One of the reasons why leading a church is hard work is the problem of what David Allen calls “new demands, insufficient resources.” For example, youth ministry is vital to the health and future of the church, but we all … Continue reading Review of ‘Multipliers’ by Liz Wiseman
Today, over at InfluenceMagazine.com: Chris Railey outlines five things pastors should do every time they have a meeting with their board members. Build trust. Develop them. Pastor them. Listen to them. Leverage them. It must be a day for five-point lists, … Continue reading Friday’s Influence Online Articles
Today, over at InfluenceMagazine.com: In Thursday’s #InfluencePodcast, John Davidson interviews Walter Harvey about how churches can respond when their communities experience crisis My friend Steve Pike is interviewed about his work helping churches get planted in urban environments. We note … Continue reading Thursday’s Influence Online Articles
Near the beginning of his pastorate, Eugene H. Peterson found himself tossed about by “the winds of the times.” The 1960s were a tumultuous decade, and many voices — Civil Rights! Vietnam! Flower Power! — clamored for his attention. On … Continue reading Review of ‘As Kingfishers Catch Fire’ by Eugene H. Peterson
Today, over at InfluenceMagazine.com: Stephen Blandino offers three keys for innovation in ministry. Christina Quick notes research that asks whether the educated are less religious. Please make sure to follow and like InfluenceInfluence magazine on Facebook, Twitter, and iTunes! Continue reading Monday’s Influence Article Links
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, so to kick off this month’s Influence Podcast episodes, I interviewed Dr. George O. Wood–aka, “Dad”–general superintendent of the Assemblies of God and chairman of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship. He has an … Continue reading #InfluencePodcast with George O. Wood about Mental Health and Ministry
Sean Michael Lucas, God’s Grand Design: The Theological Vision of Jonathan Edwards (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2011). $17.99, 224 pages. My doctrine of salvation is Arminian, so you may wonder why I think highly of Sean Michael Lucas’s study of Jonathan Edwards, whose soteriology was Calvinist. The answer is twofold: First, Lucas has written an accessible introduction to the biblical theology and pastoral practice of “America’s greatest theologian”—as Robert Jenson described Edwards. Whatever their theological stripes may be, interested students of theology are in Lucas’s debt for this service. Edwards’s literary corpus is large and his thought complex, but Lucas ably … Continue reading A Review of “God’s Grand Design: The Theological Vision of Jonathan Edwards” by Sean Michael Lewis
Eugene H. Peterson, The Pastor: A Memoir (New York: HarperOne, 2011). $25.99, 336 pages. In The Pastor, Eugene H. Peterson tells “the story of my formation as a pastor and how the vocation of pastor formed me.” Peterson is best known as author of The Message, his “translation” of the Bible into “American words and metaphors and syntax.” He recently completed a five-volume series—“conversations”—about spiritual theology. And he has written numerous books about the pastoral vocation, the seedbed out of which all his other books has grown. This memoir narrates the journey of a Pentecostal kid from Montana becoming a … Continue reading “The Pastor: A Memoir” by Eugene H. Peterson
GeorgePWood.com 