{"id":10920,"date":"2010-01-13T09:50:42","date_gmt":"2010-01-13T09:50:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/2010\/01\/13\/what-we-read-and-why\/"},"modified":"2010-01-13T09:50:42","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T22:17:30","slug":"what-we-read-and-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/what-we-read-and-why\/","title":{"rendered":"What We Read and Why"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>

We’re currently putting the finishing touches on a resource called Surviving Information Overload. It includes an original article from Angie Ward<\/a>, a blog post from Tim Challies<\/a>, a Books & Culture<\/a><\/em> piece by Alan Jacobs<\/a>, and a couple of very practical excerpts from Kevin Miller’s book of the same title<\/a>. Great content, and on an issue that affects everyone\u2013I’m excited about it.<\/p>

We also included a lengthy Leadership<\/em> journal<\/a> piece that you should look forward to reading. It’s essentially six articles in one, with six different pastors and leaders responding to the question, “How do you select the information that’s important and valuable in ministry?”<\/p>

As I looked this article over, a number of quotes jumped out at me from its 3,000 words. Here are a few:<\/p>

“The Enlightenment suggested that if we could just get more information, we’d be better people. I don’t believe that anymore, which has helped me be less compulsive about my reading… I would rather know a few things well than a lot of things pretty well.”<\/p>

–Ben Patterson<\/em><\/p>

“I’m not reading for information as much as for perspective.”<\/p>

–Ben Patterson<\/em><\/p>

“I mostly read dead people. Reading things that are old delivers me from the feeling of information overload.”<\/p>

–David Hansen<\/em><\/p>

“My favorite source of information…is not reading. I love talking to people, especially about themselves.”<\/p>

–Leith Anderson<\/em><\/p>

“I don’t gather information and stories merely for the next sermon. I gather with the anticipation that someday that piece of information will be useful.”<\/p>

–Gordon MacDonald<\/em><\/p>

Do any of these thoughts resonate with you? How would you describe your own relationship with information?<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’re currently putting the finishing touches on a resource called Surviving Information Overload. It includes an original article from Angie Ward, a blog post from Tim Challies, a Books & Culture piece by Alan Jacobs, and a couple of very practical excerpts from Kevin Miller’s book of the same title. Great content, and on an Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"tax_ctp_authors":[3160],"tax_ctp_books":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[154],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[131],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[156],"tax_ctp_tags":[4444,5129],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-10920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tax_ctp_authors-tim-avery","tax_publications-leadership-journal","tax_ctp_tags-media","tax_ctp_tags-technology"],"acf":{"scripture_references":null},"yoast_head":"\nWhat We Read and Why - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Some leaders' thoughts on consuming information.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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