By Mark A. Taylor
Buying books is cheaper than changing ministries. So goes the advice often attributed to Russ Blowers when he was minister of East 91st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis. But are young leaders today heeding the advice?
All of us following a leader hope so! We want our leaders to know more than what they find on Facebook or ESPN. We need to hear more from our preachers than their own experiences. We expect our teachers to challenge us with ideas loftier than their own. We need those helping us live the Christian life to examine the Christian lives of those we can never know personally.
We need our Christian mentors to read books.
So for several years now, CHRISTIAN STANDARD has published a reading resources issue to encourage book reading among the thought leaders of our fellowship. The current October edition, the second of our new monthly issues, carries that theme this year.
We”re posting articles from that issue throughout the month of October. Already you”ll find Pat Magness”s review of fiction written from a Christian perspective. You can tell Dr. Magness is an English professor; her piece is well researched and flawlessly written. But it”s also easily read, and we”re guessing many book lovers will find a few suggestions from her that they”ll want to pursue. But they shouldn”t be the only ones. For those who think literature is only for sophisticates, Pat”s piece points out all the Christian insight we can find by reading the compelling stories she profiles.
We”re also featuring Dudley Rutherford on our site, and there”s nothing professorial about him! I love his down-to-earth, self-effacing answers to our question, “Why do you write books?” Dudley”s a big advocate of advancing technology, and yet he”s made book writing a key component of his ministry. All of us want to know why.
And this is just the beginning. Keep visiting our site this month to discover a dozen or more Christian leaders telling you their one recommendation for a book you must read.
Several others recommend resources for sermon and lesson planning, including an extensive review of the Logos Bible Study Software. We asked preachers and professors to tell us where they go on the web for illustrations and ideas, and they gave dozens of answers. It”s clear from their lists that Russ Blowers”s advice needs to be reworded for a new generation: Finding new material for your teaching and preaching””wherever it may be located””is essential to keep a ministry fresh.
Which brings us back to the question at the beginning of this post. Some of this month”s writers were among a room full of young leaders at a small gathering, the NEXT Conference, CHRISTIAN STANDARD helped to sponsor this spring. An icebreaker at one session asked, “Tell us what you”re reading.” And none of the 30-something preachers and church staff members in the group had any trouble coming up with at least one book to recommend. If they”re a representative sampling of leaders their age, we can feel good about the work of the church in the next generation.
They”ve learned what so many writers at our site this month could testify.
Leaders””including effective Christian leaders””are readers!
Hey Mark,
I love the new format. The October issue is excellent!