By Ron Baker
Two new books are on the way.
If you have not seen me lately in person (I realize I was in 2D in the latest Kindersley Social), I’ve been busy finishing off two books.
The one book has been a bit more than a year in process. I had two students who did research for me on small churches during COVID – based on a small church podcast I do. As May 2022 rolled by, so did our ability to finish the final edit and let the presses (digital ebooks) roll. The summer was hectic for the students and the fall was back to classes.
The final edit was a work in progress for a number of months. Now, we have seen the author’s proof copy and expect the book to be out shortly. Great content that some of you may wish to read.
On the other hand, I began another class a week or so ago. As I looked over the registrants for the class, they were all women. The topic of the class? Philosophy and Practice of Ministry.
I polled the students before the class start and they were all willing to put a sharper focus on the class. Perhaps we could delve into Women in Ministry. For those of you in a more conservative setting, you will know that this can be a bit controversial.
I weighed the thought – risk or the usual. I could just take my notes from previous classes and teach that content only. Or, I could condense those notes and leave time to deal more thoroughly with the students’ heart beat. Although channels had to be informed, the possibility was quite openly endorsed by the students.
Well, then my creative side kicked in.
Why not write a book? The first day of class I ventured the idea before the young ladies. They weren’t quite sure what this would look like. The next day was a brainstorming time and open discussion. The more we talked and heard each other’s opinions the more we were of the opinion that we could do this. And we have had 10 different people volunteer their time to help us develop that philosophy of ministry!
Of course, the matter of a deadline was needed – the students still had to get marked for the class and the semester end was only days away. Could we have a downloadable PDF proof of the text by the end of the month (or even earlier)?
Why not?
Well, there are a number of reasons. Some people need to sleep. Others need to do reasonable research so that they feel comfortable with the content. The process of printing a book or creating an ebook does take time.
In a show of unanimity, we all decided we would try.
What were we saying to each other? That in less than a month we hoped to have a book written, proofed and available online as a “Print On Demand” book.
What is the book to look like? Four young women will each write their own description of a calling into ministry, their general philosophy of ministry and then their thoughts on women in ministry. This is the upcoming generation describing the Christian Church of the coming years. Something you may want to read!
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