Happy 2026! It’s a new year, and a new attempt to revive this blog as a way to keep people across Acts2 Network in the loop about new (and old) books, and to inspire us all to read more books through stories, photos, and who knows what else. I tried the podcast thing (sorry to everyone who got excited from the trailer), but blogging might be the best way for me to be consistent. I know blogs are so 2008, but if you know me, I’m actually totally 1998. 📟

For those of you who are new here, you can read the updated “about” section and peruse old posts. Sometimes I’ll refer back to old posts, as there’s some good stuff from back in the day, if I do say so myself. One thing is I realized multiple generations of kiddos have come and gone through Bibliopolis, and so I’m looking forward to a new generation of kids, college students, and adults growing to love reading, or at least like it a little more.

It was great to meet a lot of college students and recent grads at AWC this past week at the new ATC. I was personally so energized as I got to talk about some of my favorite books and heroes of faith with some of you at the book table!

The first Book-of-the-Month for 2026 is a book mentioned by one of our AWC speakers. After hearing a stirring message about prayer from Trace Hamiter from The Oaks Collaborative, I picked up Praying Hyde: Apostle of Prayer: The Life Story of John Hyde. I hadn’t heard of him before, and was challenged by the kind of singular priority he put on prayer. Rather than be intimidated or think, “I can never pray like that,” I decided to be inspired and apply some of the lessons from his life, and to commit to praying with more intensity and regularity. One lesson was he not only focused on prayer before and during a meeting or gathering, but gathered people to pray even more afterwards, so the word of God that was sown would not be snatched away (see “The Parable of the Sower” Mark 4). I found that timely, especially as we experienced God powerfully through AWC.

The book is actually a compilation of a few sources, including letters he wrote and biographical accounts. If you’re looking for a short book that will inspire and challenge you, give it a try!