I have learned many things the hard way. No amount of buffing will remove the car wax that you forgot about and has been baking into your hood for several hours. The wrappers you get from Arby’s contain metal, and they will do bad things to a microwave. There may be no good way to resign a pastorate, but there are at least three bad ways.
It’s nice, now and then, to learn things the easy way–from other people’s mistakes. (For example: Will your tongue really stick to a frozen flag pole? Let’s assume it will.) That’s what makes Best Advice: Wisdom on Ministry from 30 Leading Pastors and Preachers (WJK, 2009) such a delight. William J. Carl, III, has compiled a relatively slim volume of great insights from successful pastors. Most of the entries are short–between five and seven pages–and laser focused: “Preaching in a Church Where the Culture Needs to Change,” “Dealing with Diversity,” “Why Stay in the Church?”
The contributing writers represent good gender diversity and an honest effort at racial diversity. The content skews toward preaching topics (thirteen of the thirty chapters have “preaching” or “preacher” in the title). And the contributors are probably primarily from mainline denominations. But they are a collection of trusted and tested names. It’s not the sort of book most of us would read straight through, so I haven’t read every entry. But I benefited from the ones I’ve read, especially Eugene Peterson’s “Embracing the Church God Gave Me” and Will Willimon’s “My Advice for Preachers.”
I suspect Best Advice would offer great direction for the novice minister as well as encouragement for the veteran. It would make a great gift, or a good volume to keep by your desk to read on Monday morning when you wonder, “Why do I do this, anyway?”
Happy reading.
