Preaching Magazine Book of the Year (2022) Hearts & Minds Best Books List (2022) Christianity Today Award of Merit in Church & Pastoral Leadership (2023) It’s time to give pastors permission to read books besides the Bible. Six months into his first senior pastorate, Austin Carty sat in his office reading—not the Bible, not a commentary, not a theological tract, but a novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky. As the minutes turned to hours, while he sat engrossed in this book, he noticed something: he began feeling uneasy. And then anxious. And then guilty. What would someone think if they opened the door and caught him reading fiction? For busy pastors (is there any other kind?), time spent reading feels hard to justify, especially when it’s not for sermon prep. But what if reading felt less like a luxury and more like a vocational responsibility—a spiritual practice that bears fruit in every aspect of ministry, from preaching to pastoral care to church leadership? Austin Carty believes that this is exactly how pastors ought to think about reading. The Pastor’s Bookshelf shows how worthwhile reading is more about formation than information and how, through reading, a pastor becomes a fuller, more enriched human being with a deeper capacity for wisdom and love, better equipped to understand and work for God’s kingdom.

Short-term missions expert J. Mack Stiles believes we can't separate who we are and how we live from what we say as we interact with people about the good news of Jesus. We need to live out the reconciling forgiveness of God as opposed to loving in the world's way. And when we leave things out of the gospel, not only is the message distorted but so are we as messengers. In this book Stiles shows us an integrated approach to knowing the gospel, living the gospel and speaking the gospel makes us whole, healthy evangelists.

Many new believers have questions about what it means to live as a Christian in the context of a local church, and pastors are looking for resources to pass along to their congregations to help them think biblically about the Christian life. Church Questions is a series by 9Marks that seeks to provide Christians with sound and accessible biblical teaching by answering common questions about church life. Each booklet offers biblical answers and practical applications with the goal of nurturing healthy church practice and commitment. Each volume offers biblical answers and practical applications with the goal of nurturing healthy church practice and commitment. In this concise booklet, best-selling author Mark Dever offers clear biblical insight to churches in search of new leadership by providing 6 characteristics to look for in a new pastor, along with 11 suggestions of strategies to implement during the process.

Revelation is probably the most read, but least understood book of the Bible. History is replete with examples of how not to interpret it, and books featuring end-of-world prophecy claims based on Revelation consistently top the bestseller lists. But how can the message of such an enigmatic book be applied to our lives today? In Discipleship on the Edge, Darrell W. Johnson drives home the challenging and practical message of Revelation in thirty carefully crafted sermons. Paying careful attention to the original context of Revelation and the circumstances surrounding its composition, Johnson shows that the book is not a "crystal ball" but rather a "discipleship manual." Thoroughly researched and yet accessible, this collection of sermons is a helpful resource for pastors and small group leaders who are looking for models to help them preach and teach the message of Revelation in a time when there is much confusion about the end times. Darrell W. Johnson serves as Scholar-in-Residence at The Way Church and Canadian Church Leaders Network in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. A popular conference and retreat speaker, he has also served as the preaching pastor for a number of congregations in North America and the Philippines, as well as serving as Adjunct Professor of Preaching for the Doctor of Ministry program at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, and a Teaching Fellow at Regent College. His other books include Experiencing the Trinity and Fifty-Seven Words That Change The World.

Some of today's pastors are relatively untroubled but need help in releasing the pressure inherent in ministry to others. Others are close to running on empty, both spiritually and emotionally. All of them would like someone to confide in who can provide realistic help based on firsthand experience. This is precisely what Pastors at Greater Risk is all about! First published in 1993, this edition is completely rewritten, with updated stats, interviews with contemporary pastoral leaders, and a special emphasis on today's hot-button issues, such as job turnover, pornography, spiritual burnout, congregational turnover, and more. The result: A book that is rich in wisdom and understanding and one that provides pastor-to-pastor help at a time when it is needed more than ever!

To understand the continued and far - reaching ministry of A. W. Tozer, it is important to know who he was, including his relationship with God. In The Life of A. W. Tozer, James Snyder lets us in on the life and times of a deep thinker who was not afraid to ''tell it like it is'' and never compromised his beliefs. A. W. Tozer's spiritual legacy continues today as his writings challenge readers to a deeper relationship and worship of God in reverence and adoration. Here is Tozer's life story, from boyhood and his conversion at the age of seventeen, to his years of pastoring and writing more than 40 books, at least two regarded as Christian classics that continue to appear on best seller lists today. Examining Tozer's life allows the reader to learn from a prophet with much to say against the compromises he observed in contemporary Christian living and the hope he found in his incredible God. ''the Life of A. W. Tozer gives a behind the scenes look at the man and his message. We see God at work with hammer and chisel to shape Tozer's life into a vessel capable of influencing all who desire to walk with God. No single author has influenced me personally more than A. W. Tozer. I thank God for his influence on my life.''Gary M. Benedict, President, The Christian and Missionary Alliance

Evangelicals have been scandalized by their association with Donald Trump, their megachurches summarily dismissed as “religious Walmarts.” In The Subversive Evangelical Peter Schuurman shows how a growing group of “reflexive evangelicals” use irony to critique their own tradition and distinguish themselves from the stereotype of right-wing evangelicalism. Entering the Meeting House – an Ontario-based Anabaptist megachurch – as a participant observer, Schuurman discovers that the marketing is clever and the venue (a rented movie theatre) is attractive to the more than five thousand weekly attendees. But the heart of the church is its charismatic leader, Bruxy Cavey, whose anti-religious teaching and ironic tattoos offer a fresh image for evangelicals. This charisma, Schuurman argues, is not just the power of one individual; it is a dramatic production in which Cavey, his staff, and attendees cooperate, cultivating an identity as an “irreligious” megachurch and providing followers with a more culturally acceptable way to practise their faith in a secular age. Going behind the scenes to small group meetings, church dance parties, and the homes of attendees to investigate what motivates these reflexive evangelicals, Schuurman reveals a playful and provocative counterculture that distances itself from prevailing stereotypes while still embracing a conservative Christian faith.