This was my first book of 2014. As I was looking at what I want to focus on for the New Year I decided that I want to be the best communicator/preacher/pastor/and leader, that I can be. In order to do this I am going to read as much as possible along these lines. To be honest, this isn’t much different from my goals from previous years but I am going to be more picky about what I spend my time reading this year.
I have a lot of respect for Nelson Searcy. He is a successful pastor who has grown a large church with God’s blessing all over it. I have read several of his books and would have to say they are all good and all of them have been helpful.
Nelson’s tag line for this book is , “Abandoning average in your life and ministry.”
I love it, I don’t want to be average in either of these areas and by the grace of God and hard work I won’t be. I hope you won’t settle for average either. Nelson takes a stand that hard work and training are necessary for success in ministry along with the blessing of God. Dreams are great but they are useless unless you get out of bed and get to work where God has placed you to work the land.
“The devil wants nothing more than to thwart your ministry and derail your life.”
“God has called you to more than mediocrity. He has called you to look to Him, to work as unto Him, to reflect His excellence, and to demonstrate His glory in a way that draws people in.”
Nelson says if you want to be successful in life and ministry, look at what the majority are doing and do exactly the opposite. Stop being average, run of the mill. God has called us to more than mediocrity, answer your call.
The Renegade Pastor is a book for every pastor to take an inventory of ourselves. Are we looking after our relationship with God first? Are we taking the time from the urgent matters of life and from just being lazy to focus on growing in our relationship with the one who loves us most and knows us best? Are we taking time for our families? Are we using our time wisely? These and many more are the topics covered in this book.
I gave the book 5 stars for it’s value in talking a serious look at where we are and where we want to be in life and ministry.
Ronnie