As I’ve done for a number of years, I wanted to share with you my favorites from 2018 in a variety of categories: movies, music, books, etc. Except for books, these are all items that were released or took place in 2018. For books, I include my favorite books that I read during 2018, regardless of when the book was published. Enjoy! Please let me know what you think of my list, and also share some of your favorites.
Top Choice: Black Panther
The remaining films in my top 10 are:
- Paddington 2
- Mission: Impossible – Fallout
- Mary Poppins Returns
- Green Book
- Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
- I Can Only Imagine
- Christopher Robin
- Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
- Creed II
Others that I enjoyed, in no particular order, were:
- Springsteen on Broadway
- Operation Finale
- Searching
- Ant-Man and the Wasp
- Peter Rabbit
- Calvinist
- The Post
- Avengers: Infinity War
- Isle of Dogs
- Ready Player One
- Eighth Grade
- Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer
- The Nutcracker and the Fourth Realm
- All the Queen’s Horses
- Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse
Below are the worst, or at least the most disappointing, films I’ve seen, in no particular order:
- Hostiles
- Phantom Thread
- The 15:17 to Paris
- God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness
- First Reformed
- The Grinch
Albums
Top Choice: Resurrection Letters: Prologue/Resurrection Letters Vol. 1 – Andrew Peterson
The remaining albums in my top 10 were:
- I Know a Ghost – Crowder
- The Elements – TobyMac
- You’re Driving Me Crazy/The Prophet Speaks – Van Morrison and Joey DeFrancesco
- Let the Trap Say Amen – Lecrae and Zaytoven
- Egypt Station – Paul McCartney
- Believe – Russ Taff
- The Eclipse Sessions – John Hiatt
- The North Coast Sessions – Keith and Kristyn Getty
- The Gift: A Christmas Compilation – 116
Other albums I enjoyed, in no particular order, were:
- Holy Roar – Chris Tomlin
- The Beatles (“White Album) Reissue – The Beatles
- Surrounded – Michael W. Smith
- Into the Night – Social Club Misfits
- One More Song – Ashley Cleveland
- Hymns Vol. 1 – Shane and Shane
- In the Blue Light – Paul Simon
- The Advent of Christmas – Matt Maher
- Acoustic Live Vol. 1 – NEEDTOBREATHE
- More Blood, More Tracks: The Bootleg Series Vol. 14 – Bob Dylan
- My New Moon – Amos Lee
- Springsteen on Broadway – Bruce Springsteen
Top Choice: Is He Worthy? – Andrew Peterson. Watch the worshipful video for the song here.
Other songs I’ve enjoyed, in no particular order, were:
- Joy – 116 featuring Lecrae, Trip Lee and Abe Parker
- Be Still My Soul – Russ Taff
- Fight for You – Gawvi, featuring Lecrae
- I Can’t Lose – Lecrae and Zaytoven
- The Holy Grail – John Fogerty
- War Cry – Social Club Misfits (featuring Tauren Wells)
- Dominoes – Paul McCartney
- Remember Me – Andrew Peterson
- Praise Him Forever – Chris Tomlin
- Forever on Your Side – NEEDTOBREATHE (with JOHNNYSWIM)
- He Will Hold Me Fast – Shane and Shane
- Crooked – Amos Lee
- Everyday I’m Blessed – Crowder
- Everything – TobyMac
- Over the Hill – John Hiatt
- Magnificent, Marvelous, Matchless Love – Keith and Kristyn Getty
- Better Than I Used to Be – Mat Kearney
- Cool Down by the Banks of Jordan – Ashley Cleveland
- Everyday I Have the Blues – Van Morrison and Joey DeFrancesco
- One Man’s Ceiling is Another Man’s Floor – Paul Simon
- Who Cares – Paul McCartney
Artist of the Year
Andrew Peterson for my top album and song of the year, performing and speaking at the Sing! Conference and his Behold the Lamb of God tour stop in Champaign, Illinois.
Concerts
Top Choice: Eagles and James Taylor at Nationals Park in Washington D.C.
Others that I enjoyed, in no particular order were:
- John Hiatt and the Goners, featuring Sonny Landreth. Slow Turning 30th Anniversary Reunion Tour in Bloomington, Illinois
- U2’s “Experience and Innocence” tour in St. Louis, Missouri
- Andrew Peterson’s “Behold the Lamb of God” tour in Champaign, Illinois
- Fernando Ortega in Elmhurst, IL
- John Crist’s “The Human Being Tour” in Peoria, Illinois
Books
Top Choice: The Prodigal Prophet by Tim Keller
The reminder of my top 10 were:
- Tie: Letters to the Church – Francis Chan and Inexpressible: Hesed and the Mystery of God’s Lovingkindness – Michael Card
- The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row – Anthony Ray Hinton
- The Gospel Comes with a House Key – Rosaria Butterfield
- Everybody Always – Bob Goff
- Servant Leadership in Action – Edited by Ken Blanchard and Renee Broadwell
- The Gospel According to God – John MacArthur
- Developing the Leader Within You 2.0 – John Maxwell
- Paul Simon: The Life – Robert Hilburn
- Dare to Serve – Cheryl Bachelder
Other books I’ve enjoyed, in no particular order, were:
- Gay Girl, Good God – Jackie Hill Perry
- Some Pastors and Teachers – Sinclair Ferguson
- How to Get Unstuck – Matt Perman
- Take Heart: Christian Courage in the Age of Unbelief – Matt Chandler
- Immanuel Labor: God’s Presence in Our Profession: A Biblical, Theological, and Practical Approach to the Doctrine of Work – Russell E. Gehrlein
- Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music? Larry Norman and the Perils of Christian Rock – Gregory Alan Thornbury
- Susie: The Life and Legacy of Susannah Spurgeon, wife of Charles H. Spurgeon – Ray Rhodes Jr.
- Love Does – Bob Goff
- The Gospel at Work: How Working for King Jesus Gives Purpose and Meaning to Our Jobs – Greg Gilbert and Sebastian Traeger
- The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created– Jane Leavy
- Love Came Down at Christmas: Daily Readings for Advent – Sinclair Ferguson
- Didn’t See It Coming: Overcoming the Seven Greatest Challenges That No One Expects and Everyone Experiences – Carey Nieuwhof
Sinclair Ferguson for publishing four books this year:
- Love Came Down at Christmas: Daily Readings for Advent
- Some Pastors and Teachers
- In the Year of Our Lord: Reflections on Twenty Centuries of Church History
- Let’s Study James
Blogs
Best: Tim Challies’ Ala Carte. This is required reading for me each Monday through Saturday. Challies includes helpful Kindle deals, links to a good variety of helpful articles and a quote. Check out Tim’s website here.
Podcasts
Best: The Briefing – Albert Mohler. Each weekend morning, Albert Mohler hosts a podcast providing worldview analysis about the leading news headlines and cultural conversations. This is required listening for me. Check out Dr. Mohler’s website here.
Honorable mention goes to the third season of Malcolm Gladwell’s excellent podcast Revisionist History. On each episode, Gladwell goes back and reinterprets something from the past: an event, a person, an idea. Something overlooked. Something misunderstood.
Top Choice: Sing! 2018 (Getty Worship Conference) in Nashville, Tennessee.
Top Choice: Messages from the 2018 Ligonier National Conference which had the theme “Awakening”.
Television Shows
Top Choice: Shetland
Other programs/series that I enjoyed, in no particular order, were:
- The Resident
- This is Us
- The Man in the High Castle
- Suits
- New Amsterdam
- The Good Fight
- Making a Murderer, Season 2
- Rick Steves’ Europe
These are 2018 favorites in a variety of categories. How about you? What were some of your favorites?