On My Shelf: Life And Books With Mark Sayers

On My Shelf helps you get to know various writers through a behind-the-scenes glimpse into their lives as readers.

I asked Mark Sayers—author of Platforms to Pillars: Trading the Burden of Performance for the Freedom of God’s Presence—about what’s on his bedside table, his favorite fiction, the books he regularly revisits, and more.

What’s on your nightstand right now?

I usually have a pile of books on my nightstand that I work through. I just finished Troy Bramston’s Bob Hawke: Demons and Destiny, a significant biography of one of Australia’s most consequential prime ministers.

I’m heading to speak at a conference in Prague, so I’m halfway through Richard Fidler’s The Golden Maze: A Biography of Prague, which tells the city’s story from its inception. Additionally, I’m reading The Monastic World: A 1,200-Year History by Andrew Jotischky—a panoramic historical overview of monasticism, exploring the spiritual and cultural influence of the movement.

What are your favorite fiction books?

My favorite novel is probably John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces, which I reread every few years. I really like Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities, which captures the excesses and inequalities of New York in the ’80s. I also love Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Agent, which captures the international revolutionary milieu in Victorian London. Another great London novel is Zadie Smith’s debut, White Teeth, released in 2000, which prefaces many of the cultural threads we see emerging in the 21st century. Another novel that I think does something similar is Tom McCarthy’s Satin Island, which captures the feeling of living in our globalized networked world.

My favorite author is Don DeLillo, particularly his novels White Noise, Libra, Point Omega, and Mao II, all of which are present works. The greatest novels I have read are War and Peace and Les Misérables, both staggering works of art.

What biographies or autobiographies have most influenced you and why?

The first biography that gripped me when I was a young boy was Reach for the Sky: The Story of Douglas Bader, which tells the story of Bader, a double amputee who became a Spitfire pilot during the Battle of Britain. It showed me that even those who face great challenges and limitations can lead.

The book showed me that even those who face great challenges and limitations can lead.

As a teenager, I read Ralph Abernathy’s And the Walls Came Tumbling Down, which told the story of his life working alongside Martin Luther King Jr. While I know now that the book has its critics, at the time, it sent me to read everything my Aussie high school library had on the history of the American civil rights movement, which significantly affected me. I think this was one of the things that got me thinking about culture and the world deeply. Also, Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, was another book I remember clearly shaping me in my early years.

Of more recent times, John Pollock’s Wesley biography and A. Skevington Wood’s The Burning Heart are books I have returned to as I continue to ponder Wesley’s influence and the Great Awakening. My understanding of leadership and how God shapes us has been greatly informed by Tim Dudley-Smith’s two-volume biography of John Stott’s life, and Unfinished Agenda, Lesslie Newbigin’s autobiography, as well as Gary Moon’s biography of Dallas Willard.

What are some books you regularly reread and why?

I often return to some of the biographies I just mentioned. It’s reassuring to read how the great men and women of God have faced trials and tribulations, and yet God has used them powerfully. That is reassuring, particularly when we face our own difficulties. Also, I am a big believer in the idea that we can be mentored by past leaders, studying their lives and learning from both their success and how they dealt with failure.

What books have most profoundly shaped how you serve and lead others for the sake of the gospel?

One of the earliest books I read as a leader that, as a youth pastor, gave me a fantastic framework for ministry and discipleship is Robert Coleman’s The Master Plan of Evangelism, which sets out in such basic yet profound terms Jesus’s value of developing and pouring into people. I just recommended it to a leader last week.

In terms of shaping my view of leadership, I think Richard and Henry Blackaby’s Spiritual Leadership is an excellent book on the idea that leadership is more than just worldly leadership; there is a crucial spiritual dimension. Robert Clinton’s The Making of a Leader is another essential text, which shows how God shapes us throughout our lives and seasons of leading. Henri Nouwen’s The Wounded Healer is also a critical, paradigm-shifting book.

What’s one book you wish every pastor would read?

I think every pastor should read Gene Edward’s A Tale of Three Kings: A Study in Brokenness. This short book draws leadership lessons from the lives of Saul, David, and Absalom. It sheds light on how, when we gain power, our brokenness can take on sinful and destructive forms when it isn’t brought under the lordship of Christ—such an important book.

What are you learning about life and following Jesus?

Trust. I’m learning to place my trust in Christ daily. Two years ago, my wife was diagnosed with cancer, and thus we live in a place of trusting him daily as we walk this journey as a family. So, trust is a daily exercise.

When we gain power, our brokenness can take on sinful and destructive forms.

As I’ve gotten older, and hopefully wiser, I have learned too how leadership is a long-haul exercise in trust. So many people in our churches have been let down by leaders who have fallen morally, or just fallen into building their own platform rather than the kingdom.

People are not looking for the leader who will deliver that one amazing sermon, write a best-selling book, or pull off a world-class conference. There is nothing wrong with such things in of themselves. But today, people are looking for leaders whom they can trust as they see them over the years humbly following Jesus, in good seasons and bad, growing in God and in Christlike character. I want that for my life.