Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Review of Transforming Church In Rural America by Shannon O'Dell

Note: The publisher has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book through Booksneeze for the purposes of review.

    I had high aspirations for this book, but sadly I was let down, as I usually am with this subject material. In this book, Pastor Shannon O’Dell lays basically how to make your church in rural America a success. Sure, you can apply the principles anywhere, but specifically in rural areas.
     The book started taking a downhill when Pastor O’Dell told how he and his wife “had thrown out one last fleece” to decide whether or not to take the pastorate at a church. I’ve heard similar stories of fleeces being thrown out, in the exact same scenario and the only thing that got fleeced, in another pastor’s words, were the congregation and the pastor. We live in the New Testament now, where we are led by the Holy Spirit, not by fleeces. Nowhere in the New Testament does anyone put out a fleece. They do however allow themselves to be guided by the Holy Spirit. From this, I could see the tone of the rest of the book.
    More issues that came up in the book were the church voting to do things. Maybe it’s just how it’s written, but a church that is led by votes, the congregation, fleeces, or anything other than the Holy Spirit is bound to end in a bad way.
    Another generalized statement made is that “Rural America is in the middle of a massive drought - a spiritual drought caused by a lack of vision, attitude, and leadership.” It’s generalized to the point that I don’t know how he knows, but plenty of rural churches I’ve seen, and I’m from a small, southern, farming community, are on the verge of a spiritual outpouring. And that doesn’t infer drought.
    Overall, I couldn’t recommend the book. This is why: Most of what is shared, I could get from a business book I’d pick up on Amazon. I could get a lot of it from leadership classes or somewhere else, even the internet. Now granted, he does have some good things to say. However, the book is one of those where you “eat the hay and spit the sticks.” However, with so many other good books out there on the issue, why bother with one that you have to spit so many sticks on.
       Psalm 127:1 states, “Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain.” Notice that the house did get built. I’m not saying Pastor O’Dell is not seeking God to run his church and ministry. I’m not saying he’s a bad person. Bless him. He’s doing a great work for the Lord. But I do think that the practices he uses miss the mark. I believe a lot of what he does is more natural and soulical, than spiritual and guided by the leading of the Holy Spirit.
     The book contains a few pictures and I followed some links to his churches website and found a church that looks more like a rock concert than a church. Churches where worship services (services in general) are more like concerts, catering to a person’s soul and natural desires, always tend to be farther away from meeting people’s spiritual needs. Can they meet their spiritual needs? yes, to a degree. But they mold and help develop people that are more soulical than spiritual, that are less than what the Word of God calls us to be.
    When I see a book (or anything) that has flags like being led by a fleece, or being more naturalistic than spiritual, I want to stop reading because it may be building up my soul, or my mind with knowledge, but it’s not helping my spirit much.
    The bottom line: the book has some good stuff in it, but if you want to know how to grow your church or ministry-get on your face. God leads his people by the Holy Spirit. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God (Romans 8:14).” Will it take more time than reading this book? Most likely. Will you want to do it more than reading this book? No. Will the devil fight you more than applying some of things in this book? Most definitely. But in the end, you’ll have God’s specific plan for you.
    Note: Pastor O’Dell did comment about doing this, but I do believe he missed it in some areas. I’m not mad at him or think anything other than good thoughts for him. May he be blessed in all He does for God. I don’t intend to sound like I am attacking him, just simply reviewing a book.

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