The Problem with Preachers: The Similitude of Preaching, Preying, and Pimping By: Dawud Aasiya-Bey Dawud Aasiya-Bey was born in Washington, D.C., and his parents relocated to Long Island, NY, when he was four years old. He grew up with three brothers in a town called Wyandanch in the town of Babylon. As a child, he attended a private, parochial middle school in Deer Park, NY, which had a church on the campus and this is where his first experience of attending mass occurred. He felt that the school was a strict environment because it seemed that minor infractions resulted in punishments that simply did not fit the wrongdoing. He envisioned church as a place where people would be friendly and kind, but such was not the case as sisters and fathers seemed to roam the school campus like their goal in life was to catch someone doing something wrong. Dawud now lives in Murrieta, California, with his wife and son, which is a small city about 60 miles north of San Diego. He is currently in the teaching vocation as a biology teacher and has been doing so for over sixteen years. Prior to teaching, he worked in the IT field, which was a volatile environment back in 2000 requiring “head-hunters” to find contractual B2B jobs, which were three to six months at best as outsourcing was the norm. Such instability introduced him to the teaching profession, as he was a substitute teacher between his IT contract jobs. His involvement in the church community as a musician (bassist) allows him to experience the church dynamic from a ‘musician for hire’ perspective while continuing his passion for playing music that centers on worship. Being behind the scenes and playing in ministries throughout the years has given him more insight as playing at churches, conferences, and gospel events allowed him to observe the networking, conversations, and sentiments that took place amongst ministries. He feels that the lifestyles and views of some preachers contradict what Jesus taught in the Bible.

Practical Ways to Support and Care for Your Pastor Do you pray for your pastors? Do you encourage them? Do you have realistic expectations for them? The office of pastor is simultaneously a rewarding and draining position. Pastors today have immense pressure on their shoulders and they need the support of their congregations. Peter Orr has written Fight for Your Pastor as an exhortation for church members to stand behind their pastors through the difficulties of ministry. Orr specifies ways in which congregations can be intentional in caring for church leaders, including prayer, encouragement, generosity, and forgiveness. Featuring stories from current pastors about their struggles, this book is perfect for thoughtful church members eager to understand the weight of their pastors' positions and support leaders in their important ministry. For Thoughtful Christians: Specifically those wanting to know more about their pastors and how to care for them Current: Features insight from pastors about their personal experiences in ministry Applicable: Gives practical examples of how to love and care for pastors, including specific prayers for church leaders and the best ways to encourage them

This book is an analysis of shifts in dominant media forms and their effects on the sensibilities of the culture as a whole. Many of those shifts have profound, and unfortunate, effects on preaching. T. David Gordon has identified a problem, one that affects all preachers (indeed, all public speakers) and needs fixing. Our preaching is just not communicating properly anymore. Fortunately, Gordon not only explains the causes of this failure but also shows us how to make things better. - Publisher.

Does your church make you uncomfortable? It’s easy to dream about the “perfect” church—a church that sings just the right songs set to just the right music before the pastor preaches just the right sermon to a room filled with just the right mix of people who happen to agree with you on just about everything. Chances are your church doesn’t quite look like that. But what if instead of searching for a church that makes us comfortable, we learned to love our church, even when it’s challenging? What if some of the discomfort that we often experience is actually good for us? This book is a call to embrace the uncomfortable aspects of Christian community, whether that means believing difficult truths, pursuing difficult holiness, or loving difficult people—all for the sake of the gospel, God’s glory, and our joy.

How do we help our friends who have just become Christians or are young in the faith? In this concise and accessible book, Mike Patton unpacks the basics of the Christian faith, helping new believers think rightly about God and live fully for God as they begin their new life in Christ. In ten easy-to-read chapters, Patton introduces readers to the foundational teachings and life-giving practices of Christianity—from the doctrine of the Trinity to reading and understanding the Bible. Designed for individual use or small group discussion, this handbook on the Christian faith has the potential to become the go-to guide for new believers wanting to follow Jesus with their heads and their hands.

Pastoral ministry is more challenging than ever with unique, complicated burdens and expectations some have not experienced in previous generations. Because of this, the number of pastors who start with a great zeal for the work, quickly crash and burn and are left with a battered faith and family. This book seeks to identify those unique challenges, diagnose the problem, propose a biblical solution, and then guide the pastor and his family to embrace these challenges while shepherding the family through them.