Pastor : A Memoir
$17.99
This book is the story of my formation as a pastor, and how the vocation of pastor formed me. I had never planned to be a pastor, never was aware of any inclination to be a pastor, never ‘knew what I was going to be when I grew up.’ And then–at the time it seemed to arrive abruptly–there it was: Pastor. I can’t imagine now not being a pastor. I was a pastor long before I knew I was a pastor; I just never had a name for it. Once the name arrived, all kinds of things, seemingly random experiences and memories, gradually began to take a form that was congruent with who I was becoming, like finding a glove that fit my hand perfectly-a calling, a fusion of all the pieces of my life, a vocation: Pastor. But it took a while.’ In 1962, Eugene Peterson was asked by his denomination, the Presbyterian Church USA, to begin a new church outside Baltimore, in Bel Air, Maryland. And so was born Christ Our King Presbyterian Church. But Peterson quickly learned that he was not exactly sure what a pastor should do. He had met many ministers in his life, from his Pentecostal upbringing in Montana to his seminary days in New York, and he admired a few, but for all his study and all his experience, he soon discovered that the variety and quantity of the tasks put before him were overwhelming. The demands would drown him unless he figured out a way to measure what the heart of the job really was and whether he was living up to his calling. And that he was he set out to do. What Peterson discovered is that back then, just like now, few people understood what it meant to pastor a church, how he would measure himself, what he would do day to day after Sunday’s service, how he would know if he was doing it well. After 29 years in the pulpit of Christ Our King Presbyterian Church, he found that being a pastor wasn’t about how many people filled his pews each week but rather about ‘paying attention and calling attention to ‘what is going on right now’ between men and women, with each other and with God.’ The Pastor steers away from abstractions, offering instead a beautiful rendering of a life tied to the physical world-the land, the holy space, the people-all shaping his path as a pastor and his faith. We expect this book to be widely reviewed and discussed. Peterson takes on church marketing, mega pastors, and the church’s too cozy relationship to American glitz and consumerism. We think it will become the definitive statement on the subject for years to come.
in stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
SKU (ISBN): 9780061988219
ISBN10: 0061988219
Eugene Peterson
Binding: Trade Paper
Published: April 2012
Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers
Related products
-
Devil At My Heels
$14.99Add to cartAthletically gifted, Louis Zamperini propelled himself from the tough streets of Southern California to the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and to an NCAA mile record at USC that stood for 20 years. When war came he left the track for a B-24-a move that would have heartbreaking consequences. On a routine mission his plane crashed into the shark-infested Pacific and he would drift 2,000 miles for 47 days before being found by the Japanese. As a prisoner of war, Zamperini endured two years of horrible torture and humiliation at the hands of a psychopathic guard nicknamed “The Bird.” Yet Zamperini endured and returned home a hero.
Unfortunately, the terrible memory of his experiences haunted him. Zamperini turned to alcohol and spiraled into the depths of despair until a young preacher named Billy Graham helped him rediscover the faith that would eventually lead him to return to Japan and personally forgive all his now-imprisoned captors. Moving and unforgettable, terrifying and inspirational, Devil At My Heels is not to be missed.
-
Grief Recovery Handbook (Anniversary)
$17.99Add to cartNewly updated and expanded to commemorate its 20th anniversary-this classic resource helps people complete the grieving process and move toward recovery and happiness
Incomplete recovery from grief can have a lifelong negative effect on the capacity for happiness. Drawing from their own histories as well as from others’, the authors illustrate how it is possible to recover from grief and regain energy and spontaneity. Based on a proven program, The Grief Recovery Handbook offers grievers the specific actions needed to move beyond loss.
New material in this edition includes:
How to choose which loss you should work on first
How to deal with growing up in an alcoholic or otherwise dysfunctional home
Loss of faith
Loss of career
Loss of health
And much, much more. -
New Kind Of Christianity
$16.99Add to cartAfter the hailstorm of controversy stirred up by the hardcover, we hope the paperback release keeps the debate going. One of the most innovative Christian voices today and author of the controversial A New Kind of Christian faces head-on the questions that will determine the shape of the faith for the next 500 years.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.