The title doesn't really grab your attention, but the content of this 250 page book is excellent. In the days of Enron, pedophile priests and PTL, this book should be required reading for anyone involved in Christian leadership- not just preachers.
The Baughmans of Christian Life College are engaging writers, and present this topic in both a professional, but also interesting way. I was never bored. For those at Calvary, this will definitely be available in the church library and bookmobile.
The foreign mission world today isn't just across continents and oceans- it's in our own backyard. Any church that is not reaching out to the whole community, is disobeying the commandment of the great commission. In this book, published by the Home Missions Division, Scott leads readers into understanding the multicultural world that must be reflected in our churches today. This is not a quick read. This could very well become a textbook for MCM. Scott explains multicultural ministries and the purpose of the church while sharing the best strategies today for planting, while also tackling the importance of surrendering our prejudices. He does an outstanding job at laying out both the theory and the application of multicultural ministry. This should be part of the required reading for ministry license. Pastor Deckard
I recently read a book, that if every pastor and minister looking for the Will of God read and caught the spirit of the book, we would triple the number of churches in ten years. At our District conference I on a whim picked up a recently released book called, "Seek ye first the Kingdom." It is the autobiography of a pioneer of the Pentecostal Movement, S.C. McLain. This was a recently discovered handwritten manuscript by Brother McClain in the twilight of his life, in the late 1960's. Robin Johnston was so moved by the words of this man, he lightly edited and had it published. I thank God that Bro. Johnston did this.On a Saturday evening, I lay on our couch and read the last part of the book through a continual flow of tears. My wife would look back and wonder and ask me if I was alright. I could not speak. Finally, I finished the book and with a tearful wave, I drove down the road, straining through the tears. Finally arriving at the church, I wept and wept and prayed fresh prayers of commitment, driven and challenged by the words of a man was has long been in the grave, demonstrated the need to continually seek first the Kingdom of God.
Bro. McClain received the Holy Ghost in 1909, just a few years after Azusa and the spirit of this conversion and the movement that was born in those early days of the twentieth century bleeds through the words of this book. When you read this book, you are able to grasp the passion and burden that fueled the fires of Pentecost that fanned out and filled America and the world with the experience of the Holy Ghost.
It is my opinion that, the spirit of zeal and passion that these Azusa Firebrands has been lost in translation in our current ministry culture. While we have become more polished, educated and influential we have lost the grasp on this most powerful and world changing passion. I believe it revolves around our professional culture and the distractions and trappings of ministry. The pastime of this man was praying in the woods and sacrificing. He alludes to his driving burden causing him to leave all other pursuits. The results are challenging. We improve on what we work on. I wonder what we are working on improving?
Part of the impact of this book is where I am personally in my ministry. I love where I am and what I am doing. I would not trade places with anyone. We are seeing new people come into the church, a growing number of new people walking through the doors and I can see the swelling waves of revival as they are forming just a few furlongs coming my way. I love the city. I love our home. I love the things I am doing in our city. As I read this book, this man would constantly re-surrender his life and creature comforts because he saw a city that did not have a Apostolic Church. He would leave a building he had built, a house he owned and a church that loved him to go and be sure that a city had an apostolic light of truth. This process was repeated over and over again, even as he wrote this manuscript around the age of 77, with cancer and his wife being sick, he had went to help a church that could not find a pastor.
The commitment that this man wrote with, moved me to my core and I once again cried out to God and told the Lord, "Whatever you want me to do I will do, wherever you want me to go, I will Go." I wonder how many of us, have not even considered that God wants us to go into the harvest field again. This elder showed us, that when we seek first the Kingdom, God makes sure that souls are saved and his purpose is promoted. Purchase this Book. For yourself and for every friend you have and young minister you might have influence with. From the impact of this Book, after my season of prayer I rose with a fresh word and vision from God for my ministry and immediate future.
In this fascinating book, Col. O'Leary explores the great military leaders from Joan of Arc to Hannibal to Robert E. Lee. He looks at what they did, both right and wrong, and applies the principles of leadership to contemporary leaders. A great read for both leaders and history afficionados!
The Copper Scroll is the fourth in a series by Joel Rosenberg following: The Last Jihad, The Final Judgment and the Ezekial Option. These are fiction books based on current events and how prophecy may be playing out through those events. Though speculative, Rosenberg is probably not too far off track on much of his thinking. He has worked in a number of high level security positions with several presidents, and has fairly keen insight into current events.
These chapters are intense, action packed suspense with a clean, moral message. If you like to sit on the edge of your seat and stay up late to read the next chapter, you will enjoy this book.
As I read this book, I felt as though the author had been looking over my shoulder for the past 15 years while I have struggled with the different 'growth ceilings' in church attendance. Although this is not a long book, it is pointed and powerful as the author analyzes why churches reach barriers that they never surpass due to their paradigms and organizational structures. Every pastor and church leader should read this (I read one chapter five times!) if they want to understand growth barriers (not just at 200, but all different stages of church development. This book was worth every penny.
By: Terry and Gayla Baughman
The title doesn't really grab your attention, but the content of this 250 page book is excellent. In the days of Enron, pedophile priests and PTL, this book should be required reading for anyone involved in Christian leadership- not just preachers. 
The Copper Scroll is the fourth in a series by Joel Rosenberg following: The Last Jihad, The Final Judgment and the Ezekial Option. These are fiction books based on current events and how prophecy may be playing out through those events. Though speculative, Rosenberg is probably not too far off track on much of his thinking. He has worked in a number of high level security positions with several presidents, and has fairly keen insight into current events.