Waking Up Slowly:
Spiritual Lessons from My Dog, My Kids, Critters, and Other Unexpected Places
By Dave Burchett (Tyndale)
In Waking Up Slowly, Dave Burchett describes the results of his efforts to “quit going steady with my device and just be friends.” However, the Texas Rangers TV director’s experiment occurred prematurely when he lost his phone at the airport with no time to snag a replacement. Day One confirmed addiction. Day Two, better. Day Three, Burchett realized its negative impact on relationships.
From there, the Emmy-winner offers engaging lessons ranging from “busyness is not next to godliness” and “time to rethink Sabbath” to “kindness really is contagious” and “powered by prayer.” He sprinkles in personal stories, relatable examples, relevant research, and appropriate Scripture, concluding each chapter with “God’s Take” and “A Dose of Grace.” Personal black-and-white photos complement the text.
Half-way through the book, I recognized Burchett’s son as a friend. The connection might have made a difference in this review had I not already been hooked on “chatting with the author” during my daily devotionals. Waking Up Slowly relates to any Christian who enjoys sports, pets and/or family, whether or not he or she makes the decision to “quit going steady with a device and just be friends.”
Kathy Robinson Hillman, former president
Baptist General Convention of Texas
Waco
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Supervising and Supporting Ministry Staff: A Guide to Thriving Together
By Kevin E. Lawson and Mick Boersma (Alban Institute: Rowman & Littlefield)
Many churches have no process for supervising ministry staff. They tried it, but it wasn’t worth the relational friction it caused. Other churches have no one who knows how to provide supervision or evaluations, so they never even try.
The authors hope to create a better option by using both their individual experiences, and their research, to create a guidebook that can provide helpful tools and guidance for “supervising and supporting ministry staff.” The book’s primary target is pastors, to assist them in helping their subordinate ministers. Nevertheless, personnel committees would be helped if they knew what a pastor could and should be doing, and if committees would implement some of the suggestions themselves.
Lawson and Boersma use a helpful, three-part approach in each chapter. They explain their points well, they illustrate their points from real-church stories, and then they offer testimonial quotes from others. Taking a team approach to church staffs, they cover team building, staff meetings, one-on-one meetings, supporting ministers in their duties, supporting ministers in their personal lives, annual performance reviews, providing for performance improvement, and terminating staff ministers. The book ends with a chapter on self-care for the pastors they are addressing, to counter the emotional and spiritual drainage that comes from these duties.
This book would be a good one to read and then keep at-the-ready for anyone providing supervision to church staffs.
Karl Fickling, coordinator
Interim Church Services
Baptist General Convention of Texas
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