Posted on Jun 26, 2008 | by Norm Miller

ROCKWOOD, Tenn. (BP)--Mike Winters challenged himself to read more books than ever before.

Averaging more than a book per week, the Southern Baptist pastor read 68 books during 2007.

Winters, 57, told Baptist Press he tackled the reading regimen in addition to his study for sermon preparation. Reading the books "put me in a state of revival," he said. "Some of the desire I have in ministry right now came out of those readings. I want to see people saved.

"And I want to be a real pastor -- not just someone who goes through the motions," said Winters, pastor of rural Eureka Baptist Church in Rockwood, Tenn. "I have a genuine desire to minister to people and to pray with them and to empathize with their needs."

Noting his continuing desire "to learn and to grow and to learn more about Jesus, and to do what He wants me to do," Winters encourages pastors and laypeople to challenge themselves to read more of the Bible and other books "because we have a great Lord. He has been so gracious to us that we ought to learn everything we can about Him."

Starting on Jan. 1 of last year, Winters tacked several volumes of significant theological and academic content, including H.C. Thiessen's "Lectures in Systematic Theology," which Winters read in six weeks.

Counting the Old and New Testaments as separate books, Winters read through the entire Bible several times last year as part of the undertaking.

"'Spurgeon's 'Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit,' Vol. 1, was the most challenging to read," said Winters, who read others classics by C.S. Lewis, J.I. Packer, John Bunyan, Andrew Murray, E.M Bounds and Oswald Chambers.

Winters read books written by some notable, contemporary Southern Baptist authors such as Charles Stanley, former SBC president and pastor of First Baptist Church in Atlanta; Gene Mims, a former LifeWay Christian Resources vice president and now pastor of Judson Baptist Church in Nashville, Tenn.; David S. Dockery, president of Union University in Jackson, Tenn.; O.S. Hawkins, president of GuideStone Financial Resources; and Thom S. Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources.

"Reading Dr. Rainier's book, 'The Bridger Generation,' was the most eye-opening because I didn't realize how much the generations differ in their beliefs," Winters said. "His book made me want to get out there and reach the next generation for Jesus, get them involved in church, and to see them grow them for Christ."

Crediting Rainer's book, Winters said it caused him to switch from reading his King James Bible to the Holman Christian Standard Bible, to lead the rural Eureka Baptist Church to adopt a more blended style of worship music and to use PowerPoint presentations with his sermons.

Winters has served at Eureka Baptist 15 years, during which time the church's attendance has doubled.
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Norm Miller is a freelance writer based in Richmond, Va.