random like you could share anything random like something funny that happened or like something you learned or literally anything is a Buffalo because it's just a Buffalo it was just okay so three things so you can either so I'm just trying to think like between Monday through Saturday if you want to share all three things you can share all three things you're high or you just pick or like any moment of the last week that you're just like that was awesome oh gosh I have I have a high I'll do a high in a Buffalo okay that's all my high is I did like a sit-down with each of my kids my three of my four kids I should say along with my wife where we just kind of talked about the last year and what they learned and also what they hope to achieve and we looked at eight different areas from our walk with Jesus to personal growth to home life to school finances so I did that with each of the kids that's like that wheel of life yeah the wheel of life which we can it's really cool like those eight different areas yeah we will just like even like talking through it with I even talked about it with Sam just like the eight different areas how do you feel about them so we ended up talking about things with each of my kids and with Becky I talked with about things and we discussed it that I I've never talked with with my children you know being

super fun and just really really cool so that would be a high the Buffalo would be so I have just finished a tiny tiny little cabin in my grandparents pasture and me and my dog spent the night there for the very first time the plumbing is not a big deal this is a big deal guys it was huge I felt like a mountain man out there we'd go on walks him and I it's 80 acres of wildlife and awesomeness and we just explored and so that me and him we are just two men out there roaming the roaming the wildlife and it's a man and his pup oh it was great I love that dog and this cabin has just been like a passion project for you so it's like for it to finally be done it's like yeah yeah like like my four-year-old self that grew up exploring this pasture and wildlife cannot believe that I have a place there so that would be my Buffalo awesome thank you thank you so much for sure today we just got Adam sharing about in the new year coming up different books that he thinks that you should be reading throughout this year this and this is books are huge yeah like in this new year you have wisdom that is just sitting there waiting to be learned and applied and so I'm really really excited yep check this out well welcome to 2026 here we are I feel like this is gonna be it's gonna be a little bit kind of a cliche but not really like you know like it's new year like I'm gonna set new goals yeah but like I honestly love the new year just because it feels it really does just feel like a fresh start like you're done with the holidays we're kind of starting over like in your work world like you can just set new goals finishing those goals though following through them sometimes it's just yeah it's not the easiest yeah but today we're gonna talk about what we got eight eight eight books that you should read in 2026 which may seem like a lot but even if you take one or two of these I feel like it'll make your year better it's I gotta say this really quick as specifically as Christ followers like we have the Holy Spirit inside of us and so regardless of whether it's a new year or it's just another day like at any point we can change the direction that we're headed it's like we don't actually have to continue to be the same person and there's something about I used to hate reading really fun fact my mom used to have to read books to me in middle

school in high school because I couldn't understand so when did that change happen so I somehow survived through my business degree still hated reading like I just I just really struggled to read like just comprehensive and then in seminary you either read or you don't pass class so then I just really developed that muscle of reading and then I can remember after seminary took like a six-month break from all reading I'm like I don't even want to see a page or any text of any kind and then I really jumped in and began to read you know like I feel like you're reading all the time now he's like you just have book after book after book yeah I think and I think a couple of things I want to continue growing in my walk with Jesus life between Sundays so I want to keep growing in my walk with Jesus I want to keep growing in personal development just in becoming the person I want to be I also want to grow in leadership and being a pastor and I also want to grow in impact and so I'm constantly looking and oftentimes we think we need to have a mentor in person and I'd highly recommend do that I'm a huge fan of mentors but like like podcasts but even books you can have mentors from people all around the world famous and whatever else they'll never really meet. And that's what I love about books. Yeah, love that. Okay, we got eight. Eight books. You wanna kick us off? Yes, so I'm a pastor. I'm obligated to say this, but I'm not saying it because I'm a pastor. Must read for 2026 is the Bible. And I cannot encourage you enough to do this. I just sent a text message to a buddy earlier today. I said, hey, whether it's listening to it or reading it,

read a chapter a day. It's like, but Adam, I don't know the Bible and I'm new to it. Oh gosh, join the club. I still feel that way today. So something I love to do every new year is I get a different Bible. This is, I got this Bible. I don't even know where I got this Bible from. I could probably find it out. Nope, there's no, I came from myself. So gosh, that's funny. So I'm gonna read the New Living Translation. I'm literally gonna read this Bible this year. I'm gonna go a chapter a day, like which is what I normally do. And I just encourage you to do the same. If you're new to the Bible, read the NLT Translation or even if you're like, I really, really struggle to understand it, read the Message Translation. I also love the NIV or the NRSV. Again, one chapter a day, God's word, start your day with it. Gosh, the older I get, the more I'm like, I need this every single day. If, okay, going back to the people who maybe are kind of newer to the Bible. You say one chapter a day. Do I just start at the beginning? I open the cover and I read the first chapter

that's right there? No, I probably wouldn't do that. What I would say, so I told my buddy today, I told him, I said, start and read one psalm a day. So you can start with psalms. Psalms often just portray a lot of honest, real feelings. If you're like, the Bible doesn't make sense, read psalms in the NLT or in the Message and you'll find out like, whoa, that sounds like me. Or I love the book of John. So the book of John, the first half of chapter one is a little confusing, so skip if you need to, to halfway through chapter one and then just read one chapter a day and read about the life of Jesus. So I just finished Acts last month because it fires me up, but I'm gonna start reading this right here. Get a fresh Bible. Get a new Bible and just go for it. Like again, it's sometimes, and if you can make it as easy as possible. So get a translation that you can understand. Get even a New Testament. If the Bible overwhelms you, just get a New Testament. Just get one book of the Bible and whatever is more approachable or whatever you'll actually read, that's what matters. I like that NLT one. I feel like I would try to read,

I don't even know what I had. I had some sort of study Bible, but I would try to read it and I'm like, am I stupid? Like I literally feel like I'm stupid. I have no idea what any of this is saying. So it's just kind of like in one ear, out the other ear. So getting like a different translation, I feel like makes a huge difference. And for the longtime Jesus followers, I think a translation can be huge. I listened to an interview of N.T. Wright, one of the most leading biblical scholars. He said, you should actually read about five different translations of the Bible at the exact same time. That wouldn't be for new readers, but if you're like a longtime reader and you only read one version, it's time to branch out. And it's kind of time to switch it up. And I think some cool things, or maybe this year, if you've read the Bible a whole bunch of times, you're gonna listen to it this year. Instead of actually reading it, challenge you to read it or listen to it. Cool. Before we go any further, we just wanna give a huge shout out to some partners. Each week, these partners make Life Between Sundays possible. Adam, can you tell us about our partners today?

Yeah, I love our partners. I continue to pinch myself just how fortunate we are to have them. The first partner is the International Justice Mission. IJM is a global nonprofit working to end slavery and violence around the world. Talk about a calling. And they take special care of survivors from the moment they're rescued all the way through their healing. What I love about IJM is that they're not just trying to rescue people, which in itself is awesome, they're trying to change structures so that people don't need to be rescued in the future. If you wanna think about becoming a Freedom Partner, as you start a new year, this is an awesome chance to say, hey, I wanna do some new things. One of those things, become a Freedom Partner. A Freedom Partner is just someone who gives to the work of IJM on a monthly basis. My wife and I do this every single month. Whether it's 30 bucks, $100 a month, gosh, I can't think of a better investment. Go to ijm.org. Our second partner is Vernity Mitsubishi. Vernity is an employee-owned, faith-based company that strives to deliver dreams and transform lives. And their goal is excellence in everything that they do. And the longer that I know Vernity and the closer I get to them,

the more I am impressed with them. If you're looking for a vehicle like an Outlander like I drive or a Honda CRV like my wife drives and loves, look no further from Acura to Ford, Honda to Chevy, you name the make of vehicle, they're gonna have it and no matter where you live, they'll ship it to you. Go check out vernity.com, vernity.com. Okay. I like that. Next book number two, if you followed me at all, you've heard me talk about it. Emotionally healthy spirituality by Pete's gazaro The heart of this book is you can be Spiritually like deep and yet be Emotionally immature. So it's the person who knows all the Bible verses and can quote stuff and yet they like are all over the place or they're like emotionally unstable or They're passive-aggressive or they're like it's like they love Jesus yet They're really hard to be around because they have no self-awareness Yeah Or if you're going what I usually give this book to is someone who has walked through something really really hard or messy Mm-hmm, or like you've went through like a really hard childhood or a really hard leadership season I got this book in the hardest year of my life and it was a lifeline So this is actually two separate things, but I'm gonna make them one I'm together. So if you are a friend of mine, there's a high chance that I have given you personally this devotional So I'd encourage you to read this book first and then the day-by-day devotional I have given out hundreds I'm gonna guess three four hundred copies. Yeah to friends. This is my favorite devotional I've ever gone through so if you're looking for a devotional to go alongside things right there, it's so good Emotionally healthy spirituality day by day. Oh, yes. It's so good. And again like Christians like and not even Christians humans. We don't deal with our Crap, we it's like we go through something really really hard and it's like just suck it up and I'm super spiritual So I'm not gonna go talk to a therapist It's like no, you're now just really broken and messy and you're like bleeding on everybody. What please process your emotions

Yeah, and so that just helps you helps you with that. Okay. Okay. Take it. Oh my gosh in the name of Jesus by Henry Now and Henry now and longtime Catholic priests. I am a huge fan of this guy. I wish he was still alive. He's not There's so many of his books that I love but this is a book on leadership But it's like the most it's just so different This is just a beautiful read if you are a leader if you are a person who's wanting to make a difference or impact I feel like this will be a really healthy Challenging thing for you to read I'd highly recommend it to anybody. It's just a beautiful book. He For the last few years of his life. He worked with highly Handicapped individuals, so I believe like unable to even like speak and whatever else So he so he was at the top of his career left kind of all of his status and when it worked at this home And they invited him to speak at a conference on what he's learned from from being around these individuals And that's where it comes from and it's just really really beautiful So I read this book every single year almost definitely read it in the New Year in the name of Jesus by Henry now Love it. Okay. Those are three like more Christian ones, right? Would you say these are kind of more? Moving into these ones. Yeah, maybe maybe a combination. This is the first then this next one is definitely not a Christian Okay, yeah, that's that's maybe a good shift specifically the last two are definitely a shift away from they are Christian this Okay, they're still great. They're so good. So if you are trying to reach a goal There's the habits book. Oh my gosh Atomic habit atomic habits that is probably the leading book on on habit building and goals I think this is even better. So all it takes is a goal by John Acuff this book Radically changed my life. It has changed my relationships. It has changed my finances It has changed so much. I do a plank So these are your goals that the book? Yeah, so right now right now I'm doing so I started him in July of last year and so I I do a plank a minute plank each morning and I do 50 50 push-ups and then I do These are just a couple of them and then I do a scripture memorization every single week because of this But this book has genuinely radically altered my life If you do it really listen to how it lays it out if nothing else it'll be a fun thing for you to walk through and I think it's the easiest way to

Pursue a goal. So if you're if you're like, I want to start a new goal for this new year he does such a good job because oftentimes we like we're gonna We're gonna lose 80 pounds and I'm gonna get a six-pack I don't even know if there's even any muscle in there, but I'm gonna be a bodybuilder. He's like, whoa, that's awesome Maybe let's just do like five minutes of workout each day And what his thing is is like if you start that you will hit the goal that you want to but it will actually be Something that you do instead of something you dread. Yeah, I like at the beginning I read some of that book to he like has you make a list of like your life moments It's like you all your favorite moments in your life create this long list. And then he kind of like uses that to help you create your goals for the year, which I thought was really, I just liked making my list. I'm like, okay, this is fun. It's really fun. I'm like, what am I missing? The best moments list. Yeah, it was great. Yeah. I just think he, and he's fun. If you need a podcast to listen to, and he talks a lot about goals on his podcast, he is just hilarious. You'll listen to him and you'd think that like talking about goals would be boring and he'll just slide in jokes the entire time. And I'm like, you are so insane. It's really, really good. Good. Yep. Okay. Next book, build the life you want. Uh, this is by Arthur Brooks, who I'm a huge fan of. It's coauthored with Oprah, uh, nothing against Oprah. I almost didn't read the book, uh, because of that though. I'm just like, okay. Is this like, what is this? Is this like kind of soft? It was like self-help. Is this like, whatever? Is it fruit fruit? Is it solid? I would say this is not, I would not label this a Christian book. I would label this one of the most solid books you will find. He does quote other religions and stuff. Okay, cool. Whatever. Tell us, take those 10 sentences out. It's rock solid. It's a book on building the life you want. He talks about everything from relationships, specifically marriage. And he says some awesome things. He talks about like, like in marriage. So often we're like, if my wife, we'd never say this. If my husband, if my wife was just like me, my life would be great. Well, actually he's like show studies how that would make your life horrible. Oh my gosh, that would be horrible. Yeah. And what, but I think there's that thing of like, if they were, if she was just like me, if she just did this like me and it's like, no, like you think that in theory, he talks about even online dating, how it's actually ruining relationships because people put in, they're trying to find themselves on these online dating

things. And it's like, no, you actually don't want to date yourself. Like you will annoy the crap out of yourself. And so he's like, actually we need those differences. And those differences is what makes me our marriage. So there's some really like, he does a lot of stuff on studies and like stats and like, Hey, here's kind of proven science to really back up some really cool. Oh, I didn't even realize the art and science of getting happier. Like there's just a lot of studies. And so this is a really fascinating read. This is for anybody. I've never read that book, but you've given it out to a couple of people. So I'm very intrigued. On marriage purpose. Like it even talks about like the, like work is like, you actually want to work. Work is actually something that builds confidence. It's something that really gives you purpose. And he talks about how like people who don't have work actually really struggle with like self-worth and whatever. So it's a beautiful book. Highly recommend. I give it out to a ton of friends. Yeah. You have given that one out a lot. Okay. So this next book, this is, uh, this is a little bit, um, it's not it's niche. I'm just trying to think of like, I love it. I just gave it to our mayor last week. So, uh, literally shout out to Paul ten Hanken. So this book is called gospel patrons. It's by the authors, John Reinhart. This is an inspiring book. If I didn't work at a church, if I wasn't a part of a nonprofit, if I was a business leader or a person who like, well, I'm going to, I'm hoping to climb the corporate ladder or I'm hoping to, you know, build my wealth or achieve financial goals. This is a book that would like fill my why. So it talks about all these different points in history. Like, uh, when the new Testament was translated into English for the first time, it was one business person who paid for the whole thing. So they talk about it throughout history where there was like a missionary or a pastor or a Bible translator. And then all of a sudden there was like a business leader. One of the stories is, uh, of a key woman who like helped do this amazing, insane thing in history. And so she, they talk about how she was instrumental in providing the funding for this thing that altered the worldwide church and the advancement of the gospel. So I gave this out to our mayor, uh, just cause he's a, he's like, he loves like significance is kind of like his thing, moving from success to significance. This is a book that fills you with significance. I gave this to my, one of my mentors and he just brought it up the other day. He's like, man, I can't remember when you gave me that book. Cause it just gave him a why. Cause he would say like, I keep making money, which is cool. But even today I met with somebody who just said like, I don't need

any more money. Like, what am I doing this for? And it's like, what if you took what God's given you and you begin to use it for the kingdom? It could be really, really cool. That's cool. Okay. Yep. Okay. So these last two are non Christian books. I'm going to say that again and again and again. Uh, the first one is one I, just recently came across and it's been huge. It's 10 X is easier than two X by Dan Sullivan. I give him a hard time about this book a lot, but I do, I do think it has great, great ideas in there. I think you can apply this. So this isn't just for business leaders. This isn't just like, I'm going to 10 X my income. Well, you could do that, but it could be for a nonprofit leader. It could be like, honestly, a coach, like anything, like, uh, I really think any area. And the premise of it is two X is just adding more to the current structures that you have. So if you have, I'm going to, I want to achieve this next goal. You just have to add more time. Like you're working twice as hard. Yeah. We just keep working more hours. It's like a two X it's like, instead of 40 hours a week, I'm working 50 hours or 55, but like 10 X, it's so much bigger than what you're currently doing that it breaks your current systems. So it's like, it's not working. Like I, you know, like incrementally, you can just keep adding more work time to your schedule. But if you 10 X something, it just breaks all your systems because you're like, I can't do this. And in the midst of saying, I can't do this for the first time. And you're like, but how could I do it? And instead of just adding a little bit more work, you like rearrange how you function, how you lead, how you parent, how you whatever. And so I I'm giving this out to a whole bunch of friends right now that I see, they just keep adding more time onto their schedule. And it's like, well, we're not meant to just work 7,000 hours a week. Like what if you could have the same impact, but work smarter,

smarter, not harder. So I'm like, gosh, Emily's not, Emily's not all in on this book yet. Okay. Like I might have to be just a little bit, we're working on her. She's going to read about me. It's not only 26. Yep. I'm going to, I'm going to be, I'll put this one on my desk. We'll see if I make it to that one. Okay. The last book. Again, this is probably a little bit niche. This isn't for everybody. Maybe it's for at some point in the future. This book is called buy back your time. Uh, it is by Dan Martell. Uh, he has a podcast as well. Emily is, Emily is, Emily's not as much a hater on these two books. So this book is it specifically is about, um, getting help. Like, uh, an example, having like a part-time assistant in some way, whether it's a five hour a week person, whether it's 10 hour a week person, I coach pastors and I'm like, maybe it's, if you don't have the ability to pay it, maybe it's a volunteer that you raise up. So it's not just like for people who are rich or for people who have a big staff or whatever else, it is been foundational. Uh, even in just how the two of us function. Um, it's been really, really big thing about time management and how to like literally buy back your time to get just more out of your day. It's, it's, it's incredible. And again, it's another, it's another book that I've been given out to friends. I just recommended it over the weekend to a business leader. And I just said, gosh, like, what would it look like to do that? And just to think differently and smarter. Um, and there's things that I'm beginning to realize is the things I hate, uh, other people love and thrive in. And so it's like, instead of me just like trying to do that, what would it look like to raise somebody up? So those are the books. This again, maybe there's one book that you're like, I want to read that,

read it. We'll just go for one. Don't feel like you need to read all eight of them. Yeah. Um, but like, I, I just, again, we have all this information, whether it's for our walk with Jesus, whether it's for our, like our personal development, um, whether it's for leadership and impact, like it's just right there. So in this new year, if you do not have like just reading and learning, I pray that I never stop reading and learning. And, uh, this year I might need to track the books I read. Cause I've never, I've never tracked the number. Yeah. But I'm like currently reading probably three or four different books and I will finish. I, I, I rarely don't finish a book unless it's just bad. Oh yeah. You need to track how many you read this year and then it would be, I got good read. So I, it just tells me my progress out there. I, I need to get more in. I'm more into the nonfiction right now, but I'll, I mean, fiction bought some of those for this next year. So thank you for all of that. Those are the books go for it. Well, thank you guys so much for tuning in to the first episode of life between Sundays. Get used to saying that instead of the conversation. It's a new thing for me as well. I want to say with those books, if there's a book that I need to read, please send it. He will read it. Cause I, I'm needing some books and I've thought about tracking the number of books that I read this year. I've never done that before. Like tracking how many books. Have you done that before? Well I use good reads. It's an app on my phone and it like syncs with my Kindle. So like once I like start reading a book on my Kindle, the app will be like, oh, you started reading The Housemaid. And then you can like rate all your books too.

And you can also see all your friends on there. And like how they rated books and what they're reading, which I really like. You use a Kindle? Yes, I love my Kindle. No way. I would not use, I don't really read like physical books anymore because of my Kindle. I feel like Kindles were like, this is a 43 year old talking, just to give you like a whatever. They were cool for the first year and then everyone stopped using them. Oh no, I know a lot of people who still use their Kindle. It's so nice because when it's dark, I usually read before bed. So like when it's dark, I can just like lay down on my side. I don't have to have any of the lights on. I can just like put it right, right by my face. That's great. And then I fall asleep every single night, like with my Kindle right in front of my face. And Sammy is just put it on the nightstand. He takes it from you? Yeah, usually. Or I find it like on the floor because I usually just like drop it on the floor. There could be worse things. Yeah, but the Kindle is great. Okay, so if you have recommendations

that I need to read, please hit me up. And I mean that genuinely, do that. I need to thank our partners. IJM is just the International Justice Mission is incredible. The longer I'm a part of them, they're just amazing and Verdanti Motorcars. Go support both of these. Last but not least, thanks to all of you who listen to Life Between Sundays. Thanks guys.