Wired Parson Done!

Dear friends,

I am writing this final post for WiredParson.com to let you know that the activities, resourcing, and networking of WiredParson.com is expired! (At least for now!)

I want to encourage all of you to check out some of the really new stuff at

LeadershipBuzz.com – Digital Coaching for Ministry Impact
This is the best website for equipping and helping ministers stay cutting-edge I have ever seen. (I got a sneak preview!)
Just keep checking at www.leadershipbuzz.com. The site will be up soon!

TheColumbiaPartnership.org
George Bullard will start offering webinars (online seminars) in January. George does excellent work. You will want to take advantage of these effective, effecient learning opportunities.

Advent Peace!

New Opportunities This Fall!

If you could sit down for an hour and talk with some of the leading thinkers, innovaters, and leaders in the world about different topics like the future of worship, life-coaching, poverty in America, spiritual formation, and other topics would you do it? Would you sit down with other colleagues in ministry just for an hour to share your thoughts, ask questions, and hear what key church leaders, theologians, and others have to say about some of these key issues and how they impact the church?

This fall Wired Parson will offer a special series of conference calls designed specifically to connect ministers and church leaders with one another and with leading thinkers and theologians.

The good news? Thanks to ConferenceCall.com you will be able to call from anywhere in America. The other good news? Thanks to a grant from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship it won’t cost you a dime!

In the mean time if there is an issue you would like to discuss or someone (for example: Leonard Sweet, Stanley Hauerwas, Tony Campolo) you would like for me to try to set up a call with just let me know!

More info later . . .

Wired Parson teams up with Wired Parish to offer The Stanley Hauerwas Podcast

Now friends and foes of Stanley Hauerwas can download some of his lectures or listen to them online.

The new website will be up on a few days: www.HauerwasPodcast.com

FYI – Jay Kelly and the crew at Wired Parish are responsible for putting all of this together. They do great work and if you haven’t hooked up with them yet . . . you must!

Summer Break

Wired Parson is taking the summer off! We will begin our discussions again in August.

In the mean time if you have suggestions for topics, etc. please email to neilwestbrook@gmail.com.

Peace,

Neil Westbrook

Three Books That Every Minister Should Read

There are a ba-zillion good books about ministry available today! There are twice as many great books unrelated to ministry that are just as relevant and useful.

So here’s the deal! If you could require every minister in America to read just three books what would they be???

Here are my recommendations:

Theopolitical Imagination: Discovering the Liturgy as a Political Act in an Age of Global Consumerism by William T. Cavanaugh

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C. Maxwell

The Moral Vision of the New Testament by Richard Hays

What is the greatest challenge facing the Church in North America today?

Many have argued recently that the Church in North America faces many challenges today. If you are in “mainstream ministry” you already knew this! With declining church attendance and downward trends in tithing it is safe to say that these are not the glory days for the Church in North America. Some blame American culture or society. In The Transformation of American Religion, Alan Wolfe suggests

In every aspect of the religious life, American faith has met American culture—and American culture has triumphed.

So what then is the greatest challenge facing the Church in North America today? Is it culture or society? Does it have to do with worship? Is it more theological or generational? Is it internal or external? Does it pertain to outreach? Does it have anything to do with economics? What are your thoughts?

What is the greatest challenge facing the Church in North America today?