Good Book



When I was a teenager, I read a quote from Charles Spurgeon regarding reading and being a pastor. The quote basically said if you want to pastor a church, you must read and if you don’t read, you shouldn’t pastor a church. The quote has stayed with me ever since so I do what I can to read on multiple topics.

The book I’m currently reading is called “Transforming Discipleship” by Greg Ogden and I would recommend it to not only pastors but any Christian to read. Many churchgoers complain that their churches lack a coherent plan for discipleship and spiritual growth. In turn, many church leaders lament their lack of resources to build and manage effective programs to help people become fully devoted followers of Christ. In this book, Greg Ogden introduces his vision for discipleship, emphasizing that solutions will not be found in large-scale, finely-tuned, resource-heavy programs. Instead, Ogden recovers Jesus' method of accomplishing life change by investing in just a few people at a time. And he shows how discipleship can become a self-replicating process with ongoing impact from generation to generation.

This book has affirmed what I’ve felt for many years about the failure of the church in developing true Disciples of Christ. In making disciples, smaller is better than bigger. Having 3 to 4 people in a group where there is accountability, safety, and guidance will produce not only disciples, but disciples able to equip others to grow in their own walks. When I’m finished reading this book, I’ll give it to Teresa (my wife) to read so she can use this to help her as she coaches others in her sphere of influence.

I would high recommend this book for anyone who confesses to be a Disciple of Christ. The book not only shows how Jesus and Paul developed disciples, but Greg Ogden shows how to develop a strategy to build up other’s walk in Christ.