According to the November, 2009 issue of The Banner of Truth (see page 15, "Up for a reading challenge?"), the (unnamed) pastor of Heritage Baptist Church in (an unnamed location in) Tennessee has challenged the men in his church with what would be a monumental reading assignment: buying and reading all 14 volumes of Martyn Lloyd-Jones's sermons on Romans.

They plan to start in January, 2010 and will read the whole thing in 14 months - to February, 2011 (14 books, 14 months).

Several thousand pages in a little under a year-and-a-half. Now, that's a reading challenge!

Maybe I should move there and set up a Vizine concession...

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Richard T. Zuelch, M.Div
Ruling Elder, OPC (not currently serving)
Westminster Presbyterian Church, CA (OPC)
www.alexandermaclaren.wordpress.com
www.reiterations.wordpress.com
www.spurgeonswords.wordpress.com

Devout souls do not take offence at the depths and difficulties of God's Word, but are, thereby, drawn to intenser contemplation of them. - Alexander Maclaren (1826-1910)

It is not that bad last year I read somewhere between 10000 and 15000 pages of theological reading.

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Martin - Reformed
Husband to the most godly, honorable and loyal wife Line
Searching for a Church
Webpage www.5solas.dk
Free Online Reformed Seminary - http://www.tnars.net
Soli Deo Gloria

Last year I read 11,606 pages. This year (or I guess the last 9 1/2 months anyway) I've read over 10,000 pages. (Not counting on-line or print articles of course.)

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Ben Franks

I attend: Ketoctin Covenant Presbyterian Church (OPC)
in Purcellville, Virginia
I'm a member of: Heartland Community Church (PCA)
in Wichita, Kansas
I blog here (along with my Dad): http://rrfranks.blogspot.com/
And I'm a student here: www.phc.edu

"Remember the speeches we have spoken so often over our mead, when we raised boast on the bench, heroes in the hall, about hard fighting. Now may the man who is bold prove that he is."-Aelfwine at the Battle of Maldon

Don't know how many pages I've read, but I've read Lloyd-Jones' Romans and Ephesians, the former in less than a year and the latter in about eight to nine months.

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Ivan R. Schoen, B.A., M.A., M.L.I.S.
Pastor of Maranatha Baptist Church (SBC)
Poplar Grove, IL, USA
http://maranatha-sbc.org

Yeah, I mean, I do 500-1,000 pages a week, but I'm a full time academic. For people with "real jobs," that's a big load, especially if you're reading your Bible every day. Really, though, I'm not sure that reading sermons is the most "time-effective" way to get Scripture content. Also, it seems unbalanced. Why should I spend a full 14 months of my life reading one guy on Romans when there are lots of other good works on Romans and 65 other books of the Bible?

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Charlie Johnson
Downtown Presbyterian Church (PCA)
Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, student

I want to know how you all keep up with how many pages you've read? I might be able to remember what books I've read (might) but even then, I don't want to go back and track down every book to look up how many pages it has.

You all probably could have gotten in another 2000 pages if you didn't waste time counting your pages.

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Andrew S.
Covenant Presbyterian Church (OPC)
Abilene,TX

It's a fair question. Here's what I do: I have an excel sheet where I keep track of the title, author, publication date, number of pages, and starting and finishing date for every book I read for every year. I started this in 2007 so I can tell you all that info about every book I've read over the past few years.

That's an excellent idea.

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Pergamum


"If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?"
-- David Livingstone

Can you put that in terms of equivalent ESV Study Bible readings (2752 pages)?

AMR

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Patrick
Member, PCA
Chandler, AZ
ReformedTheologyInstitute.com

I fear explanations explanatory of things explained.

I do the exact same thing

Why?

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Paul
No denomination, affiliated with FIEC
"Deliver me from worldly dispositions, for I am born from above and destined for glory" - Valley of Vision
"They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation" - Peter

what size print?

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JennyG
Church of Scotland (Presbyterian)
Fife, Scotland

Very organized. I moved to a slightly less organized approach that I think is more helpful to me. I have 2 Word documents. One is a running list of all the books I've read in this six-month period. I'm more flexible now than I used to be; I don't have to read every single page (although I often do) to put a book on this list. Once I've extracted all the main ideas from the book, or if I've consciously decided not to read a certain chapter, or decided that I've read enough to know that the book is junk and not worth continued reading, it goes on the list. That way I'm not wasting my time with sub-optimal reading just so I can list it and feel good about myself.

My second document is the same lists, but collected topically. It's my Master Bibliography, and I asterisk or annotate the titles that I found particularly helpful.

Well I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one! (And here I thought I was neurotic or something...)

I think that is really cool.

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Shalom,
jessi
PCA
Steelers fan exiled to Virginia


“Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your God.”
Martin Luther

I just keep the books I've read on a different shelf from the books I have not read.

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Benjamin P. Glaser, M. Div, Licentiate, Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church
Member Fairmount ARP Church
Pittsburgh, PA

Deo Vindice

Ditto.

I associate Excel with unpleasant things (like budgeting and expenditure sheets at work). I am not about to taint the lovely experience of reading by mingling it with a spreadsheet.

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Kathleen M
nondenominational
Montana

I see your point.

However, I feel pretty confident that I know the "Heritage Baptist Church" in "Tennessee" mentioned in the BoT article. It's about 30 minutes from where I am. It's a fairly large SBC church.

I left the SBC for the PCA a few years back. There are dozens of SBC churches within a 30 minute radius of where I live. We searched for two years to find one with doctrinal depth and consistency-- two painful, frustrating, heart-breaking years. I have friends at this "Heritage Baptist" church. It is not as Reformed as I would like, but compared to what I've seen in other SBC churches, I like very much what God is doing there. Hopefully. men will take the pastor's challenge and grow and then move on toward more well-rounded things. But for now, it's a start. I call it a very good start.

BTW, if this is the right church, the pastor's recommended reading list ain't too shabby either--

Sr Pastor Recommended Reading | Heritage Baptist Church

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Timothy
Member, PCA
Kingsport, TN

Since it's a local pastor giving a challenge to the men in his local church, it might be due to his knowledge of their particular needs as the men in his church and the thought that Lloyd-Jone's sermons over the next 14 months might in a particular way meet that need (in various ways). Many times the particular form of a charge or challenge (i.e. Read all of Lloyd-Jones on Romans, or Spurgeon's sermons, etc.) isn't the main aim of the pastoral intent.

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Jacob
Sovereign Grace Ministries
Covenant Fellowship Church
WTS M.A.R. in Theology student
West Chester, PA

"Grace renews nature; glory perfects grace." ~ John Owen
"Grace tried is better than grace, and more than grace. It is glory in its infancy." ~ John Flavel
Blog - The Strasbourg Inn

I saved all of that information on my Blackberry calendar for about two years. When I moved to a newer model Blackberry earlier this year and did the transfer of information I lost most of it for some reason. It wouldn't copy it, and I wasn't about to retype all of it on that little keypad, so it's lost.

I think I'll start keeping track the way that you described by just using a spread sheet. Maybe that's a good resolution for 2010.

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David
PCA
Richardson, Texas

Saving faith is an immediate relation to Christ, accepting, receiving, resting upon Him alone, for justification, sanctification, and eternal life by virtue of God's grace.
--C.H. Spurgeon

Because it helps retain what is read.

Of course, I guess a down side might be that this seems like a lot of work if we are reading for fun or for stress relief.

I can't see it. Of course making notes is good (I use Zotero myself) but I can't see the point of recording the number of pages and dates of reading unless I wanted to measure the speed of my reading.

I'm with Dr Parsley in I don't really see the point of keeping track of how many pages I've read. But I am not knocking anyone because I am sure that I do many more things that others would say they don't see the point of. As for excel spreadsheets - absolutely love 'em! I use them for all kinds of things, keeping track of my book reading just happens to not be one of them. Everyone keep up with the reading though! I know that's a great idea!

Then by all means, don't do it.

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Michael P Doyle
Waukesha WI
Member of http://www.cornerstone-pca.com/
Attending http://www.lampseminary.org/

What is Zotero?

And whose says the geeks won't inherit the earth?

-----Added 10/26/2009 at 12:52:17 EST-----

That's only 5,078 pages. Which in 14 months you would just need to read about 12.09048 pages a day based on a 30 day calandar.

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PuritanGeek
Member of LakeOPC
Wickliffe, Oh
Blog: What Justin's Thinking

Thats a great challenge. People would actually be smart if they spent less time eating, watching tv, and worshiping their sports gods. Im glad their is a call to action being said! Thanks foe the info, that was neat :-)

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RL

It's amazing what you can accomplish once you get rid of the vainities of life.

I wonder if they'll get a group discount on the set?! I'd get in just to get the discount if they were!

I agree. Thanks by the way."Entertainment is the devil's substitute for joy, and sports is her sister" — Leonard Ravenhill

Its amazing how much more family time you can incorporate. I know I used to be "oh God, why cant I be closer to you" yet, 10 minutes later Id be watching tv or practicing for my ungodly band. I was strongly convicted by James 4:8, "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded."

Music in itself was a hard idol for me to push out of my life, until I studied Exclusive Psalmody. (not trying to push that belief on anyone)But i often would get away from the secular music, then I would try to cross over to the Christian metal. which to me really didnt look much different, didnt sound different....just maybe added a few good morals to it.So i always slid back into music like britney spears,lady gaga,etc..... Until I learned of exclusive Psalmody.

*quick note* I am not trying to slam any Christian labels or music, that is a personal decision, all thus that has been said, is only said on my very own account and experience.

Quantity over quality?

I hope not! Out of the 81 books I've read since January 2008 almost all of them are either:
1) recognized literary classics (i.e. The Aeneid, The Odyssey, Paradise Lost, Northanger Abbey)
2) history books
3) theological works
4) political/economic works (i.e. The Tragedy of American Compassion - by Olasky)

But then again, I'm a college student so a big part of my job is reading.

Zotero is a firefox addon research tool that helps you gather, organize, and analyze sources. Zotero | Home. I use it to tag my notes and quotes so if at some point in the future I want to summarise and remember my reading on, say, free will or repentance, it will bring up all the books with notes and quotes tagged accordingly. It also exports as xml so the data is future proof.

Ah, but how's your comprehension and retention? There's the rub...

wow, you sure get a lot of reading done.

I mainly only read the Bible and listen to sermons.

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Christoffer S.
Layman
Finnish Evangelical-Lutheran church
Vaasa, Finland