gives the OK to read a 365-day book beginning on July 1. Plus,
, by Robert M. Schraeder. Also! Check out the
of previous book reviews.
Jesus Isn't Afraid of Your Questions
“I am inviting you,” writes Dick Daniels, “to spend a few minutes every day for an entire year rediscovering Jesus.” And whether you’re a believer, an atheist, or an agnostic, Daniels has a simple 365-daily-dose plan for reconstructing your faith.
“If you are in a season of questioning, you are not alone and you are not a disappointment, even in God’s eyes. Maybe a disappointment in your church or your family or your circle of friends, I do not know, but definitely not with God.”
“Jesus isn’t afraid of your questions,” this leadership guru affirms. “You may actually be closer to spiritual renewal than you realize.”
[Pearson! You’re a bit late to the party! Today is July 1, not January 1. You’re asking me to start reading a 365-day book half-way through the year? Is that even legal?]LOL! You’ll appreciate the breaking-news headline last week in the
Babylon Bee,
“Reminder: If You Read Half The Bible Today You Can Catch Up On Your Year-Long Reading Plan.” On June 22, the editors announced:
“Reminder for all you Christians who started a one-year Bible reading plan in January: it might be time to start that thing. The good news is that if you read half of the entire Bible today, you'll be completely caught up!” So, yes. It’s legal to speed-read and catch up—or do what I did recently—skip ahead to July and enjoy a month of insights from July 1 to 31. (
But first—I should back up a bit.)
I’ve reviewed numerous leadership books by
Dick Daniels, including two book-of-the-year picks:
•
Leadership Briefs: Shaping Organizational Culture to Stretch Leadership Capacity • Leadership Core: Character, Competence, Capacity (Leadership Multipliers)
• Hardwiring New Leadership Habits: Does Development Develop?
• The 365 Day Leader: Recalibrate Your Calling Every Day Daniels can say more in 50 words than most leaders (and preachers) can communicate in 5,000 words (or 30 minutes). Example: in
Leadership Briefs, he warns about “the danger of the 15%.” Read this twice!
“Some people can be right 85% of the time. It is a powerful gift. The danger is when they assume they are right 100% of the time. They become relationally dangerous 15% of the time when they are wrong but think they are correct.”So…are you 100% right about matters of faith and eternity? Any questions or lingering doubts about the Bible, Jesus, heaven, hell, and your purpose on earth? What if you’re off by 15%? Suggestion: leverage Daniels’ humble approach to this daily exercise—maybe the most important book you’ll read all year. (This reminded me, a bit, of the
Alpha course.)
It only takes the author 20 pages (not 25), plus a chart on page 21, to set the stage:“I am inviting you to spend a few minutes every day for an entire year rediscovering Jesus. Come at this with the honesty of an open mind along with curiosity, grace, and a sense of humor. Notice along the way how hope may awaken where you may least expect it, where faith once felt fractured. Rediscovering Jesus leads to asking and answering three persistent questions:
What? So what? Now what?” (
I love those three questions—and he drills down deep on how to use them.)
Rather than
deconstructing your faith (he defines what that looks like), he urges us to
reconstruct our faith—using nine actions on this “adventurous journey.” (See page 16 for the definitions of: Considering, Introducing, Exploring, Reminding, Understanding, Choosing, Applying, Living, and Anticipating.) You’ll love this one:
“Living – This isn’t about trying to live a perfect life or one without challenges, but it’s the experience of the abundant life Jesus promises (see John 10:10). It’s living with a sightline to the Sovereign God who is working out his purposes in spite of the choices made by imperfect people living in a broken and fallen world.”9 RELEVANT INSIGHTS. Daniels sets the mileposts for this 365-day trek—noting he will spotlight “nine relevant insights in the Old and New Testaments.” (
Pop Quiz! If you’re a long-time Christ-follower, what nine insights would you include? Write them down—and discuss. More coffee?)
365 DAILY DOSES. Again, whether you’re a person of faith—or a skeptic—you’ll appreciate this January 1 to December 31 journey: a page-a-day. And reminder: it’s OK to begin on July 1, or any date. (What’s the wisdom on the page for your birthday? On the date for my birthday, I discovered a book,
The New City Catechism, with 52 questions and answers.)
Daniels is quick to point out that what he’s written “…is not my personal account of Jesus. It’s not my religious philosophy.
It’s not my spin on what the Bible says, and what I think it means. It’s simply capturing
365 puzzle pieces that make up the Bible’s record of God’s amazing and grace-filled account…”
His goal: “…the full unfiltered story of Jesus.”Where are you—or your friends and family members—in the “Stages of Reconstructing Faith?” Daniels suggests three possibilities:
[ ] REJECTION OF FAITH: The Certainty of Disbelief
[ ] REEVALUATION OF FAITH: Asking Hard but Honest Questions
[ ] RENEWAL OF FAITH: Learning to Follow Jesus
DAILY TEASERS. I jumped into July with both feet, but you may prefer to start in January, or just skip around and enjoy this smorgasbord of probes, questions, insights, and wisdom:
• Questions Jesus Asked (Jan. 25)
• Worry Wart (Jan. 27)
• In a Boat Without a Paddle (Jan. 30)
• The Nitwit, Dimwit, and Half-Wit (Feb. 5)
• Do I Have to Go to Church? (Feb. 10)
• No One Ever Told Me I Was Gifted (March 8)
• The Strategy of a Great Leader (April 13)
• Would Jesus Have Picked You for His Team? (May 7)
• Parenting 401: Training for a Lifetime (June 19)
JULY INSIGHTS. Many of the months begin with a Bible verse and the lyrics to a meaningful song. (July’s song: “The Prayer.”
Listen here.) My July favorites include:
• “The Lord is near…” (
Psalm 145:18)
• The Old Testament Closes with 12 Final Prophetic Words (July 15 includes a one-line summary for each of the 12 Old Testament “minor prophet” books).
• In Suffering, Hope Anchors the Soul (July 17)
• Blessed Beatitudes (July 25 reminds us that “each Beatitude contains a present condition and a future promise." See
Matthew 5:3-12.)
• Why Are there Four Accounts of the Gospel Story in the New Testament? (July 26)
• Coincidence Is Just Providence in Disguise (July 28)
• Discernment (July 31 uses three Bible verses to explain discernment: What? So What? and Now What?)
Yikes! Why did the author invest his time in this massive project? “
Reconstructing Faith grew out of Dick Daniels’ decades of serving and working in local churches, theological education, and more recently in corporate executive coaching in a great variety of industry sectors. He’s walked with people of deep faith, people who once believed but drifted away, and people who have never been sure what they think about God at all. Their questions, struggles, answers, and hopes shaped this book.”
And get this: Daniels is eager for feedback from readers—and includes his email address on page 18, “Finally, let me know your comments, your questions, and your decisions along the way in this 365-day journey—maybe to take one last look at Jesus.”
TO ORDER FROM AMAZON, click on the title for
Reconstructing Faith: 365 Days to Reconsider Jesus, by Dick Daniels. (Note: Speaking of January 1, see my list of “
12 Inspiration Resources” I recommended for 2026.)
View the new series, John Pearson's Buckets Podcast, with AI-generated summaries of John's book reviews, including Podcast #10, "
Your Manager Playbook," a 7-minute digest of Dick Daniels' book,
The 365 Day Leader.
YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:1) Reminder: “Some people can be right 85% of the time. It is a powerful gift. The danger is when they assume they are right 100% of the time. They become relationally dangerous 15% of the time when they are wrong but think they are correct.” The August 17 page is titled, “Pride Blinds When Humility Sees.”
Question: How would you help a friend (maybe even a narcissist) who is 100% sure that there is no God?2) The full-page entry for September 17, “What’s on the Inside Shows Outside,” highlights Proverbs 15:13, “A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.” (
That’s the whole page! Nothing else! Just those 19 words!)
Question: What kind discipline does it take for an author not to add their “two cents worth” to every topic? Oh, my!
FURTHER READING: •
GOD: The Science, The Evidence—The Dawn of a Revolution, by Michel-Yves Bolloré and Olivier Bonnassies (
Read my review.)
•
Is God Real? Exploring the Ultimate Question of Life, by Lee Strobel (
Read my review.)
SECOND READS: Fresh Solutions From Classic BooksYou have changed—and your problems have changed—since you read this the first time!Book #53 of 99: Eisenhower 1956For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by featuring Book #53 of 99 in our series, “Second Reads.” The big idea:
REREAD TO LEAD! Discover how your favorite books (and articles) still have more to teach you and the people you’re coaching and mentoring.
Eisenhower 1956:
The President’s Year of Crisis—
Suez and the Brink of War
David A. Nichols (3/8/2011)
There’s one big reason you should read this book: crisis management (
The Crisis Bucket). Nichols summarizes this stunning account—and Eisenhower himself—on the book’s last page with this one-liner, “By any standard, his was a virtuoso presidential performance—an enduring model for effective crisis management.”
•
Read my review (Issue No. 221, June 30, 2011).
• Order from
Amazon.
• Management Bucket #13 of 20:
The Crisis Bucket.
After a heart attack and surgery, President Eisenhower was told to take it easy—and in that we get a humorous picture of Ike. He wrote a friend that he had been ordered “to avoid all situations that tend to bring about such reactions as irritation, frustration, anxiety, fear and, above all anger.” So he had snapped at the doctors, “Just what do you think the presidency is?”
CLICK HERE FOR BOOKS BY JOHN
For more on the Crisis Bucket, read Chapter 13 in Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook, and also read my review of Book #59, How Ike Led: The Principles Behind Eisenhower’s Biggest Decisions in Mastering 100 Must Read Books.
NOTICE! Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being moved to a new website here. New book reviews will also be archived at John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. Or, click here for John’s recent book reviews on Amazon.
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