{"id":10077,"date":"2016-06-24T10:18:27","date_gmt":"2016-06-24T15:18:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=10077"},"modified":"2016-06-24T10:19:25","modified_gmt":"2016-06-24T15:19:25","slug":"book-review-who-moved-my-pulpit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=10077","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Who Moved My Pulpit?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Who-Moved-My-Pulpit-Leading\/dp\/1433643871\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1466780461&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=thom+rainer\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10078\" alt=\"who-moved-my-pulpit-3d\" src=\"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/who-moved-my-pulpit-3d.jpg\" width=\"379\" height=\"542\" srcset=\"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/who-moved-my-pulpit-3d.jpg 379w, https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/who-moved-my-pulpit-3d-209x300.jpg 209w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 379px) 100vw, 379px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As a former youth minister and self-confessed nerd, I have always enjoyed reading about trends in the church as it relates to church growth. \u00a0As a Christ follower, I firmly believe in the role of the local church in building up the body and sending Christians out to GO and spread the good news of the gospel. \u00a0The culture we live in presents constant challenges to the church&#8230;but that&#8217;s been true since the early church in Acts 2. \u00a0Some of what we have to deal with is a cakewalk compared to what they walked through!<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve had the privilege of reading several books by <a href=\"http:\/\/thomrainer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Thom Rainer<\/a> in the last few years and just finished\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Who-Moved-My-Pulpit-Leading\/dp\/1433643871\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1466780461&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=thom+rainer\" target=\"_blank\">Who Moved My Pulpit? Leading Change in the Church<\/a>. \u00a0<\/em>This book was a quick read and I continue to enjoy Rainer&#8217;s storytelling approach to give some context to the points that he is making about change in the church. \u00a0I highlighted several things while reading and have posted my notes below&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><!--?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\" standalone=\"no\"?--><\/p>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>We who are action-oriented and ready to see change sooner than later often overlook or forget Nehemiah\u2019s first step. \u00a0It\u2019s right there in Nehemiah 1:4: \u201cWhen I heard these words, I sat down and wept. \u00a0I mourned for a number of days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Nehemiah fasted and prayed for a number of days before taking steps to lead change. \u00a0He knew he could not lead this effort without the wisdom, strength, and courage of God.<\/li>\n<li>Leaders naturally have a growing impatience to see progress. \u00a0There is a tendency among many of us to move forward without prayer.<\/li>\n<li>Isaiah 40:29-31 \u201cHe gives strength to the weary and strengthens the powerless. \u00a0Youths may faint and grow weary, and young men stumble and fall, but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>It takes courage to be a change leader in the church. \u00a0Opposition and resistance often come frequently and fiercely. \u00a0But too much is at stake to do otherwise.<br \/>\nConfront the realities.<br \/>\nCommunicate the realities.<br \/>\nAnd communicate with a sense of urgency.<br \/>\nThe choice is simple; change or die.<\/li>\n<li>Lone Ranger leaders only have one opinion: their own. \u00a0And if they start having challenges and problems, they have no one to turn to because they have no one in their coalition for change.<\/li>\n<li>Leaders who embody hope in their churches have three clearly defined traits:<br \/>\nThey read the Bible daily.-You can\u2019t have hope if you\u2019re not hearing from the Author of hope every day.<br \/>\nThey choose to communicate hope.<br \/>\nThey look for low-hanging fruit.<\/li>\n<li>We don\u2019t have the luxury of not keeping it urgent.<\/li>\n<li>The Process of Leading Change:<br \/>\nStop and Pray<br \/>\nConfront and Communicate a Sense of Urgency<br \/>\nBuild an Eager Coalition<br \/>\nBecome a Voice and Vision of Hope<br \/>\nDeal with People Issues<br \/>\nMove from an Inward Focus to an Outward Focus<br \/>\nPick Low-Hanging Fruit<br \/>\nImplement and Consolidate Change<\/li>\n<li>Proverbs 11:14 \u201cWithout guidance, people fall, but with many counselors there is deliverance.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Proverbs 15:22 \u201cPlans fail when there is no counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\"><i>Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through their book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission\u2019s 16 CFR, Part 255 &lt;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.access.gpo.gov\/nara\/cfr\/waisidx_03\/16cfr255_03.html\"><span style=\"color: #c0c0c0;\">http:\/\/www.access.gpo.gov\/nara\/cfr\/waisidx_03\/16cfr255_03.html<\/span><\/a>&gt; : \u201cGuides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p><i>\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As a former youth minister and self-confessed nerd, I have always enjoyed reading about trends in the church as it relates to church growth. \u00a0As a Christ follower, I firmly believe in the role of the local church in building up the body and sending Christians out to GO and spread the good news of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,14,22,25,28,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-study","category-book-review","category-cedarcrest-church","category-education","category-integrity","category-leadership"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10077\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}