Book Reviews
C. Mitchell Carnell Jr., Drew Zahn, John Beukema
April 1, 2004
Lead On
How churches stall, and how leaders get them going
Wayne Schmidt (Wesleyan, 2003) When God was bestowing gifts, my allotment of patience was severely limited. It seems I am not alone. Wayne Schmidt uses our frustration with God's apparent slowness as a vehicle for teaching us leadership skills to use in periods of stalled church growth. "During slow growth times wise leaders invest energy to achieve excellence." Schmidt, pastor of Kentwood Community Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, skillfully weaves his experiences with those of Joshua to illustrate his points. Churches stall when they do not understand God's timing. "God sometimes moves slowly so that the things most important to Him will become the things most important to us," Schmidt says. He is not providing a theological excuse for leadership inactivity. "God's patience always has a redemptive purpose, but God's patience must never be confused with human paralysis." Churches stall for other reasons: a loss of focus, lack of power, failure to build upon God-given victories, deception from within and without, personal limitations of leaders, unresolved conflict, and failure to plan for transition. Schmidt's thesis is that we are to examine these reasons and use what we learn to move the church forward. We should invest our energies in deepening our commitment, strengthening our relationships, empowering our associates, and in honing our own skills. C. Mitchell Carnell Jr., Charleston, South Carolina The Church in Emerging Culture
Five Perspectives
Leonard Sweet, ed. (Zondervan, 2003) This book reads like a print version of television's Politically Incorrect. Andy Crouch, Michael Horton, Frederica Mathewes-Green, Brian McLaren, and Erwin McManus—like five postmodern ...
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