One of the books that I was assigned to read for this semester was "Connecting" by Larry Crabb.
I cannot begin to explain the impact that this book has had on my vision of what my life in ministry is supposed to look like.
This is truly a book that should be read by everyone who has ever answered the question "What do you want to do with your life?" with the answer of "I want to help people"
Far too often people in ministry manage to do more harm than good. They attempt to make the world a better place by assuming that it is their responsibility to push, pressure, and judge everyone into the kingdom of God. In this book, Crabb lays out a plan for helping people that involves really taking the time to invest in, study and to understand a person without making any assumptions about them or their behavior. He then argues that every Christian that we meet has a little bit of Jesus within them. Crabb argues that the job of a person in ministry is to "Connect" with that little bit of Jesus and to encourage ENCOURAGE ENCOURAGE it!
He suggests that are responsibility is to make that spark of Jesus our focus in the relationship to the point that it can become easy for us to forgive mistakes and to let go of our own goals for that person...
Anyway...that is just the beginning and I cannot wait to read more!
