Transitional Ministry: A Time for Opportunity edited by Molly Dale Smith. Foreword by Loren Mead. Church Publishing, 2009. Pb., 194 pp. $20. reviewed by Joel A. Alvis Jr.
When a church is without a pastor, there is anxiety and uncertainty. For many years a church in this situation was referred to as “vacant.” But it was obvious this did not mean the church was empty. Rather it meant the pulpit did not have a “permanent” occupant.
by Brian McLaren HarperOne. San Francisco. 320 pages.
reviewed by Jan Edmiston
Brian McLaren first came on my radar in 2004 when Time magazine named him “One of the 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America.” James Dobson and Rick Warren were familiar names and faces. But Brian McLaren was not only an unfamiliar name; his message sounded very different from his fellow “Influential Evangelicals.”
by Kimberly Bracken Long Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2009. 130 pp. $19.95
reviewed by Ronald P. Byars
Whether it is playing the piano or soccer, doing so with a measure of grace requires both coaching and practice, and that is equally true for skills such as preaching, reading Scripture aloud, or presiding in worship. Few find leadership in worship comes naturally, but it can be learned.
by Lillian Daniel and Martin B. Copenhaver Eerdmans, 2009, Pb., 235 pp.
reviewed by Stephen r. Montgomery
Ever since Barbara Brown Taylor wrote her critically acclaimed book Leaving Church, I have been waiting for someone with equal eloquence and theological depth to respond with reflections on why, given all the shortcomings and problems of churches, one would choose to stay in church.
by Bill Tammeus and Rabbi Jacques Cukierkorn University of Missouri Press, Columbia Missouri, 2009.
reviewed by Leslianne Braunstein
I saw the movie, Schindler’s List in 1993. I thought Oskar Schindler was incredibly brave and appropriately recognized by the State of Israel as one of the Righteous Among the Nations – a non-Jew who risked his life to save Jews from Nazi extermination.
This book can be read in an afternoon; but for the attentive reader who practices what it teaches, the insights will last a lifetime. The premise of the book is simple: “the church both yearns for and resists effective leadership, particularly transformational leadership.”
Farrar, Straus and Giroux. (2009). 208 pages. By C.E. Morgan.
A finely written novel that portrays the deepest connections of love, land, grief, friendship, marriage, and faith. The author deftly and accurately renders the language and culture of those who tend the land. Theological and pastoral insights are subtly woven into the narrative. An extraordinary story by a skilled young writer.
“The Hurt Locker” is the movie you’d rather not watch starring the people you hardly know, dealing with a subject matter you’d prefer to avoid: the awful war in Iraq.
