Ministry Leadership

A comprehensive and practical handbook of stories, counsel, suggestions, and projects covering all the major responsibilities and relationships involved in serving as a staff member in today’s church.

Ministry in modern society presents a perpetual assault on the pastor’s soul. Culture has changed, and the challenges of ministry have changed with it. Many new pastors are discovering that they’re ill-equipped to manage unexpected, soul-health tensions of ministry. Some are walking away, and others are choosing to not enter the pastorate despite a sense of God’s calling.

46 Stones addresses multiple topics that have been the source of frustration, discouragement, and disillusionment for many in the modern-day church. The book gives a name and a voice to these issues. It is time for the church worldwide—in the spirit of Ecclesiastes 3:5—“to throw away some stones;” in this case, the faulty manmade stones and legalistic stones that have been stumbling blocks in the evangelical church for way too long. These forty-six stones are simply a compilation of notions, tendencies, and beliefs that are being “called out” one by one.

The Externally Focused Quest: Becoming the Best Church for the Community is designed for church leaders who want to transform their churches to become less internally focused and more oriented to the world around them. The book includes clear guidelines on the changes congregations must adopt to become truly outwardly focused. This book is not about getting all churches to have an annual day of community service as a tactic, but changing the core of who they are and how they see themselves as a part of their community.

In This Book You Will Learn 8 principles that will lead to Guaranteed Growth, How to create an atmosphere for growth in your church and organization. Help you identify who you are called to reach. Your growth zone!

In Steering Through Chaos, Pastor Scott Wilson helps church leaders plan for healthy changes by making strategic choices that please God and grow your ministry. Since challenges tend to multiply during times of transition, Wilson shares wise insight on building new facilities, changing staff structure, adding services, becoming a multisite ministry, and more. During the struggles of transition, doubts inevitably arise. At those moments, leaders need assurance that they have a real and authentic vision from God. Wilson encourages you to follow the call and to lead with confidence and courage.

Longtime Christian journalist, researcher, and ministry leader Rick Lawrence believes that the driving force propelling the church into irrelevance is its propensity reduce Jesus. Deeply researched and comprehensively sourced, Editing Jesus, explores the 8 ways the Jesus of the contemporary church has been edited to fit the spirit of the age. Lawrence writes on:

Some churches exclude women from ministry leadership roles based on a few difficult to interpret Scripture passages. Some churches also teach the Holy Spirit's gifts were only necessary until the canon of Scripture was completed—therefore, supernatural gifts like prophecy should not be pursued today. What if the full inclusion of women in church leadership and the exercise of the gift of prophecy combine two vital elements for a healthy, unhindered church?

The American workplace exhibits a growing imbalance when it comes to human identity. Leaders are frequently defined in the absence of their critical social identifiers, but the exclusion of these identifiers is a mistake and ignores essential physical, cultural, and spiritual realities. Rather than abandoning an individual's social identities, the ones we choose and the ones we do not, Leading While Black draws on the lived experiences of executive-level leaders of the Christian faith and Black identity, and offers a testament to the power of a living God in the social fabric of public life.

Spirit and Sacrament by pastor and author Andrew Wilson is an impassioned call to join together two traditions that are frequently and unnecessarily kept separate. It is an invitation to pursue the best of both worlds in worship, the Eucharistic and the charismatic, with the grace of God at the center. Wilson envisions church services in which healing testimonies, creeds, exuberant praise, and ancient liturgy coexist, and in doing so, deepen our worship and increase our joy.

Leaders: Are you feeling overwhelmed in this post-pandemic world? The one-size-fits-all approaches no longer work. You need creative strategies based on godly wisdom that bring people together and break new ground.

In an audiobook eagerly awaited by her growing retinue of fans, she brings listeners inside the world's oldest Christian faith, illuminating Eastern Orthodoxy in a manner similar to Kathleen Norris's exploration of Benedictine spirituality. An ex-hippie and former social radical, the author often writes humorously about her unusual road from Woodstock to the altar of an Orthodox church, where she is the pastor's wife.

Why does a contented, satisfied life feel so evasive? What deep hungers drive the reckless purchasing habits, out of control accumulation, and crazy consumer lifestyle for so many of us? And why are we often driven more by what our neighbors own than what will truly make us happy? For many in the recent economic financial crisis a series of lifestyle adjustments became necessary as hours were slashed at work and paychecks diminished. Vacations were simplified or canceled, even important purchases had to be delayed and any extras were put on hold.

Is successful leadership measured simply by the outcomes a leader achieves, or is there another - more essential - yardstick for measuring success? In Redefining Leadership, author, pastor, and college president Joe Stowell shows us that the best leaders are driven by Christ-formed character, and that truly successful leadership is not defined by the standards of this world but by the counter-intuitive practices and perspectives of the Kingdom of Christ.

Experienced pastor and seminary teacher R. Robert Creech helps pastoral leaders increase their effectiveness by applying family systems theory to congregational life and ministry. Creech introduces listeners to the basic concepts of Bowen Family Systems Theory, applies family theory to the work of ministry in church settings, and connects systems thinking to the everyday aspects of congregational ministry, such as preaching, pastoral care, leadership, spiritual formation, and interpreting biblical texts. Each chapter contains discussion questions and helpful information about Bowen theory.

I often feel like a freak in the Kingdom. It’s not because I don’t fit in, or because I don’t have great friends and connections in the ministry. Rather, it’s because I’m continually provoked by the possibilities to change the world through various ministries, projects and endeavors—and that results in a lot of action, shifting, trial and error that takes many beyond their comfort zones. As a visionary, my heart is to provoke and awaken a generation to the greatness of God, and I am seeking any and every vehicle I can find, or invent, to get that message out there. God is ...

For five hard years Christian leader Kevin Myers struggled personally and professionally. But it was during that time that God pointed out where he was going wrong and showed him the biblical pattern for living. It proceeded to transform his life, leadership, ministry, and relationships. During that time John Maxwell also became his mentor.

Filled with real-life stories from the authors’ own experiences, Teach a Man to Fish provides churches and missions organizations with a blueprint for helping people help themselves in order to create lasting change and long-term sustainability and independence.

We are living in historic times. Not since the Civil Rights Movement of the '60s has our country been as vigorously engaged in the reconciliation conversation. There is a great opportunity right now for culture to change, to be a more perfect union. However, it cannot be done without the church, because the faith of the people is more powerful than any law government can enact.

Planting with Purpose: A Biblical and Practical Guide to Church Planting is a Spirit-led manual for modern-day pioneers. Rooted in biblical conviction and pastoral wisdom, this book equips church planters, leaders, and visionaries to build ministries that endure, disciple, and transform communities. Written with clarity and apostolic insight, this guide walks you through the theological foundations, leadership structures, strategic planning, and real-world challenges of planting a church. With appendices on vision writing, doctrinal mapping, governance, and more, it’s more than a book—...