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The Barnabas Factors: Eight Essential Practices of Church Planting Team Members
Paperback
Published April 16, 2012
About the author
J.D. Payne
32 books13 followersJ. D. Payne (PhD, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is pastor of church multiplication at The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama, and has served as missionary.
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
November 5, 2026
I read this book with my launch team as we prepared to plant a new church. I wish I could rate this book higher. Here are the reasons for my rating:
Strengths
1. Payne's first-hand experience offers planters and teams practical insight.
2. The premise of the book, focusing on eight characteristics from the life of Barnabas, is the biggest strength of this work.
3. The book is thoroughly biblical, pointing the reader back to Scripture for its claims and principles.
4. The book is useful for teams with short chapters, discussion questions, and simple themes that generate fruitful discussion.
Weaknesses
1. I felt that the "From the Field" sections, featuring tips from anonymous planters, didn't contribute much to the book as a whole.
2. More importantly, I wish the book presented each Barnabas Factor with the gospel in sharp focus. While Payne does a good job presenting each factor biblically from Barnabas's life, I wish he would show readers how the gospel speaks to each. Without that, there's a danger for some well-meaning Christians to treat the Barnabas Factors as a spiritual to-do list or a list of characteristics they cannot reach. To be charitable, I don't believe that is Payne's intention here. I genuinely believe he wants to help his readers possess the Barnabas Factors in their everyday life. But centering every chapter on how the gospel inspires and empowers Christians to cultivate each factor would have been helpful.
That being said, I wouldn't discard this book or discourage people from reading it. It is useful for missionaries, planters, and teams in the field or those preparing to plant. But if you do, I would listen to the following advice from Ed Stetzer, who wrote the book's foreword: "As you read this book and continue along your church planting journey, let me encourage you to always center all that you are and all that you do on the gospel. As you prayerfully strategize on how to employ the knowledge gained in this book in your own team setting, keep the message of the gospel front and center."
Strengths
1. Payne's first-hand experience offers planters and teams practical insight.
2. The premise of the book, focusing on eight characteristics from the life of Barnabas, is the biggest strength of this work.
3. The book is thoroughly biblical, pointing the reader back to Scripture for its claims and principles.
4. The book is useful for teams with short chapters, discussion questions, and simple themes that generate fruitful discussion.
Weaknesses
1. I felt that the "From the Field" sections, featuring tips from anonymous planters, didn't contribute much to the book as a whole.
2. More importantly, I wish the book presented each Barnabas Factor with the gospel in sharp focus. While Payne does a good job presenting each factor biblically from Barnabas's life, I wish he would show readers how the gospel speaks to each. Without that, there's a danger for some well-meaning Christians to treat the Barnabas Factors as a spiritual to-do list or a list of characteristics they cannot reach. To be charitable, I don't believe that is Payne's intention here. I genuinely believe he wants to help his readers possess the Barnabas Factors in their everyday life. But centering every chapter on how the gospel inspires and empowers Christians to cultivate each factor would have been helpful.
That being said, I wouldn't discard this book or discourage people from reading it. It is useful for missionaries, planters, and teams in the field or those preparing to plant. But if you do, I would listen to the following advice from Ed Stetzer, who wrote the book's foreword: "As you read this book and continue along your church planting journey, let me encourage you to always center all that you are and all that you do on the gospel. As you prayerfully strategize on how to employ the knowledge gained in this book in your own team setting, keep the message of the gospel front and center."
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review