Plantador de iglesias: El hombre, el mensaje, la misión

by Darrin Patrick

¿Qué hay en el corazón mismo de plantar una iglesia?
El componente humano más importante que tiene la plantación de toda iglesia es su propio fundador. Las Escrituras se refieren con frecuencia a la personalidad y la labor que desempeñan los que son llamados a ser líderes. Sin embargo, gran parte de esa sabiduría que procede de Dios es echada a un lado para sustituirla con estrategias y métodos humanos, lo cual termina haciéndonos pagar un alto precio. Ya va siendo hora de que volvamos a los criterios llenos de autoridad de la Biblia a la hora de decidirnos en cuanto a la persona, el mensaje y la misión que necesita tener toda iglesia.

Genres: Church, Leadership, Theology, Christian, Christianity, Nonfiction, Ecclesiology

357 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 12, 2010

About the author

Darrin Patrick worked as a pastor and chaplain. He died by suicide in 2020.

Reviews

[Kyle Houlton · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a really well-written book. No, really, it was. The reason for the abysmal rating is the same reason that has been identified by so many reviewers before me: the title is a misnomer. Very little of the content was geared specifically toward current or prospective church planters and seemed instead to be geared toward men currently or prospectively engaged in pastoral ministry. So, in effect, the book had little to offer in terms of novelty regarding the (church planting) man, the (church planting) message or the (church planting) mission.

The Gospel was presented clearly and thoroughly as the substance and motivation behind it all, Scripture was faithfully and expertly exegeted and applied and a contemporary perspective was offered, especially in regards to the third section of the book. It's just that it could all be applied by any and all pastors.

[Nathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent read. if you are a Pastor, plan to be or a church planter this book will help you in many ways. It's a high calling. It has has pointed out many things I need to learn and I know I'll return to this book so I can continue to learn how to be an effective church planter.

[Aaron Downs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Darrin Patrick’s Church Planter encourages development and understanding in three areas: the man, the message, and the mission. Patrick begins by describing the biblical qualifications for elders, as well as advice for cultivating personal growth in those who desire to plant churches. He emphasizes that those who desire to plant churches must indeed be rescued by Christ from sin. This emphasis is especially important because many charlatans and false teachers have entered into the realm of Christianity under false pretenses of gospel ministry without believing them message for themselves. Patrick continues to explain the message of the church planter—the message of the true gospel. Although this gospel does not come with earthly riches and attraction, this is the message that must be preached. Up to this point, the book was emphatically helpful in guiding my thoughts about church planting.

The final section, the mission, was also helpful; however, I think that I would apply many of the principles Patrick offers in radically different ways. Though I do not know too much about the church that he planted, the Journey, the church seems to be part of the mega-church/multi-site environment. I do not think that this model of doing church is the best model, however, Patrick still had some valuable thoughts to offer on the subject.

Perhaps the most important section of the book was his discussion on the call to ministry. He highlights local church involvement in confirming the call to ministry. Many churches have failed to confirm the calling to ministry that their congregants have felt, leaving these people without the support of the local body of Christ. Pastors, elders, and all church members must be active in noticing and affirming gifting and calling in the members of the church.

This book is an easy, quick read. If you are interested in church planting I am sure that you will find it interesting, just as I did.

www.christliteratureculture.wordpress...

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

My review can be read in three parts at Blogging Theologically:

Part one: The Man
Part two: The Message
Part three: The Mission

“[W]e have a cultural crisis and a theological one,” writes Darrin Patrick in Church Planter: The Man, the Message, the Mission. “We live in a world full of males who have prolonged their adolescence. They are neither boys nor men. They live, suspended as it were, between childhood and adulthood, between growing up and being grown-ups. . . . This kind of male is everywhere, including the church and even, frighteningly, vocational ministry.” (p. 9).

In short, we have a man crisis. Modern society shuns the traditional role of the man as the head of the home, the breadwinner and the spiritual leader of the family. Advertising and entertainment show the man as the oafish buffoon, Mom’s “other child.” Emasculated, men have abdicated their responsibilities and escaped into the fleeting pleasures of hobbies, video games and pornography.

They are neither men nor boys. They are are “Bans,” a hybrid of both a boy and man. They’re in our communities, our churches, our workplaces, and our families.

Ban needs godly men and women to show him there is more to life than he is currently experiencing. Ban needs to be more than just a male. He needs to be becoming God’s man who is being transformed by God’s gospel message and is wholeheartedly pursuing God’s mission. (p. 18)

That’s why Patrick, the pastor of The Journey Church in St. Louis and vice-president of the Acts 29 Church Planting Network, wrote Church Planter. In its pages, Patrick offers sound advice and biblical wisdom as he challenges prospective church planters, longtime pastors and the average churchman alike to be God’s man armed with God’s message and on God’s mission...

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son bought me the Church Planter – The Man, the Message, the Mission as my wife and I are thinking about how we can serve God in a regional church in Australia which has no formal ministry staff. We are thinking of leading a tiny church as laypeople with little experience. The book was a fantastic resource focusing mainly on the attributes needed to lead and support a church (not just planting {or establishing} a church). The book is not just about planting churches but has a strong focus on leading. The last page of the book encourages people like my wife and I not to let our dreams for a possible tiny church be limited. The writer, Darrin Patrick, encourages us not to be small-minded but to have a big dream and a vision for the small town we may go into. God is limitless in the things that he can do with us in any community we may go into. Whether you are a minister, a prospective minister or a layperson considering some sort of ministry this book is highly recommended. Oh, and of course if you are thinking of planting a church this is for you as well.

[D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book. Covers a lot of ground and is a primer to many different topics. Each chapter could be its own book. Has a lot of practical tips.

[Jason Duran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let me just start out with some background. My church fellowship has been planting churches for 40 plus years, in the states and worldwide. It has always been our focus and direction in all that we do. Discipling men and planting churches is the focus of all our conferences, men's ministries and rallies. We have our own vernacular and terminology regarding the subject, in fact, you can walk into any of our churches and ask someone "who's your mother church?" or "You have any couples out of here?", or with humor, "So, Bro, where are you going next conference?" and we will know what you mean.

In our corner of the Kingdom, the church planting congregation is called the "mother church". The man sent out of that church to start the new work is called a "Pioneer Pastor", and he's expected to duplicate to some degree the atmosphere and spirit that is in his mother church. It is an expensive but worthwhile endeavor. Pioneer pastors and the sending congregation get a lot of respect because of the incredible risk they take to further the Gospel.

So when I was reading some of the satire accounts that I follow on twitter, I hear people making good natured humor about "church planters". It seemed to me that in other circles church planters were people wanting to ditch their Sunday night service or would rather sit on a couch than a pew ... I don't remember all the jibes. To me, a church planter is a Pastor with a congregation that is motivated and financially able to rise up to the New Testament mandate to send men out to preach the Gospel and establish (plant) a church. It's not something I speak of lightly.

So I started reading up on some of the current mainline christian culture and imagine my surprise when I see a book called "Church Planter" after years of being involved in planting churches for decades. I have never seen a book dealing with the topic unless it comes from the book table at our conference in Prescott. I even read a recent article where megapastor Rick Warren includes "Planting Churches" as the "P" in one of his acronyms. Really? Warning bells go off. Planting churches has just gone trendy. I normally mistrust the mighty goatee says anyway, but the recent turn to 'church planting' in the larger pop religious world has provoked some curiosity from me. Is it a serious turn towards a biblical pursuit for the Evangelical crowd, or a trendy genetic mutation of what the book of Acts was all about?

If highlighting is an indication of trendiness, then the die is cast. If you read the book on your Kindle, you can highlight sections of the book, and you can see what other people have highlighted and how many times additional people have highlighted that passage. There are a handful of quotes in the first few chapters that have thousands of repeat highlights. It's kind of liking someone's tweet. All this social tweeting stopped after the author delved into deeper, more polarizing theological topics. The only highlights in the last 3/4 of the book were mine. It's either a testimony of the short attention span Christian readers or evidence that people just want a bandwagon to jump on, or that many readers felt there were a lot of bones to spit out.

The author starts out with a preface chapter call "Why focus on Men?" He slams the modern version of manhood and at great length puts forth the challenge to the church to build men for the ministry. He defines the difference between sex, and gender and demands that men live up to the Bible's standards for character and spirituality. Pretty good so far.

The meat of the book is divided up into three sections (like a three point sermon), "The Man", "The Message", and "The Mission". These are all themes that resonate well with me and after reading it I realize that it is not a how-to manual for the practice of planting churches, but rather a book about what the "Church Planter", the guy who starts a church, should be ... especially Section One.
The chapters in "The Man" section are a good biblical expounding on what the Bible says a leader in the church should be. Taking that the main requirements laid out are for "elders" the author challenges Pastors and leaders with these passages. This whole section is a revealing mirror we all should hold ourselves up to. He calls our motives into question and challenges prospective Pastors to be an actual Christian first before going into the ministry. He puts pastoral skill sets and personalities in to the categories of Prophets, Priests and Kings. He also describes the heart of a shepherd. It's all very personally challenging.

I seriously think "Pastor" has become a self-esteem title for people today (men's pastor, worship pastor, women's pastor, parking lot pastor etc.) for people that don't really do anything pastoral, but we really want them to feel important so they won't go somewhere else with their talent and charisma.

"The Message" section is a valuable reference for doctrines on Jesus. He makes a hard stand against modern day heresies that are sprouting up in the church today in the form of greater ideas and political correctness. He really defied Jesus and a solid historical figure that wasn't just a nice guy and good example, but a Savior. To make Him anything else dismissed our sinfulness and attempts to evade real repentance. A pastor could probably preach for months off of this section alone ... and I think that is the purpose of this section ... to bring the message we send out to the world back to being about our only hope and savior, Jesus Christ.

"The mission" section is kind of personal philosophy about what the ultimate goal should be in a city. I think the author is trying to dance between conservative and liberal camps and present a whole picture of the endless possibilities of a church plant. And I'll agree, we, are mostly limited by our own small mindedness when it comes to what the results are, but some of this is a mixed message.

For example, in one section of the book he outlines the problems of focusing on social issues in the church and having a socially active congregation with very little spiritual impact ... amen, I say. But one of his big examples of "church planting" was a guy who felt called to defeat poverty in St. Louis. He instituted a bunch of social programs centering around an elementary school and seemed to have positive effect on the GPA's and the towns economy. Is this "The Mission" though? It seems like a noble goal, but you don't need the church to do this. This Josh guy would have served better as Mayor.

Early in the book, he points out the problems with a church that focuses on the 'social gospel' but most of his examples of being Christ like are ones that will probably get you mostly secular pats on the back. I don't pastor in an urban setting, so I'm not familiar with their issues, but I don't believe that God called me to raise the literacy rate or the local GPA. These are secular measures of success and not the demands of Christian discipleship.

There was only one inspiring story of an actual convert in this part of the book. To me, the inspiring motivation to preach the Gospel is the individual stories of conversion and a changed life, not the charity work and community involvement. What we should accomplish as a church together is Evangelism, discipleship and ... church planting.

The other weird part was the story of a man's reversed vasectomy as a response to a scripture study on fruitfulness. Every man out there knows what he's talking about but he was dancing around the "V" word like it was offensive or as if male readers would be rolling around on the floor in a fetal position. I don't know, it didn't compute. It wasn't related to any spiritual truth that could help Pastors or inspire disciples. It seemed an odd note to end the book on.

I will say, that the idea of "mission" is the one area that all churches, or fellowships and denominations will differ in opinion. Differences in "mission" is the reason why we have different fellowships and denominations. You'll probably not see many books on church planting from our fellowship, because our leaders are actively engaged in the endeavor, sometimes sending out multiple couples from their churches at conference every six months or so. Once you get the vision for church planting, it becomes more of a matter of obedience and faith than it is a method.

This book is a three point sermon in slow motion that will cause you to re-evaluate your calling, your motives in ministry, your current eligibility, and hopefully put the edge back in your preaching. So, please, buy this book, but approach it as a personal challenge for the Pastor or the aspiring Pastor. Hold yourself to the measuring sticks the author provides for us. Dig through it and get a bunch of sermons on Jesus out of it.

[Josh Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Privacy the best book on church planting I've read so far. It's vital its not to talk ascot church planting tactics. Instead, the goal it's fyi talk about something easy more important: the man who is the church planter, the message that he should be proclaiming, and the mission that he is supposed to be on.

Character is a lost value in our culture. The need for a devotion life with Jesus is not stressed enough among pastors. The purity of the message of the gospel needs to be kept. Read this book and see how helpful if will be to you.

[Danny Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very solid book. The emphasis on the character of the planter is where this book shines. I am convinced that a focus on the character of church planters will cause the health of churches to skyrocket

The weakest part of the book was the intro. I am also very much behind motivating men of our generation to pick and the mantle of the gospel and work hard. With that said, using BAN as an acronym for a boy-man is probably not the way to go. It generates more light then heat, and is, frankly, kinda lame.

[Peyton Hanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Behind because of the flu 🤮. Not a horrible book. Not a great book. I think this book says some helpful things and points out some things worth pointing out. Overall the tone of the book suffers from a flaw of the young, restless, reformed movement of the early-mid 2000’s: it seems to be talking down to the reader at times (though unintentional). Also, it unfortunately falls flat in some ways because of the complicated career of the author. There are just better books that are better written and more nuanced to understand ministry and the mission of the church.

[Luke Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Won't appeal to everyone theologically but has some helpful content for Church Planters. Didn't find it as easy to read as other Church planting books but worth a read for those in the Church planting world.

[Rafael Martinez Renteria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelente libro que se puede tomar como referencia antes de convertirse en un plantador de iglesias.

[Tom Robson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some helpful idea on church planting, but fit me, I didn't agree on all his points or approaches. Then, I've never done it as a leader, so he will know better

[Christopher-James Neethling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure if I want to plant a church after reading this book, just joking. Very helpful book on the subject.

[Rodrigo Varoni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Introdução excelente. De resto, livro comum.

[Deante Partee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a gem to read! I personally loved how he laid out the qualifications for elders in a simple but thorough way.

[Joshua Rowland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can’t wait to meet Darren in glory and thank him for this book. Exactly what I needed.

[Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every Church planter, pastor and Church member ought to read this book. Biblical. Christ centered.Gospel saturated.

[Seth Gibson]

Mark Driscoll was a cool and successful pastor and so he got a nod in this book. I still don't know anything about church planting other than that.

[Changu Habukali · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to have knowledge about how to plant a church

[Ethan West · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a tough read considering Darrin Patrick's story. However, I still was able to get some things from it and it will remain on my bookshelf for future study as well. I am nowhere near the church planter stage yet and am not even sure if that is where God is calling me and my family.

[Jonathan García · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muy completo. Una herramienta para pastores y misioneros que desean ver florecer una congregación.

[Arthur Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing earth shattering.

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

wonderful in many places. the section on idols was particularly beneficial. I'm thankful for section 3 on the mission but I'm not fully convinced

[Nick James · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is a lot of really good, helpful, motivating content in this book. However the majority of the book is not overly helpful or motivating. I found myself generally disagreeing with the extreme stance the author took in the first section of the book (The Man). However this also proved to be my favorite section out of the three despite some disagreements on non-essential ideas. “The Message & The Mission” sections were a bit too predictable and not overly unique or deep in its content. Its also a very specific book with an even more specific audience. Unless you are a full time, vocational pastor, who wants to be challenged as a “true man of God” and be informed on the foundation of the gospel message then this book is not for you. And chances are if you are a full time, vocational pastor then sections 2-3 (Message & Mission) will be annoyingly reminiscent of your seminary days learning about the foundational of our faith. Its a less convicting version of “Dangerous Calling” by Paul David Tripp. My recommendation is read Section 1 and skim 2-3.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a better book than what I had expected. I first saw some rave reviews online for this particular book by Darrin Patrick when I was just released and I didn’t think much about it at that time. I thought that such a hype that soon would be over. However, after seeing there was a great kindle deal on this book, I thought why not read it myself, and boy did I enjoy reading this book.
This book is separated into 3 major portions, the man, the message and the mission. Simply put, it talks about who is the kind of person God calls to be a church planter, how should a church planter accomplish this task, and what is the church planter’s mission?

In the first part, Patrick goes to the focus of this book, the person himself, what kind of man should a church planter be? Patrick painstakingly goes through each characteristics of what kind of man God demands for this crucial task . I feel that this is the best part of the book, not only was this section thought provoking, it was meant for readers (who most likely are geared towards this direction) to search their hearts thoroughly before God. At the end of each chapter there are also many reflective questions which really helped me think through what I had learned from each chapter and examining my life based on what I've learnt.

In the 2nd part, which is essentially about preaching, talks about what kind of message must a church planter preach? Partick immediately narrows it down to the expository, salvation-historical, Christ-centred preaching and quickly show from the bible these truths and explains each of them lucidly. Patrick is able to strike a good balance here, in that he was not too brief to do no practical good neither was he going down every single nuance that makes one exhausted or missing the forest for the trees.

In the last section, Patrick briefly touched about the function of the church, which if you are a church planter, you ought to be clear about. The examples mentioned made this section felt more suited towards city churches, rather than for churches in suburban/rural setting. It’s not that there’s nothing in here for people who are doing church ministry outside of the city, rather this section would be a little limited in scope.

Some improvement that could be improved for future edition, one to see the 2 important sacraments briefly mentioned and explained and perhaps even a chapter on each of them. It’s surprising that a book for church planter do no explain either of these 2.

Next, a little section on discipleship would be helpful, since there was a whole section on preaching (which surely is important), shouldn’t there at least be a small chapter on this?

Lastly, more reflective/discussion questions, I felt that this was extremely helpful in helping me consolidate my thoughts for each chapter after I’ve finished reading each of them, however, halfway through the book, the questions disappeared! This is such a waste, this would have made the book much better. It would be good for future editions to have discussion questions at the end of each chapter (or section at least).

If you want a good introduction to the demands of ministry and a general view of what is expected to happen, this is a good place to start. However, you might want to read up more on the other things after you finish reading this book.

Rating: 3.5/5

[Brett Mclaughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a lot to like in Darrin Patrick's "Church Planter." First, and perhaps foremost for the primary audience, this book is readable and feels very "current." Unfortunately, even the Reformed movement among young men still seems to read over Edwards or Baxter too quickly. They're seen as the guys to read, but deep meditation doesn't seem too occur often. Patrick, then, engages that audience with something that is easy to read, and from one of their own (seeing as most young and Reformed either end up Acts 29 or in the PCA, which will via Keller still point to Patrick's book).

Additionally, Patrick isn't shy. He speaks clearly, aggressively, and without apology. Again, compared to men like Edwards or Spurgeon, this can be welcome, especially if you're not used to the prose of the giants of our faith's past. (Personally, I think you can hardly appreciate Patrick without digging into his own primary sources beside the Bible, which are in fact Spurgeon, Edwards, Newbingen, Stott, et. al.) Many men need to be woken up out of their stupor--and church planters are no exception, wrapped in their expensive jeans, backward hats, and printed t-shirts--and Patrick is successful at speaking contextually and plainly.

Patrick deals with three big topics: the man, the message, and the mission. Still, even in the sections on what is to be preached (the message) and where that preaching should occur (the mission), Patrick's primary concern is men. He speaks boldly, with a masculine edge, and there's a not-quite-subtle implication that if the man of God will in fact -be- the man of God, the message and the mission will come. This emphasis seems appropriate, as well; as Patrick points out (as well as Driscoll, Chandler, et. al.), the church is full of boys who shave.

Another unique aspect of Patrick's book is how well-documented and well-researched it is. I repeatedly found the footnotes engaging and helpful, and more than a few sentences in those footnotes are now highlighted. That speaks well of Patrick, and it also speaks well of what he's aiming toward: an educated, culturally and intellectually informed man who leads under the power of God for the sake of the Gospel. The careful and documented research is itself a call to read, to mark up, and to speak with the authority of Scripture and the spiritual giants of the past; not with opinion and self-indulgence.

The only significant negative of this book is that it was really not about church planting. It was about the church planter. This, in retrospect, is obvious from the title: the book is called "Church Planter," not "Church Planting." However, I think a lot of readers will come to the end and be disappointed that there is no discussion of method or approach. This is not really a flaw in content but of positioning. As long as readers know what they're getting into, this is a good read.

Finally, I'd add that the meat of the book really is in the middle sections. I was engaged, but not particularly moved, early on. As I pushed into the medial sections of the book, though, Patrick spoke in depth about several issues--repentance and depravity come to mind--that were phenomenally well-put. Stick with the book early; it rewards reading.

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

Darrin Patrick has created something of a handbook not only for church planters, but for church pastors. I was deeply impressed with the quality and authenticity of this work and find myself recommending this book to others.

Patrick is a part of Acts 29 which is a reformed ministry focused on launching churches across the country. Personally, I am an Arminian but I really like what these guys are doing and God is truly blessing them. Patrick gives a good look into why these guys are doing so well in the communities that God is sending them to. I was impressed with his humility and openness. He starts out the book talking about a very controversial topic (a woman's role in the church) and carefully articulates his position while remaining open and honest.

The first part of the book is incredible. The essentials that every pastor should know are packed away in the simple truths that he lays out. He discusses Pastoral ministry and the pitfalls that occur along the way. Some of the chapters focus on the Pastor's skill set while others focus on heart issues. The chapters are not enormous and thus are easy to read in small chunks. The first part of the book has such a devotional quality to it that I wish it had been around when I was Pastor.

The second part of the book is good as Pastor Darrin takes a look at the kind of message the church is to be presenting to the world. Each of these truths are simple and honest. One thing that I thought could be improved however, was the transition into this section. As good as the thoughts were it seemed a little disjointed and at times felt like a different book than the one you had been reading. It was an excellent clarion call to return to the gospel and it could not be more urgent in the church at present.

The final section seemed to flow better with the original direction of the book. The practical advice, comments about church life, and the ideas for outreach all made section three quite valuable. Many of the ideas will work better in the setting of the city than in the rural communities. While all the ideas may not apply the spirit of the message rings true no matter where you are in the world. He talks about ways to engage culture in a positive way and sets a path for authentic community outreach.

I couldn't recommend this book any higher. Even if you are not a church planter I believe the principles here hold true for any pastor. I wish a book like this had been around when I pastored. Perhaps things might have turned out differently than they did. Pick up the book. It will be a great addition to your library.

[Ben Adkison · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I've said previously, I'm in the beginning stages of planting a church in Nashville Tennessee. That being the case, I've been reading everything about the subject that I can get my hands on as I prayerfully formulate the vision for the church. Deep Church by Jim Belcher was helpful. Vintage Church by Mark Driscoll is a wonderful book. Francis Chan's Forgotten God provided a needed reminder that I must (and frankly long to) operate out the of the power that only the Holy Spirit provides. And my latest read, Church Planter by Darrin Patrick, has been a much needed encouragement and reminder about what it is I'm supposed to be doing.

Patrick lays out the book in three sections: The Man, The Message, and The Mission. I immediately connected with the first section. Personally speaking, I needed to be reminded and encouraged about my call to ministry and my call to church planting. Patrick helped me to do this. Section two of the book, the Message, was a good reminder of what the gospel is and how it needs to be preached. I was less moved by this section of the book, but simply because most of its content is material that I've been swimming in for quite some time. Section three was my second favorite part of the book (after section one). I grew up hearing only a 50% gospel message. I mean, I grew up hearing how Jesus died and rose again and how that should transform me morally, but I heard very little about how that message is supposed to send us on mission into our cities and communities. The mission I mainly heard was, "tell people how to get saved." But the culture-transforming, missional-lifestyle aspects of the gospel were rarely touched upon. And yet the Bible calls it the "gospel of the kingdom." It's a message about how to be saved yes, but the saved are sent on mission to not only preach salvation but transform cultures and communities and families. I don't want to say that I never heard anything of this sort growing up, but it definitely wasn't a key feature of the Christianity that I was accustomed to. Men like Driscoll and Keller and Patrick continue to add clarity to my thinking in this area.

This is a great book, and honestly it's usefulness goes way beyond church planting. If church members read this book and embraced its words, Godly pastors would rejoice at the wave of momentum that would occur.

[Mike E. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't judge a book by its cover. That quip applies here. My children thought the cover photo was from the horror genre! Also, the title is bad. Although the book is relevant for a church planter, the book is far more general. It would be better titled, "On Being A Pastor: A Contemporary Book inspired by Baxter's 'The Reformed Pastor.'"

The best chapter is the one entitled "A Called Man." This chapter is excellent for a high school or college student wrestling with a call to the ministry. I am not sure that I can think of something better for someone who has been called or discerning his call to the ministry.

QUOTES:

Being a pastor/church planter requires three basic skills: leading, teaching, and shepherding. Generally speaking, to be an effective pastor/church planter you must have two of the three to be able to lead a prevailing church.

In its context every passage possesses one or more of four redemptive foci. The text may be predictive of the work of Christ, preparatory for the work of Christ, reflective of the work of Christ, and/or resultant of the work of Christ. (Bryan Chapell, "Christ-Centered Preaching")

The more that you know that you are stained to the bone with selfish impulses, the more that you see how you hold out against the will of the Lord, the more you go to Christ as a thirsty sinner who finds deeper cleansing, more life and greater joy through the Spirit. (Repentance and the 20th Century Man
by John Miller)

Forgiveness flounders because I exclude the enemy from the community of humans and I exclude myself from the community of sinners. Miroslav Volf, "Exclusion & Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation"

So there may be two kinds of churches. One kind says to its community: "You can come to us, learn our language, our interests, and meet our needs." The other kind says to its community: "We will come to you, learn your language, learn your interests, meet your needs." Which of these approaches imitates the incarnation? (Tim Keller, "Contextualization: Wisdom or Compromise"