Book Recommendation -- Nobody's Perfect . . . Dean Shriver

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I have just finished reading an excellent book for those who are involved in ministry. Whether it is a pulpit ministry, youth ministry, Sunday School, or anything that falls in between, this book is a very helpful book. Another useful thing about this book is that it is a 2 1/2 to 3 hour book that will not hang you up for days.

Dean Shriver has written Nobody's Perfect But You Have to Be. The subtitle is "The Power of Personal Integrity in Effective Preaching." It packs a punch and forces anyone who is in public ministry to really take a look at their personal life.

This excerpt in the introduction is the reason that I purchased this book:

The worship service was about to begin when I saw her. I greeted her with curiosity. I knew that she was a fully committed member of a sister church in our area. During our brief exchange, she quietly said, "I simply cannot listen to that man preach." That man was her pastor of almost two years. Why, on that morning, did she refuse to hear her own pastor preach? Was he a heretical teacher? Did he deny the truth of God's Word? Did he habitually twist Scripture to suit his own desires? No, on that Sunday the woman I greeted refused to hear her pastor because of his actions, not his words. It had happened at a recent board meeting. In the midst of debating an issue the younger pastor exploded in anger, slandered the woman's husband (a well-respected elder thirty years his senior), and even threatened to excommunicate him from the church. In the days that followed, the pastor continued to malign her husband behind his back. Now, at least in this woman's eyes, the young minister's credibility as a preacher was destroyed. On that Sunday morning, it wasn't that she could not hear him--she would not. (From the Introduction)

This story set the hook and it really caused me to take inventory of some of the things in my own personal life. The chapters on Humility, Contentment, and Practicing Spiritual Disciplines are some of the high points.

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