Daniel Im

Pastor + Author

books

Top Quotes on Between Two Worlds: The Challenge of Preaching Today by John Stott

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Of all the books on preaching out there, this is my favourite one.

Published in 1982 by John Stott (1921-2011) who was a pastor to pastors, theologian, integral to the Lausanne Movement, and the author of more than 50 books, this book is an oldie, but definitely a goodie.

At Beulah, I bring all of our preacher’s together (current and aspiring) four times a year for our Preacher’s Learning Community. Between Two Worlds by John Stott is required reading as it’s comprehensive in the theology, art, craft, and calling of preaching.

In my opinion, here are the top quotes from this classic. Enjoy!

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Ideas to Develop Your Staff and Ministry Team in 2025

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If we don’t live with intentionality—both in life and leadership—then time has a way of stealing the years away from us.

A year passes by and we’re still facing the same ‘ol problems. New year, new you? Not necessarily. It’s more like new year, same you. It’s a year later and while it might seem like you’re dealing with seemingly new problems, they’re really just the old ones with a different face.

So for 2025, instead of coming up with a fancy New Year’s resolution, why not just resolve to read more? After all, I find that reading sparks new ideas, and reading can help us get out of ruts. I love how Margaret Fuller once put it, “Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.” Or the words of Dr. Seuss, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”

So to kick off this new year, I want to recommend five books that will help you step into this new year with intentionality. Five books that will help you grow yourself and your staff and ministry team with rigorous intentionality.

1. LEADING SELF

In order to lead others well, we need to be committed to constantly growing and leading ourselves. So the first book that I want to recommend is Chuck DeGroat’s new one, Healing What’s Within. Christina and I interviewed him on Episode 186 of our IMbetween Podcast where we unpacked the importance of self-awareness, loneliness, disconnection, and healing. This book will help you discover how to heal the hidden hurt in your life that might be keeping you back from moving forward.

Healing What’s Within: Coming Home to Yourself—and to God—When You’re Wounded, Weary, and Wandering, by Chuck DeGroat

2. LEADING OTHERS

This next book is a classic. It reads like the book of Proverbs from the Bible. And when it comes to leading others, this book has gems of wisdom throughout. No wonder it’s sold over 1 million copies! Topics include the cost of leadership, the responsibility of leadership, the qualities and criteria of leadership, and how to reproduce leaders.

Spiritual Leadership: Principles of Excellence for Every Believer, by J. Oswald Sanders.

3. LEADING LEADERS

I’ve coached over 1000 people through the StrengthsFinder assessment (now called the CliftonStrengths Assessment), as it’s one of the best scientifically researched tools to help you lead yourself, lead others, and lead leaders. If you haven’t taken it, definitely do so, and here’s a great complimentary book that will help you understand and implement the results from your assessment. 

Strengths Based Leadership: Great Leaders, Teams, and Why People Follow, by Tom Roth and Barry Conchie

4. LEADING DEPARTMENTS

If you’re a departmental or divisional leader, then you need a quick and sure way to recognize and remember the differences between your teammates, and a way to help you integrate their work with one another. And that’s why Patrick Lencioni’s Working Genius assessment is my recommendation for this category. Here’s an article I wrote describing the differences between the Working Genius and StrengthsFinder.

The 6 Types of Working Genius: A Better Way to Understand Your Gifts, Your Frustrations, and Your Team, by Patrick M. Lencioni.

5. LEADING ORGANIZATIONS (or your church)

Jesus never said to “go and make country club members, social justice advocates, or religious institutions.” He said to “go and make disciples.” Disciples! Disciples who make disciples who make disciples. Do you have a way to do that in your church? A deliberate and intentional pathway to make disciples in our post-pandemic, post-Christian, and post-everything world? This is precisely why I wrote The Discipleship Opportunity, and why my hope is that you will take the vision setters and decision makers in your church through it.

The Discipleship Opportunity: Leading a Great-Commission Church in a Post-Everything World, by Daniel Im.

The Gift of Reading

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This Christmas, what would it look like if you gave the gift of reading?

Through a few of my favorite quotes, here’s why a book sometimes makes the best gift:

“Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.” – Margaret Fuller
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“Reading maketh a full man; speaking, a ready man, writing, an exact man.” – Francis Bacon
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“Show me a family of readers, and I will show you the people who move the world.” – Napoleon
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“If a man is known by the company he keeps, so also his character is reflected in the books he reads.” – Oswald Sanders
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“Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: They feed the soul.” – Anne Lamott
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To make it easy for you, I wanted to share a few of my favourite books from this past year, who you could possibly give them to, and why:

1. Stop Taking Sides by Adam Mabry

This book is for the person in your life who sees everything as black and white. It’s for the person who struggles with the tension of living and being in the middle. This book is an incredibly insightful treatise on today’s biblical and cultural tensions.

2. The Way of the Dragon or the Way of the Lamb: Searching for Jesus’ Path of Power in a Church that Has Abandoned It by Jamin Goggin and Kyle Strobel

If you know a pastor or a leader who has been troubled by the recent implosion of other pastors and leaders, this book is for them. It’s simultaneously insightful, timely, and a good wake up call for anyone in leadership

3. Future Church: Seven Laws of Real Church Growth by Will Mancini and Cory Hartman

This is for all of your pastor friends. Post-quarantine and post-pandemic, this book will give the pastors in your life insight into the future of the church.

4. BLESS: 5 Everyday Ways to Love Your Neighbor and Change the World by Dave and Jon Ferguson

If you are wondering how to love your neighbours and easily share the love of Jesus with them, look no further. There is no simpler way to normalize the Great Commission and sharing the gospel than B.L.E.S.S..

5. You Are What You Do: And Six Other Lies about Work, Life, and Love by Daniel Im

I know this might seem like a selfish plug, but I really do believe that my newest book has an incredibly timely message for today. This book is for the mom who’s rediscovering herself as her children are growing older. For the dad who’s wrestling through the tension of being present for his children, while also trying to make ends meet and provide for his family. For the student who is not convinced that a traditional nine-to-five job is right for them. For the individual who wants clarity around their purpose and identity, since there’s such cultural confusion about who we are and where our worth comes from. And for anyone and everyone who is tired of the hustle, grind and go of life and wants to experience something different.

What book would you add to the list?

Top Quotes on Didn’t See It Coming by Carey Nieuwhof

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I’m not sure if there’s a more helpful and accessible voice for church leaders than Carey Nieuwhof.

His podcast is on point and his newest book, Didn’t See It Coming: Overcoming the Seven Greatest Challenges That No One Expects and Everyone Experiences distills some of his greatest insights into an easy to read book for all church leaders.

You’ve probably seen his book around, but if you haven’t had time to dig into it yet—or if you need a refresher—here are my favorite quotes.

  • “Cynicism begins not because you don’t care but because you do care.”
  • “What starts as self-preservation soon morphs into something more insidious. You become a bit jaded.”
  • “The problem with generalizing—applying on particular situation to all situations—is that the death of trust, hope, and belief is like a virus, infecting everything,”
  • “As you grow older, you become more of who you already are.”
  • “I realized that left unchecked, cynicism would win.”
  • “Cynicism is actually a choice.”
  • “Hope is one of cynicism’s first casualties.”
  • “An incredibly effective antidote to cynicism is curiosity. Yes, simple curiosity.”
  • “Feed your curiosity, and it grows. Starve it, and it withers.”
  • “You can’t wonder and discover when you’re in a hurry.”
  • “As young leader, I was convinced that competency was the key to success in life. My formula went like this: Competency determines capacity. The more competency you are, the greater your potential. The greater your potential, the greater your capacity…But a few years into my adult life, I began to notice highly competent people who became disqualified from leadership.”
  • “If competency doesn’t determine capacity, what does? Character does.”
  • “All the competency in the world can’t compensate for your lack of character. Ultimately, your character is your lid.”
“All the competency in the world can’t compensate for your lack of character. Ultimately, your character is your lid.” – @cnieuwhof

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  • “Character, not competency, determines capacity.”
  • “No matter how hard you try, you can’t escape you.“
  • “Compromise is in you, and life brings it out of you.”
  • “We judge ourselves by our intentions and other people by their actions.“

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Top Quotes on Every Good Endeavor by Timothy Keller

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As many of you know, this year I’ve committed to reading/listening to as much of Timothy J. Keller as possible.

It hasn’t gone as well as I thought. Partly because I’m writing my next book (I wasn’t anticipating this), and also because I like reading broadly. So instead of one year of Keller, it might end up being a few years of Keller.

In any case, I previously listed my favorite quotes here for Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters.

I’ll do the same for Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work, my latest Keller read.

  • “The Bible begins talking about work as soon as it begins talking about anything—that is how important and basic it is.”
  • “In the beginning, then, God worked. Work was not a necessary evil that came into the picture later, or something human beings were created to do but that was beneath the great God himself. No, God worked for the sheer joy of it.”
  • “The book of Genesis leaves us with a striking truth—work was part of paradise.”
  • “Work is as much a basic human need as food, beauty, rest, friendship, prayer, and sexuality; it is not simply medicine but food for our soul.”
  • “Without meaningful work we sense significant inner loss and emptiness. People who are cut off from work because of physical or other reasons quickly discover how much they need work to thrive emotionally, physically, and spiritually.”
  • “According to the Bible, we don’t merely need the money from work to survive; we need the work itself to survive and live fully human lives.”

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