Editor's Note: With the gift giving season upon us again, Church Central is pleased to bring you some bookish ideas for the preacher or church leader in your life. If that person is you, I recommend surreptitiously printing this article off and leaving it lying around in obvious places. Maybe even circle things and write "Yes!!" on the pages, with plenty of exclamation points. It beats getting another pair of gloves.
Reviews are by Michael Duduit, editor of Preaching magazine and the PreachingNow e-mail newsletter.
Who Are You to Say? Establishing Pastoral Authority in Matters of Faith by Dale Rosenberger
"As Christians, we live in a world that increasingly does not know what to do with us. We live in a world where our presence is rebuffed even before we get to anything like witness in our deeds or testimony with our words." Recognizing that as the increasingly secular cultural environment in which we live and minister, Dale Rosenberger notes that "Until we answer this question among ourselves -- Who are we to speak up about matters of eternal destiny? -- we will be consigned to margins and relegated to ineffectuality."
Rosenberger is senior minister of First Congregational Church in Ridgefield, Conn., and writes from the perspective of a pastor who recognizes that issues of authority lie at the heart of the growing distance between church and culture. The book is filled with penetrating observations about contemporary Christianity and the church. In the context of worship, he points out, "While taking ourselves far too seriously we correspondingly take God far too lightly -- to the point of losing sight that God is the whole point. . . . Sadly, for us God is worth worshipping only because God brings power to affect our agendas and bring about our desired results. Jesus is worth worshipping only so long as his message is profound, interesting, or illuminating, not because all power on heaven and on earth is given him as the Christ. What is that but polite blasphemy?"
A History of Preaching by O.C. Edwards Jr.
Edwards has provided the first major, comprehensive history of preaching since Dargan's two-volume work of a century ago. Anyone with a serious interest in the study of preaching will look forward to working through this massive (879 pages) volume.
Rather than focus on the lives of individual preachers  as so many historical works attempt to do  Edwards seeks to understand broader movements within homiletics. He writes out of a mainline Protestant perspective (as an Episcopalian priest and professor), and his treatment of the twentieth century reflects that perspective, with little to say about evangelical preaching beyond Billy Graham, televangelists and megachurches (a discussion based on Willow Creek). Nevertheless, preachers who want to better understand the great tradition within which they stand will not want to miss this remarkable volume.
Nobody's Perfect, But You Have to Be by Dean Shriver
Subtitled "The Power of Personal Integrity in Effective Preaching," this slim volume (144 pages) offers an important reminder about the critical importance of the preacher's own integrity. In an age when many church leaders have been sidelined over ethical and moral issues, this is a timely book.
Shriver  a Baptist pastor in Utah  deals with issues like humility, purity of life and mind, temperance and more. He writes with a pastor's heart, offering practical insights and a healthy challenge to every minister. This is an important book for pastors to read and apply in their own lives.
Breakout Churches by Thom S. Rainer
Rainer and his research team examined more than 50,000 churches in the U.S. to identify those characteristics that help a church "breakout" and make the leap from good to great. The project was inspired by the best-selling business book Good to Great by Jim Collins.
They identify and discuss 13 churches that made that leap without resorting to a change of leadership. This fascinating book talks about the commitments and characteristics it takes to help a church "breakout" to greatness.
The Art & Craft of Biblical Preaching, edited by Haddon Robinson and Craig Brian Larsen
One of the most useful preaching volumes to be published in some time. Edited by Haddon Robinson (the Gordon-Conwell prof and Preaching magazine contributing editor whose Biblical Preaching is one of the homiletical classics of the 20th century) and Craig Brian Larsen (who edits PreachingToday.com for Christianity Today), this hefty volume is packed with useful insights and practical tools for any preacher.
The 732-page book contains more than 200 chapters  some relatively brief, others lengthy essays on a topic. Although there are several original contributions offered, most of the material included has appeared previously in one of several publications or pastoral resources published by Christianity Today: Leadership Journal, PreachingToday.com, and Preaching Today audio. A bonus feature is an accompanying audio CD that contains excerpts from sermons which originally appeared in Preaching Today.
Robinson and Larsen have divided the book into eleven major sections, dealing with the preacher's calling, spiritual life, listeners, biblical interpretation and application, sermon structure, style, illustrations, preparation, delivery, special topics, and evaluation. The list of contributors is a veritable who's who of contemporary preachers, inclding John Stott, Jack Hayford, Bill Hybels, Michael Quicke, Warren Wiersbe, Maxie Dunnam, Joe Stowell, William Willimon, Alistair Begg, Earl Palmer, Ben Patterson, Rob Bell, Bryan Chapell, Fred Craddock, Rock Warren, Stuart Briscoe, John Piper, Bob Russell, Andy Stanley, and many more.
This is one of those books that deserves to spend some time on the preacher's desk before it settles into a permanent home on the preacher's bookshelf. In fact, many will find that reading a chapter a day will provide a helpful (and inexpensive) continuing education program that will run several months. The toughest discipline will be stopping after one chapter!
Preaching Parables to Postmoderns, by Brian C. Stiller
Do we need another book on preaching the parables? Stiller  President of Tyndale University College and Seminary in Toronto  has provided a volume that offers valuable insights on the value of the parables for postmoderns, and help to pastors in applying biblical truth in today's culture.
The author begins with a helpful (though quite brief) summary of postmodernity, then offers an extended discussion of Jesus' parables and why they can be used so effectively in preaching to our contemporary culture. He then offers a study of ten different parables, and concludes with four model sermons based on parables of Jesus.
Stiller observes, "The form of public speaking perfected in first-century Palestine by Jesus offers a way of speaking into the mind/heart of a person of the twenty-first century. Image-driven and story-taught, these current generations not only have enormous experience in operating within stories, they know how to exegete, making sense of what is said by way of image and metaphor, applying to life the lessons taught.
"For all generations, the parabolic form has been a powerful tool in communicating the message of Jesus to any culture and people. Today it has increased suitability. The postmodern mind is remarkably open to this form of thinking about life. This, in the end, is biblical preaching, even if hearers may not think of it that way. The parabolic form is like a stealth bomber, sweeping undetected under the radar of postmodern angst, yet able to deliver that which is biblical and Christ-centered."
This will be a helpful book to any preacher or teacher who wishes to communicate biblical truth effectively in today's culture. As Timothy George observes, the book "is both faithful to the biblical texture of these ancient stories and sensitive to the world in which they must be proclaimed today."
