Summer reading for pastors – part 2 (Matthew Barrett)
Summer is here! If you are anything like me, then summer is a great opportunity to read all those books you’ve been putting off. Since I wear many hats (professor and pastor), I will be recommending books for the pastor, systematic theologian, historian, biblical scholar, and philosopher in the weeks to come. (Read Part 1 here.) So let’s start with you pastors out there. What books should you read this summer?
I really like this book. It feels as if Stott is sitting down next to you and a warm cup of tea, giving you personal advice on leadership. I also like this book because Stott doesn’t leave things in the theoretical realm, but his advice gets quite personal. In fact, he even talks about the importance of time with family, the relaxation of hobbies, and the comfort the leader needs from friendships. Like the wisdom literature, Stott provides practical insight and wisdom for young leaders, many times speaking from his own experience as an evangelical leader.
My guess is that most seminary grads do not graduate and become pastors of large churches. Instead, they pastor churches around 75-150 people. If that is you, then you should expect to be very involved in planning the worship service (I would actually recommend that pastors of large churches be very involved in the planning of the worship service too!). This will include planning the order of worship, which I hope will be intentionally centered around the Word of God. At my church we incorporate many aspects into our order: call to worship, songs/hymns, scripture readings from OT and NT, readings from creeds/confessions/catechisms, sermon, ordinances, prayer, and benediction. In order to do this, though, you must be intentional, rather than just leaving things up to your “worship leader.” Croft and Adkins have provided pastors with an excellent little book on how to do just that. This book is super practical and really is a manual for corporate worship. If you are a new pastor and have no idea how to structure your service (or if you are a pastor and have been neglecting this important role), start with this book.
P.S., I also appreciated how Croft and Adkins have an appendix on incorporating the singing of psalms. If you find this intimidating, go to this appendix as they give several examples of psalms that you can naturally start singing to familiar hymn tunes.
Isn’t theology that stuff that you studied in seminary and left behind as you have now moved on to the more important stuff of ministry? Sadly, this can be the mentality of many pastors. I hope it is not yours. Doctrine and doxology always go together. Few theologians so helpfully combine doctrine and doxology, demonstrating how the former naturally leads to the latter, as well as Michael Reeves. In this new book on the person and work of Christ Reeves shows you deep beauties of the person of Christ and how our understanding of Christ influences the gospel, the good news of Jesus, as well as how we live the Christian life.
The books Michael Horton writes should be a yearly staple for every pastor. With this book, I think the description says it all:
Radical. Crazy. Transformative and restless. Every word we read these days seems to suggest there s a next-best-thing, if only we would change our comfortable, compromising lives. In fact, the greatest fear most Christians have is boredom the sense that they are missing out on the radical life Jesus promised. One thing is certain. No one wants to be ordinary.
Yet pastor and author Michael Horton believes that our attempts to measure our spiritual growth by our experiences, constantly seeking after the next big breakthrough, have left many Christians disillusioned and disappointed. There s nothing wrong with an energetic faith; the danger is that we can burn ourselves out on restless anxieties and unrealistic expectations. What s needed is not another program or a fresh approach to spiritual growth; it s a renewed appreciation for the commonplace.
Far from a call to low expectations and passivity, Horton invites readers to recover their sense of joy in the ordinary. He provides a guide to a sustainable discipleship that happens over the long haul not a quick fix that leaves readers empty with unfulfilled promises. Convicting and ultimately empowering, Ordinary is not a call to do less; it s an invitation to experience the elusive joy of the ordinary Christian life.”
Better yet, listen to Horton talk about the book himself:
Counseling, at least in my opinion, is one of the most difficult and yet one of the most important components to a healthy ministry and church. Unfortunately, even in churches today counseling is based on anything but the Bible. If you feel the weight of such a conviction, then this new book can help. It places the Bible back at the center of counseling in the church in order to equip the pastor-counselor navigate through a host of difficult counseling situations.
Here is a breakdown of the book:
Scripture and Counseling is divided into two sections of nine chapters each:
Part One helps readers to develop a robust biblical view of Scripture s sufficiency for life and godliness leading to increased confidence in God s Word.
Part Two assists readers in learning how to use Scripture in the counseling process. This section demonstrates how a firm grasp of the sufficiency of Scripture leads to increased competence in the ancient art of personally ministering God s Word to others.
And contributors include:
Kevin DeYoung, Pat Quinn, Kevin Carson, Paul Tautges, Steve Viars, Jeffery Forrey, Jeremy Pierre, Robert Jones, Bob Kellemen, Sam Williams, Ernie Baker, Howard Eyrich, Garrett Higbee, Jonathan Holmes, Lilly Park, Brad Hambrick, Jeremy Lelek, John Henderson, Deepak Reju, Rob Green, Heath Lambert and Randy Patten.
Matthew Barrett (PhD, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is Assistant Professor of Christian Studies at California Baptist University, as well as the founder and executive editor of Credo Magazine. Barrett is also Senior Pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church. He is the author and editor of several books, including Salvation by Grace: The Case for Effectual Calling and Regeneration. Two forthcoming books include, Owen on the Christian Life and God’s Word Alone: The Authority of Scripture. You can read about Barrett’s other publications at matthewmbarrett.com.
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