I found this article, 'NET, NIV, ESV: A Brief Historical Comparison," by Dr. Daniel B. Wallace helpful. Concluding paragraph:
Ultimately, whatever translation your congregation uses should be one
that they can trust, one 
that they will read, and one that they will
memorize from. On those three fronts, I think the NET Bible may be the
best. But the ESV, RSV, and, to an extent, NIV and TNIV also fit the
bill. My own recommendation to English-speaking Christians is to own
more than one Bible. In fact, I usually recommend the KJV (for historic
and literary reasons), the NET (for accuracy especially, but also for
elegance and readability), and a Bible of their choice (which could be
either for reading [NIV, TNIV] or memorizing [RSV, ESV]).