Books That Have Influenced Pastors
A Barna Survey pretty much reveals why Churches today are all style and no substance.
To quote a little from the article and to briefly comment:
Two books emerged as the most helpful of all: The Purpose Driven Life and The Purpose Driven Church, both written by Rick Warren. Purpose Driven Life topped the list, with one out of every five Senior Pastors (21%) naming it as one of the most helpful books they have read in the last three years.
Helpful indeed. Personally, the Purpose Driven Life is devoid of any meat (it's milk, and not even good milk to begin with). If pastors are going to let their flock wallow in infancy...well, God forgive them.
And, among the most influential authors on pastors, we have:
Not surprisingly, Rick Warren was king-of-the-hill in this listing, as his books were mentioned by 30% of the pastors. John Maxwell was the runner-up, with books listed as among the most helpful by 5% of pastors. Five writers were mentioned by 3% of the nation’s church leaders: Henry Blackaby, Jim Cymbala, Bill Hybels, Andy Stanley, and Phil Yancey. The other influential authors were George Barna, John Eldredge and John Piper, each of whom was mentioned by 2%.
Let it speak for itself. On the other hand, at least I can thank the Lord for at least one author on this list, namely, John Piper. John MacArthur also appears, thank God.
I have always moaned the lack of theological teaching among the so called "Charismatic" churches in Malaysia. No doubt in America the same thing is happening:
Pastors who lead charismatic or Pentecostal congregations were by far the least likely to include books on theology among their chosen titles: only 2% did so.
Four centuries ago people would be wondering how many apostate churches were out there.
Now, I'm wondering how many biblical churches are left.
To quote a little from the article and to briefly comment:
Two books emerged as the most helpful of all: The Purpose Driven Life and The Purpose Driven Church, both written by Rick Warren. Purpose Driven Life topped the list, with one out of every five Senior Pastors (21%) naming it as one of the most helpful books they have read in the last three years.
Helpful indeed. Personally, the Purpose Driven Life is devoid of any meat (it's milk, and not even good milk to begin with). If pastors are going to let their flock wallow in infancy...well, God forgive them.
And, among the most influential authors on pastors, we have:
Not surprisingly, Rick Warren was king-of-the-hill in this listing, as his books were mentioned by 30% of the pastors. John Maxwell was the runner-up, with books listed as among the most helpful by 5% of pastors. Five writers were mentioned by 3% of the nation’s church leaders: Henry Blackaby, Jim Cymbala, Bill Hybels, Andy Stanley, and Phil Yancey. The other influential authors were George Barna, John Eldredge and John Piper, each of whom was mentioned by 2%.
Let it speak for itself. On the other hand, at least I can thank the Lord for at least one author on this list, namely, John Piper. John MacArthur also appears, thank God.
I have always moaned the lack of theological teaching among the so called "Charismatic" churches in Malaysia. No doubt in America the same thing is happening:
Pastors who lead charismatic or Pentecostal congregations were by far the least likely to include books on theology among their chosen titles: only 2% did so.
Four centuries ago people would be wondering how many apostate churches were out there.
Now, I'm wondering how many biblical churches are left.
This entry was posted
on Saturday, August 27, 2005 at 11:24 AM.
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