Book Review

Overview: True Servanthood is a Must for All Ministers “Cross-Cultural Servanthood,” by Duane Elmer is a powerful life changing book that is a must read for all those in ministry! The book centers on the context of ministering to different cultures and most of the examples come from the foreign mission field; however, the principles…

Principles in “Good to Great” “Good to Great” by Jim Collins is a secular book on what makes companies go from being “good” to “great.” The main premise of the book is that being “good” is the greatest enemy of being “great.” Collins and his twenty-person research team studied 126 companies to find the best…

Basic Overview of “Simple Church” Simple Church,” by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger is a must read for all “cutting edge” church planters, youth pastors, and senior pastors. The subtitle says it all, “Returning to God’s Process for Making Disciples!” The whole idea of the book is to remove the clutter and unnecessary trappings of…

Basic Overview of “Natural Church Development”   “Natural Church Development,” by Christian Schwarz is a church growth book based on the massive research of 1000 churches in 32 nations and 4.2 million church members, observing nature, and studying Scripture. The principle is called the “biotic paradigm” and is described in contrast to the “technocratic method”…

Overview “The Seven Deadly Sins of a Small Group” by Bill Donahue and Russ Robinson is about teaching churches and small group leaders how to have a successful small group ministry. The book is based on the experiences of the Willow Creek Association of Churches and specifically Willow Creek Church in Chicago. The authors both…

Overview “Now That’s A Good Question” by Terry Powell is a short-power packed book with funny stories, great insight, and easy to use principles for leading a small group discussion. The basis of the book comes from the need to teach small group leaders how to ask the right kind of questions and make an…

Principles in the “Purpose Driven Church” I truly enjoyed the many principles given in this classic book on church growth by Rick Warren because they are easy to understand, based in Scripture, and highly functional. I will note five principles on church growth and development that stuck out to me; (1) The Five Dimensions of…

Overall Book Review   “Leading a Small Group” by Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey is a powerful and informative book on the tools needed to lead a multiplying small group. The authors list 52 ways to help start a small group from scratch and develop it to 1,520 small groups in just ten years! The…