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As I have said before I live in a very small rural town. Now it is quiet around here. But that also means there in not a large influx of people moving to our area. This is great for having a small community that you tend to know most people. But it is not good for growth of the economy or community. Especially for the growth of our church. You know in your church you talk about how to bring in new members.

How to reach out to others in your community. How to grow.

Transforming Church in Rural America | Books, Christian life, Ebooks

Well take that same thought and As I have said before I live in a very small rural town. Well take that same thought and then place it in a area that has a limited amount of people to draw from. Of course you can see that it makes it that much harder to grow. And even easier for a church to die in 80 years or so. Yes that is the average life span of a church.

You did not know that there was lifespans of churches did you. That is why I was so excited when I returned to my home church a few weeks ago for our homecoming. They have been around for years and of that in the same location. Thankfully that church is in an area that is growing in population by leaps and bounds.

But now I am in this small town of 2 miles by 2 miles. The next town of a lil size is over 30 miles away. And large towns are over miles away. Well I do worry as you may have guessed on how the churches here can continue.

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Other than the largest of churches around here, that seems to be the norm. I love that in this book they can find no-cost solutions for staffing challenges, ways to upgrade worship, and generate teams of volunteers. There are innovative strategies for growth through transformed lives, relevance in meeting needs, and creating active evangelism in your community. Pretty good resources in my opinion. If your in a small town like I am, then this may be the gift for your pastor. Or you can read it and help in ways to transform your own home church.

I am thankful that my home church has grown but it is over miles away from me now. And I am a part of a small town and need to think of how I can contribute here in a meaningful way. Hopefully I can be part of the change and not just the status quo.


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I have lived all my life in rural America. I have always attended tiny community churches so I was anxious to read Mr. Odell's ideas on how to grow a rural church. It only took me reading this book for a few pages to realize that while Mr. O'Dell has some good ideas, some of the ways that he gets his ideas across really didn't appeal to me. One thing in particular he mentioned on page 24 was aging out of youth ministry, I really didn't understand that was anxious to receive and read this book.

One thing in particular he mentioned on page 24 was aging out of youth ministry, I really didn't understand that statement at all. I don't really think there is an age limit when it comes to youth ministers, as long as the youth of the church are learning from the leadership of the youth minister to me it wouldn't matter the age.

Another area of the book that really was off putting to me was when he was discussing the little memorial plaques on the pews, and then went on to mention that there was even one of those memorial plaques on a seven dollar clock, my thinking was that perhaps the family that wanted a memorial to a loved on could only afford seven dollars for a clock.

I honestly think it is great to grow a church and get new members but not at the expense of alienating or hurting the members you already have. I for one love attending my tiny church, I love that fact that everybody knows each other, and I love the history of those tiny memorial plaques attached to our pews, its the history of our church, the people who worshipped before us. I always like to say something positive about every book I read, and for this book, I do believe that Mr.

O'Dell is very passionate about what he is writing, and I feel he does want to make rural churches become more relevant. I also think that rural pastors may come away with a few ideas, but it would really depend on the church as to whether these ideas would work, and I would hope that pastors would try to build there churches in a way as to not alienate there members. I received a copy of this book from Thomas Nelson's Booksneeze program in exchange for an honest review.

Transforming Church in Rural America by Shannon O'Dell is a great book for a pastor or leader who wants to grow their church. Who doesn't want this? I found this book informational mostly because I really don't know anything about the inner workings of a church. I could also clearly see some of the things he referred to being problems in my own church.

I chuckle each time I leave my own sanctuary with its dedicated pews and brass plaques on everything from the Chandeliers to the stained glass Transforming Church in Rural America by Shannon O'Dell is a great book for a pastor or leader who wants to grow their church. I chuckle each time I leave my own sanctuary with its dedicated pews and brass plaques on everything from the Chandeliers to the stained glass windows. I could only imagine the fight over removing some of these things. Our church building dates back to the 's and even though it burned to the ground once it was rebuilt and dedicated to the original families that built building one.

Oh yes, what a fight that would be. While I don't lead a church I can see where the information presented could be used in other work related areas and plan to use it with my own teams in the future. This also gave me some ideas to get more involved in the church and offer my talents to helping build the team.

A collection of musings from a curious cleric

This book also made me reflect on church splits. What caused them and where the two sides are now. So as a non-Pastor I found this book brought me a lot of insight and wisdom I do plan to pass my copy onto my Pastor. I don't hold out much hope for removing the brass plaques though. Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.

I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Shannon Odell has experienced much success in the pastorate. That success came with a price, however. This book chronicles the trials, struggles, heartaches, and the joys of finding success in rural ministry. Odell writes in an engaging manner, and it is easy to enjoy the book. The positive things that I must note is that Odell did not seek to model his church after any particular place.

He sought what was best for them. He admits to mistakes. He also was painfully honest about being ignorant of Shannon Odell has experienced much success in the pastorate. He also was painfully honest about being ignorant of the invisible power structure that is prevalent in rural churches.

Odell also dealt with growth in an interesting manner: he wanted to grow people as well as crowds. Odell didn't simply set out to make a small church large; he set out to lead the small church into personal growth as well as numerical growth.

Transforming Church in Rural America: Breaking all the Rurals by Shannon O’Dell

It was more than a numbers game for him. Leadership is born out of life change. Excellence is not found in the detail or design of a building. God works in obscurity, but his vision and dreams are generally very clear — even if he reveals them only one small step at a time. People with little vision always go after with big vision. At these times you might need to fight fire with fire. Enthusiasm will fade away and those without it run for cover. But the leader who has passion will barely yield. You are commenting using your Facebook account.

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