Book review: Transforming Church in Rural America

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The book? Transforming Church in Rural America: Breaking all the Rurals

The gist? Shannon O'Dell reluctantly left a large multi-pastor church to lead a small rural church in a town with a population of less than 100. He now has a passion for rural ministry, which led him to write this book. He raises some good points, like that a pastor who leaves as a missionary to Africa gets prayer and financial support and a commissioning service as he leaves while a pastor who leaves a big church to go minister in the sticks gets questioned about the financial wisdom of it and gets laughed at. Throughout the book, he provides personal anecdotes, Bible verses, and best practices as he offers guidance to rural pastors (though he gets a bit list- and acronym-happy in places).

My thoughts? I love rural churches. As much as I love my decidedly not rural church now, it's a comfortable fit whenever I return to the little Baptist church where our wedding was held and where I was baptized. That's why I was interested in reading this. I found myself nodding in affirmation at points and furrowing my brow in others.

I think this could be worth reading for nothing but his family-focused advice to those in ministry. He stresses the importance of marriage and of a family vision. The best line of the book was "...a red-hot marriage and a functional family is the most powerful evangelistic tool in rural America" (or anywhere, I would add). Other spots were solid too, and I plan to send this book to the pastor who married us as an encouragement to him.

I found three bothersome spots, though:
  1. One section frustrated me so much that I had to put down the book and walk away for a bit. It was only page 24, and it may have affected my view of him through the rest of the book. He says on the bottom of that page,


    In the spring of 2001, I sensed God's call to lead a church. The voice of God's Spirit was clear, and, to be honest, it made sense. I was starting to age out of youth ministry and (like multitudes of youth pastors before me) the next professional step was to seek an associate or senior pastor position.
    Grrr. For an author who is seeking to guide others in breaking broken ministry rules, right here he ascribes to the one that is high on my list of stupid, unbiblical rules. Youth ministers don't have to be young and hip. They just have to love Jesus and be willing to partner with parents to disciple the next generation. In Psalm 78 and other passages throughout Scripture, it is clear that teaching the next generation is never something that we "age out of." Are we willing to accept that our youngest (children and youth) be taught by the least experienced who are just there to gain street cred before moving to something bigger and better? That's not a rule I think we ought to embrace as a church.
  2. I know that "relevant" is a hot word in ministry right now, and that isn't always a bad thing. However when he says, "Whatever we do, it needs to be relevant; it needs to be transforming; it needs to make a difference in the community," it puts the impetus on us. The Gospel - God! - is relevant in our lives, is the author of transformation, and never fails to make a difference. I don't think, based on other things O'Dell says, that he preaches a Gospel+______ sort of message (i.e. that he thinks the Gospel is insufficient without extra adornment), but his choice of words doesn't always communicate that.
  3. At one point, he talks about engaging the would-be leaders in rural congregations so that leadership can develop from within. I was on board with that. Then he contradicts himself with these condescending words:


    Please understand: it is really not about the ten families that have been there forever. It is about the families that will never experience a relevant gospel and never meet the living God unless someone with vision shows up and starts preaching the gospel with their words and the life. Yeah, most rural churches say they want to grow, and they think they want to grow, but they really don't. They don't want a real pastor - a true and dedicated shepherd to lead them into new fields of harvest - they want somebody to pacify them, tell them what they already know, and keep things the way they are.
    I was a Ministry Associate for Youth and Music Ministry at my rural church, and the folks I did ministry with wanted somebody to be humble and show them respect before anything else, much like Christ's attitude as described in Philippians 2. I didn't see that as a primary focus of O'Dell's guidance or attitude.
According to FTC guidelines, here's my disclosure: this book was provided for my review from New Leaf Press. They didn't require or request a positive review or anything other than an honest and thorough review.

Stuff I like: Two quotes and two silly girls

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From the girltalk blog:
"[Feminism] is mixed up with a muddled idea that women are free when they serve their employers but slaves when they help their husbands." --G.K. Chesterton, The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton, vol. 4, p. 440
 From the Joni and Friends blog from James Montgomery about the God blessing in trials:
I cannot call affliction sweet;
And yet' twas good to bear;
Affliction brought me to your feet,
And I found comfort there.
And from our trip to the beach at the beginning of the month, an attempt at getting a cute picture of the two of us turned into - thanks to my girl for initiating it! - a set of silly face pictures. Have I mentioned lately that I love her? 'Cause I do.











Book review: Made By God series of I Can Read! books

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My sweet girl decided recently that she is no longer interested in board books and big picture books. When we go to the library, all she wants is the I Can Read! books. Katie Woo, Fancy Nancy, Biscuit...she's not picky. Which is why I was psyched when I got these: three I Can Read! books published by Zonderkidz.

She has asked to read them so many times that I almost have them memorized. Every page has a photograph matching the text, and the basic science info all seems accurate. I like that they include God in the story in a natural and unforced way.



Made by God: Poisonous, Smelly, and Amazing Plants
This one is my favorite. The writing flows well, as children are introduced to fly agarics (a type of mushroom), corpse plants, venus fly traps, redwoods, and sequoias. Tonight at dinner a precious little three-and-a-half year old told Daddy all about fly agarics, emphasizing that we can't eat them for dinner because they would make us sick (which is true!). She has also decided that we should own a venus fly trap. I like how naturally God is woven into this book. For example, the section about corpse plants reads, "Another plant to stay away from is very smelly. It is called the corpse plant. God made this plant smell like rotten meat!" A secular text would have the same content, just with something like, "This plant smells like rotten meat!" Here God is given credit for creation without changing the type of content that would be included in any other book about plants.

Made by God: Cats, Dogs, Hamsters, and Horses
There's a certain sixteen-month-old little guy who likes this one best because he loves pictures of cats, dogs, and horses (though he's not too interested in the hamsters). The writing in this one is formulaic with each section beginning, "God made all animals. Some animals have become friends for people. One special animal pet is called a..." Then it continues with the animal's name and basic facts about each (number of different types/breeds, dietary needs, tips for care). The formula makes it a little boring for me to read, but it doesn't seem to bother the kids at all. Also, I was thinking that older kids could use the formula as a prompt to research and write their own section (about parakeets or iguanas, for example). My only issue with this is a couple of rough grammar and punctuation errors: a missing comma in one place and lack of parallel structure in another ("All cats have strong teeth and jaws, good hearing, and can see well in the dark."). I still would definitely recommend this one, though.

Made by God: Spiders, Snakes, Bees, and BatsThis one follows a formula as well: "God made everything. It is all good. He made the [insert likable creature here] and the [insert name of creepy, crawly creature here]." (For example, the first one contrasts the "gentle butterfly" and "the hairiest, biggest spider.") As the title suggests, the creatures discussed as spiders, snakes, bees, and bats. The only thing I dislike about this one is the content, which makes my skin crawl a little, but I'm the only one bothered by that. Our daughter tried to figure out how/if she could sleep upside down after learning about bats. (Thankfully, she has given up on that for now.) Once again, I think the formula in this book could be used to research and write about another creepy crawler, which would be a great writing extension activity.

I am looking forward to reading other I Can Read! books by Zondervan and will be checking to see if other Christian publishers offer the same kinds of books. A search for "I Can Read!" books on the Zonderkidz website returned 161 results, including some in Spanish, so there are plenty more for us to check out!

The FTC requires that I include a disclaimer that Zonderkidz provided me with these books. I was not asked to give a positive review - though, in this case, I was pleased to do so because we loved them! - just an honest one.