Books for smaller churches

In 2001 I published my first book with Baker Books. Over the next few years I published another 7 books with Beacon Hill Press (the Nazarene publishing company) and Judson Press (American Baptist). These books all focused on healthy small churches and bivocational ministry. One day I walked into a LifeWay bookstore and saw four of my books on the shelf. I have to admit that was kind of a heady experience. Since then I have self-published two books. One is on the challenges facing the church in the 21st century, and the other is a book on what I learned about running a small business (and failing). 

These books are still available on Amazon although at least one is only available as an ebook. The two I self-published are also available on Amazon as ebooks.

One denominational leader told me that the principles found in these books are applicable to any size church. I wrote them specifically for the smaller church as those churches are what I know best, and there are few resources written especially for them. The best selling book of all has been The Healthy Small Church. Not only has that book sold the most copies; it also has given me the opportunity to lead conferences and workshops for numerous denominations across the US and Canada.

Bivocational ministers are my heroes. I have served in bivocational ministry since 1981. I understand the challenges of such ministry, and I also understand the rewards that bivocational ministry brings to the church and to the pastor. I love the opportunity to encourage these servants of God and to offer encouragement to them. My books and conferences have both strived to do that.

If you think my books might be helpful, please go to Amazon, type in my name and see the various books I have listed there.

Ministry challenges today

In 2021 I published an e-book titled Is Your Church Ready for Ministry in the Coming Decade? It had been a few years since I had published a book, and I didn't realize how much the publishing world had changed. It was nearly impossible to find a publisher willing to look at any book that did not come to them from an agent, and it seemed many agents were more interested in the author's social media followers than in the content of a book. I finally gave up and released it as an e-book with Amazon. Of course, the problem with that is that same year 2.3 million self-published e-books hit the market. It's easy for these books to get lost in the shear volume of available books.

I wrote this book because pastors and churches are facing new challenges as our society continues to change. Ministry today is much different than when I first began as pastor in 1981. While there is nothing new under the sun, the issues people now face are much more in the open than they were in the recent past. The church is constantly being challenged to address issues that previous generations of pastors never had to face. If we are to speak a word of hope to our culture we must understand these challenges and think about how to best address them.

The book contains chapters on several of the bigger challenges facing today's church. Issues such as racial reconciliation, mental illness, poverty, addictions, suicide, sexual issues and many more are included in the book. I tried to bring some of the latest studies into the discussion of each topic and show how the church can speak to the issues lovingly and, at the same time, be true to what Scripture teaches.

I seldom promote my books on this blog because that is not the purpose of this site. However, like I said earlier, so many e-books are published each year they can easily get lost in the crowd. This book sells for only $6.95 and is available on your Kindle devices. If you think it might be helpful to your ministry you can find it here. Thank you.

The pain of a library purge

 This past Saturday I endured one of the most painful experiences of my life. I began to purge my library. I'm far from complete, but the pain became almost overwhelming, and I had to put off any further removal of books for a later date. I could not bear trying to count the books, but I would estimate I eliminated between 150-200 in this initial effort.

What books did I eliminate? Some were simply outdated, and any attempt to use material from them would have been useless. Some were books from my college and seminary days that no one would ever use in the real world. A few books were purchased when I was doing regional ministry, and they were more appropriate as denominational and regional resources, but they were no longer needed by me. Several were books that sounded good, but when I got them I found out they were not really what I was looking for. That's one of the problems with Christian bookstores such as Lifeway going out of business. I could go in there and check out the books to see if they were something I actually wanted. Now, we order the books from CBD or Amazon based upon someone's recommendation or a review we read, buy it, and only then learn it isn't at all what we wanted.

You may be asking why I started getting rid of some of my books? A couple of reasons. One, I'm double-stacking books on my shelves, and my study is already filled with bookshelves. When you start double-stacking, there's a good chance you'll never see the ones in the back ever again. A second reason is I'm 75 years-old. I've got plenty of books left my wife might have to deal with when I'm gone. There's no sense in her having to deal with books I haven't used in 40 years

My reasons for disposing of books makes sense, but it doesn't make it any less painful for someone who loves books and loves to read. I have more books on Kindle and NOOK, but I seldom buy books for those devices anymore. I like to hold a book in my hands, highlight passages and write in the margins. I enjoy walking into my study and seeing shelves of books surrounding my desk.

My wife walked by a few minutes ago and asked what I was going to do with the empty selves. I responded I guess I'll have to fill them up again. She was not amused!

I'll wait a few days, gather some more boxes and start emptying some more shelves. By then, the pain should have subsided!

Star Wars

 I've admitted here before I am a Star Wars fan. I've watched the films numerous times and have all of them on video. A few years I decided to begin reading the books, and during the Covid quarantine I read several of them. The last I knew there were 381 Star Wars books published not counting comics and those for children. I've read 139 of them.

The funny thing about this is that before I began reading these books I seldom read a fiction book. I probably didn't average reading one fiction book a year before I began reading the Star Wars books. My reading was focused on ministry, leadership, personal growth, theology and similar interests. I thought reading fiction was a waste of time. I was wrong. For one thing, it's better than watching endless hours of TV. More importantly, it allows your mind to think about possibilities you may have never thought of before. I never got too excited about space before reading these novels, but now I try to watch the Space Station fly over every chance I get. No matter how many times I watch that amazing spectacle I think of how perfectly fine-tuned God created our universe that we can know exactly the time and the location that the Space Station will pass within our viewing range. Currently, I'm excited about the green comet that is expected to be viewable in my location on February 2. I think it's the first time in 50,000 years it has been close enough to earth to be visible. I doubt I'll get a second chance to see it if I miss it this time!

Star War books are the classic story of the battle between good and evil. Like many good novels, it often appears that evil will win, but somehow good seems to triumph. I have to admit as well that I often find disturbing parallels between the Senate and the evil Emperor in these novels and our own current government. The treacheries and deceit found in these books could easily come out the front pages of our current newspapers. After reading these books it could become easy to get a little paranoid any time our government seeks to reassure us that everything is fine!

One of the things I like best about these books is that it costs me nothing to read them. I have a large library of books that I have spent a small fortune to obtain. These Star Wars books are accessed through an app called Libby. I simply use my library card from our local library and can access any book that is available through that library. Since our library is connected to a larger group of libraries that means I have a large collection of books I can read on my phone or laptop. Everyone of these Star Wars books have been obtained this way saving me a lot of money. Depending on your library you may have tens of thousands of books available to you on virtually any subject you can think of that you can read without ever leaving your home. 

Leaders are readers. This app is a great opportunity for you to increase your reading with no cost to you. I encourage you to check it out.

2022 Reading List

 For the first time in my adult life this year I read more fiction books than non-fiction. The non-fiction books were all Star Wars related so I must admit to being a Star Wars nerd. They make good reading when one is standing in line at Wal-Mart, waiting for a meal to be served in a restaurant or while watching a ball game on TV. Fortunately, I did manage to read some other good books in 2022 and want to share the top six books that I read this year.

#6 - A Non-Anxious Presence by Mark Sayers. We live in a very chaotic world, and the church finds itself in the midst of that chaos. Few church leaders would question that the church is going through a transition time as we seem to be passing from one church era into another one. The author refers to this period as a gray zone, and it is in this gray zone that we must minister. None of us knows what the church will be like as it emerges from the gray zone, and this uncertainty makes many of us, pastors and lay people alike, nervous and concerned. One of the challenges of pastoral leadership to to lead in these gray zones. I found this book a very good guide for how to do that. The author also encourages us by writing, "gray zones are preciously the kinds of places that God seeds with renewal and rebirth." Believing that as I do makes it much easier to provide pastoral leadership during these uncertain times.

#5 - Intentional Churches by Bart Rendel and Doug Parks. One word that has been very meaningful to me in recent years is intentionality. I have grown weary of churches thinking they can continue to do what they've always done and somehow things will magically begin to improve. I feel the same way about individuals who drift through life never understanding why their lives do not improve. As the authors point out, intentional churches understand the vision God has for their church and take the steps to achieve that vision. Moving forward with purpose is always better than drifting with no sense of direction. They also point out that intentional churches needs intentional leaders. This includes both pastoral and lay leaders, and until these are intentional in their ministry approach, the church never will be.

#4 - Forward by David Jeremiah. I admit I am late to the David Jeremiah party. I've been watching his ministry on TV for the past few months and this is his first book I've read. I love his biblical approach to real life. Jeremiah points out that our best lives are ahead of us. That is especially encouraging to someone 74 years old, but it is one I readily accept! This is not only true of individuals; it is true of churches. I really loved this book.

#3 - Determined to Believe by John C. Lennox. One reason I read fewer non-fiction books this year is that I read more non-fiction books that took longer to read! This is one of those books. Not only was it 356 pages long, it was rich and deep requiring a lot of concentration on my part. Much of the church world is being challenged by the Calvinist-Arminian debate. I've read enough from both sides to know their proof-texts. Lennox moves beyond these to address the important issues regarding fatalism and freedom. Serious readers wanting to better understand this disagreement will want to study this book.

#2 - Canoeing the Mountains by Tod Bolsinger. This is a reread of a book I read a couple of years ago. I was so impressed with it that I felt it important to read it again. He compares Christian leadership today to the Lewis and Clark expedition. Their purpose was to find a waterway to the Pacific Ocean, a trade route everyone knew was there. Imagine their surprise when they reaching the Rocky Mountains and found their canoes would not take them where they needed to go! Does this sound like the challenge facing today's church? What has got us here will not take us where we need to go. Lewis and Clark had to ditch their canoes and find new ways to continue their journey. So must the church. I love this book.

#1 - Historical Theology by Gregg R. Allison. I'll start the review by stating the book is 733 pages not counting the index and glossary of words. This was slow reading for me, but I'll admit I'm not the sharpest crayon in the box. Maybe you'll read it in a couple of days, but I doubt it. Allison follows the bestselling book Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem. He traces the various components of Christian doctrine according to a topical-chronological arrangement. There are a lot of footnotes! The book leans towards a Calvinist approach to many of the doctrines, but not enough that is will be troubling to those who do not hold to that approach. No doubt this is a book that will be used in many seminaries as a text book, but it is accessible to most readers who will take the time to study it. It is well worth that time.

One of these days I've got to start cleaning out my library, but I don't have time right now. I've got more books coming in this week.

The changing world of book publishing

Like everything else in society and the church world, book publishing has changed dramatically in the past few years. Between 2000 and 2013 I published eight books through three different publishers. One publisher requested the book I wrote for them. For the other two publishers, I submitted proposals which they accepted. Today, the vast majority of publishers will not even accept a proposal unless it comes to them through a literary agent.

I have no doubt that publishers have seen their profit margins squeezed considerably over the past few years. Many brick-and-mortar booksellers have gone out of business with Amazon and other online book sellers picking up much of the business.  I would assume publishers have reduced the number of people who, in the past, would have reviewed the proposals coming in and now depend upon the literary agents to do that work for them. Of course, I'm speculating here, but this seems to explain why proposals are only accepted through agents.

The options for an author are limited. Find an agent, self-publish or offer the book as an eBook. I continue to seek an agent for the two newest books I've written as that seems the preferable option for me. Self-publishing too often results in a garage full of books with limited means of marketing them. E-Books get lost in the myriad of such books available.

When my previously published books became available people would approach me asking about how to get their book idea published. In the past I would warn them of the challenges facing them and the low rate of return most authors receive for the time spent in writing, editing and finding a publisher for their work. Now, I have additional warnings to give.

Writing has to be a passion. Obviously, there are authors who become wealthy through their writings. Others use their books to promote their speaking events. My books have led to numerous speaking opportunities throughout the United States and Canada. But for most authors, we write because we believe we have something to say that's important. We have knowledge we want to share with others.

As I've watched the publishing world change so much over the past two decades I have to wonder what new changes are yet to come. I also wonder how many prospective new writers with information we need to hear will be silenced by these changes. I think this is something publishers, especially Christian publishers, need to consider.