NASHVILLE -- Recently I was in Tulsa, Oklahoma, sharing in an EKG/Sunday School conference. It was both well-organized and well-attended. A large crowd gathered for the better part of a beautiful Saturday to learn how to develop a more effective Sunday School.

While staying at a local hotel, I picked up a quarterly magazine which focused on high performance business and people from the local area and beyond. Included was a book review of "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind." I quickly scanned the article to see if there were any principles of value. The author, T. Harv Eker, speaks of what he calls "mastering the inner game of wealth" and he pictures the brain as a large storage vault of millions of "files" for the various categories of life. Eker's goal is to help readers revise the "money files" which might be betraying our success.

One of the corrupted "files" and its replacement captured my attention. "Rich people constantly learn and grow. Poor people think they already know." The point is clear. People who have been successful are those who continue to read and learn. Those who think they know all there is to know about a subject remain impoverished.

As I thought about that "file," I recalled a pastor friend telling me of an event he attended where Kenneth Blanchard, the author of several best-selling leadership books, was the keynote speaker. He made a simple statement that startled the participants. He indicated that with very few exceptions "readers are leaders." Yet he went on to relate the statistics of how few people today are actually "readers."

I speak at numerous meetings where a LifeWay bookstore is provided. I am constantly amazed at how few of the participants at these meetings attended by the leaders or potential leaders of our churches actually purchase books. On my way home from a recent trip, I was browsing in an airport bookstore when I ran into a recent graduate from one of our Baptist colleges. During our conversation he indicated that he was relieved that since college he no longer had to read.

Can it be true that we no longer read? Are Eker and Blanchard correct about their emphasis on the importance of learning to succeed? Could this explain why many churches struggle to recruit leaders for various ministry needs? Is this the primary reason that many churches are plateaued and declining?

A Memory from the Past

As I have contemplated these questions, I have thought about an event that occurred just before my dad died. My dad had undergone surgery for a brain tumor. The surgery had impacted his short term memory and thus when he wanted to tell us something that came to mind, he did so before he would lose the thought. We were watching television when dad jumped to his feet and called me into his little study just off the family room. He asked me if I wanted any of his books since he would no longer need them.

As I looked them over, I thought about my childhood when I would enter the house and find my dad lovingly reading his Bible and his books. Books were a part of our home and my childhood. I glanced at the top shelf and noticed all the "old" study course books that dad had led his people to read together while he was pastor. Many of these were about Sunday School and church growth. Others, however, were about key doctrinal issues. All were written for and studied by laymen.