Favourite Things Friday

It's Friday, which means I give you more of my favourite things. But instead of the "normal" three things, I'm going to give you 5. My 5 favourite authors.

Erwin McManus

Erwin is pastor of a church in Los Angeles called Mosaic. He is also the man behind Awaken, an organization bent on restoring and reclaiming creativity and the arts. His books challenge me, inspire me and annoy me (in a good way).

Seth Godin

Seth is a marketing genius. His books and blog posts rock my world on a regular basis. I'd love to sit down over coffee and pick his brain, but I'd probably chicken out because he's so stinkin smart. His TED Talk on Tribes is 20 minutes well spent.

Mark Batterson

Mark is pastor of National Community Church in Washington, DC. His church also opened up a coffee shop that was voted as DC's best. He's a visionary guy, who seems to be really down to earth. Another guy I'd love to sit down with and talk third-place ministry. His books are a lot like Erwin's, talking about dreams and taking some risks to see those dreams become reality.

Malcolm Gladwell

A fascinating guy. I read The Tipping Point and it blow my mind. I started looking at people in my life and classifying them as connectors, mavens or salesmen. I'm working through his latest book right now and the observations he makes (in both books) are incredible. He makes it all seem so simple. He's another guy with a great TED Talk.

Rob Bell

Love him or hate him, you've likely heard of Rob Bell. My first exposure to Rob was through his Nooma series. I've read a number of Rob's books, driven to his church in Grand Rapids, and saw him speak this past year in Toronto. The thing I like most about Rob is how he explains scripture within the context it was written. He gives you the background info, what was going on at that time in history and gives you a new understanding of scripture.

Who's on your best-seller list?