Category Archives: Church

I wrote earlier about my goal to read 52 books this year.  2 weeks ago I finished reading Transforming Church in Rural America by Shannon O’Dell.  I found much of it to be very entertaining because of my background of having served in a smaller church.  Not everyone will find some of what he writes about as funny as I do, but I could definitely identify with him on some things.

You can go here to read more about Shannon and the book.

A lot of things stood out to me but as I reviewed the book, this is the one sentence that resonated with me the most.

“but the gospel isn’t an invitation to walk down an aisle and pray — it’s a call to transformation.”

I think that sums up where God is trying to take us, and where I am trying to lead my family and the church I pastor.  Too many people claim to be following Jesus but our lives haven’t been fully transformed by His message.

I long to see more stories of complete transformation.