Andy Barlow Blog

I was recently made aware of a book released in February 2010 called “Transforming Church in Rural America” by my friend, David Norman, lead pastor at Crossroads Friends (Family Fathers Mothers Sisters Brothers In-laws Outlaws) Church in Wichita, KS (so sorry David, I just couldn’t resist). I scooted on over to Amazon and placed TCiRA on my wish list to purchase with my next book order, sometime in the coming weeks/months.

Then, about 2 days later I received a Twitter dm from Jennifer White at New Leaf Publishing, asking me if I were interested in reviewing TCiRA. For my time, I would receive a free copy of TCiRA in the mail. I was to read it and review it here on AndyBarlowBlog.com. About 5 days later I received my 1st copy of TCiRA. I received a 2nd copy about 2 days after that – oops! It’s been about a week now and I finished reading TCiRA today – please hold the applause for my speed-reading skills – so without further delay, this is the official AndyBarlowBlog.com review of “Transforming Church in Rural America” by Shannon O’Dell.

THE PROS
I grew up in a rural community myself. A place called Leonard, TX – population 1744 for all of the 17 years in which I lived there. Click on the name of my hometown and take a look at that nice overhead map courtesy of Google Maps. Do you see all of those plots of land, decorated in various colors of green and brown? That’s farmland – and that is my hometown.

The only church I knew until I graduated from high school and moved to college was the rural church. It was the place where God called me out, speaking to me first about my call to serve Him in “vocational” ministry. Over the years, I’ve watched my hometown rural church cycle through times of growth, struggle, celebration, and mourning. I witnessed ups and downs, ins and outs. I’ve witness great men and women be used in mighty ways and I’ve seen some of those same great men and women be swallowed up by secret sin. I can very easily say that there is a special place in my heart for the rural church, and a desire to see as many rural churches thrive in Gospel ministry as I see metropolitan churches.

In reading TCiRA, I am encouraged that there are still pastors who are willing to tackle such a great task. When I read TCiRA, I read a book about a man who was called to a place few would have gone, and through God’s leading and direction, God was able to use him to change the course of a dying church (some may say it was already dead). If I were pastoring a rural congregation, wanting to implement a new vision and direction under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, I would be very encouraged to read that another pastor has successfully done just that in a rural setting.

I would also be reminded quickly that no change is possible without the leadership of the Holy Spirit. God must be in it.

Pastor O’Dell communicates how he was able to transform his rural congregation using the acronym VALUE – Vision, Attitude, Leadership, Understanding, Excellent Endurance. Vision is the direction in which you desire to go. Attitude describes the tenacity and undying commitment to see it through to the end. Leadership is several-fold, but involves establishing from the beginning a Biblical structure for leading, among other things. Understanding is more than hearing – it is putting yourself in a place where you are standing under the vision & leadership God has established. Enduring excellence is just that – having the spiritual fortitude to last, and to do it well.

And these are good words for any size congregation really. You see these attributes of leadership more often in metropolitan congregations because they have the budgets to hire this type of leadership. It is far less often seen in rural congregations, and this is not a good thing.

God is not through with the rural congregation and Pastor O’Dell cites several encouraging reasons why this is true. His church, Brand New Church, has successfully shucked many of the stigmas associated with rural congregations – lack of vision, poor communication, little/no energy, and retreating from community are just a few examples. BNC has cast a clear vision for their church, communicated it well, created an energy and a buzz in their communities, and been able to establish BNC as a place where community is engaged and lives are changed.

Well, I could go on with more pros, but let’s switch gears for a minute. If I told you everything about TCiRA, what would be the point of you reading it?

THE CONS
TCiRA is super easy to read, but I found several spelling and grammatical errors in the pages. I, by no means, am the perfect writer, and to my knowledge this is Shannon’s first book, but the things I found mis-spelled or grammatically incorrect were things that should have been caught in one of the many editing stages of writing. At the very least, New Leaf Publishers should have caught these before going to final print. However, these aren’t huge things and they don’t speak against the heart of the book.

Another negative I found as I read was that Pastor O’Dell sometimes takes a long time to explain some of the points of his VALUE acronym. When you look at the table of contents (which I did not do before reading), you can see that each of the letters of the acronym consumes 15-20 pages or so, except for “L” (leadership). This chapter is 50 pages long. As I was reading through it, I kept expecting to find the end of the chapter, only to find a new point started. It sticks out to me, and could have easily been cut into 3, smaller chapters – at the very least sub-chapters. When an author takes a lot more time to explain one point than he/she did for previous points, it implies he/she doesn’t know how to convey what they want to say or that it wasn’t thought through very well. Again, not a deal-breaker, as far as the message of the book goes, but a negative that sticks out to me.

OVER ALL
If I were to give TCiRA a rating using the 5-star method, I would give it a rest at about 3.75 stars. It’s worth the time to read it, and if you’re a pastor at a struggling rural church, you would probably even find encouragement within to keep pressing on, assuming you haven’t settled and grown comfortable where you are. If your desire is to see you small, rural congregation reach the community/communities surrounding you, you could also gain some valuable knowledge concerning how to best approach this great task. The mis-spelled words and grammatical errors are pretty much the only thing keeping me from rating TCiRA higher.

But I have a fear as well. My fear in reading TCiRA is that it will fall into the hands of the leadership of a rural congregation who is desperate and seeking youthful pastoral leadership. My fear is that this leadership will read TCiRA and become fearful themselves, assuming a youthful pastor would do the same things, taking the same steps to “transform” their church, and decide to not pursue that path of leadership. I know there is a timeline that goes along with all of the changes in South Lead Hill, AR (and the other places mentioned), but it seems to be lost after the first chapter or two, and a majority of the emphasis seems to fall on all of the changes. Pastor O’Dell spells it out himself, describing how people fear change. My fear is that someone will read TCiRA and focus on or glorify the changes, and miss out on an opportunity to see God bless their church as well.

LAST THINGS
I am resolved in the sovereignty of God when it comes to the surviving, thriving, or death of a congregation, be it rural or metropolitan. I am convinced that when a church does decide to close it’s doors, it’s not a surprise to God. But I’m also glad to see that there are leaders who haven’t given up on the rural congregation.

While reading TCiRA, I found myself thinking often about how God has used the rural church to shape who I am and who I am becoming. Thank you God for using the small and insignificant by our world’s standards to have a huge impact in my life! Hey wait…that almost sounds Biblical! Thank you Shannon O’Dell for transcribing your thoughts, challenges, and leadership ideas concerning how others can lead rural congregations for the glory of God and the furthering of His Kingdom.

REMINDER: I’m giving away a copy of “Transforming Church in Rural America” to the 10th person who leaves any comment on this post.