Thom Rainer is not one to toot his own horn, but from my standpoint, his upcoming book about good-to-great churches promises to be an interesting and important work for church leaders in the United States.

Rainer has taken the Fortune 500 model Jim Collins developed and applied it to churches. His research is meticulous, thorough and enlightening. Undoubtedly, pastors and church leaders around the country are waiting to see just how they "stack up." Is what they are doing good? Or is it great?

And why not apply Collins' thesis to churches? Rainer writes that he found no reason not to. In fact, he says Collins' work is right in line with many biblical principles.

When I read the book I highlighted memorable points on almost every page. I applied his conclusions to our strategy for Church Central, and I wasn't surprised that Jesus' personal leadership model fulfills the ultimate leader profile described in the book.

In this issue of Church Health Today, Rainer writes about humility -- one of the qualities a good-to-great pastor must possess. In this first of a three-part series, Rainer seems to put his finger on one of the characteristics that separate great pastors.

Though the book is not due to be released for some time, it is not too soon to start looking forward to it.

In this issue, we've included other articles that should make for some pretty interesting reading.

John McArthur provides fascinating insight to the problems with watering down the gospel to make a church "user friendly." Britt Statan gives her perspective of the difficulty a pastor's wife faces living up to expectations.

Along that same line, Terri Lackey offers advice for pastors and their families on how to survive in the fishbowl of ministry.

As always, feel free to drop me a line to suggest ways we can improve Church Health Today.

God's blessings on your ministry!

Tom Harper

Publisher, Church Central Associates