My blogging buddy David U. has been encouraging me for months, if not years now, to write a book.
Sorry, David. This ain’t it.
But it is a work that’s designed to help you, your small group, and/or your church to study a really, really good book titled Pilgrim Heart by Darryl Tippens.
You can find it at http://www.bible.acu.edu/leafwood/pg.asp?ID=93, or by going to the Leafwood Publishers site and searching for “group guide.” It’s beautifully produced, and still priced to keep you out of the poorhouse.
And it really is a three-in-one book: a 17-week / one-quarter-year study written by Angi and me (okay, mostly by Angi), a weekend retreat study created by minister Tom Robinson and member Julie Short of Manhattan Church of Christ NY, and a 40-day congregational study by minister Steve Martin of the Tri-Valley Church of Christ in Livermore, CA.
So you could conceivably share it with your small group over a church-study quarter, and they would become enthusiastic enough to share it with their elders and church leaders over a weekend, and they in turn would share it with your church in a 40-day study, all from the same book.
All right, I’m dreaming. Yet I still think any size group (or person!) could benefit from the study of the communal spiritual disciplines that Darryl describes, over any period of time, with or without this Group Guide.
Maybe better with than without.
Angi and Darryl go way back to OCU days together. She has written several books before – textbooks in her specialty field of communication, organizational culture and conflict management – so her expertise shines in this study guide; mine is but an editing glimmer here and there. Certainly the creators of the weekend retreat and 40-day study deserve cover credit far more than I do.
So I guess I need to earn that grace gifted to me on this first publishing effort, and write something more worthy of it. I owe it to them.
And, of course, to David.
Blog In My Own Eye 
Oooh…. I loved <>Pilgrim Heart<>! Maybe I can find a local group who’d like to go through the study with me. I’m headed to look at the study guide now!
But that David guy sure has a strange taste in sandwiches. I still can’t get over it……what, you have nothing to say on my blog about recent events??
wow!
<>“…any size group (or person!) could benefit…”<>Any size person, huh? Good to know…Seems like a good book to me. I read the chapter on singing (and the accompanying portion of the study guide) posted at < HREF="http://www.wineskins.org/filter.asp?SID=2&fi_key=152&co_key=1310" REL="nofollow">wineskins<>.Very thought-provoking. I also recall Chuck referencing the book in a powerful sermon one Sunday night very recently (part of what I was trying to go back and listen to again the other day). Chuck’s book recommendations are always outstanding, and I have a feeling this one will be no different. Gotta get my hands on that book sometime soon. Although I haven’t been around here as long as David, and I have just recently started commenting frequently, I gotta admit that I’ve been a “lurker” for quite some time now, almost a year, in fact. His comments about your book always make me laugh. But I couldn’t agree with him more. This gives us a little glimmer of hope!!! Do we really have a chance, Keith??? I certainly hope so. I hope one day there is a Keith Brenton book on my bookshelf. Better yet, it’ll be on my nightstand, with my other frequently-read material. One of these days…Much love in Him–Lacey
AWESOME!!!!!!! But, you are NOT off the hook, brother. 🙂 We still anxiously await a rich and wonderful book from both you AND Patrick. Hey, maybe you guys could write one together?!? I help with a small group at Downtown, and I know what I am going to suggest we use as a study guide in the Fall. I loved Darryl’s book, and have suggested it to LOTS of folks. I enjoyed getting to discuss it with him a little bit at Pepperdine a few weeks ago, and sat in on a devotional of his where he used the book to guide our thoughts. My guess is we will receive a lot more of Darryl’s wisdom in the future, now that he has gotten this first book out of the way. Hint, hint. I hear such wonderful things about the Manhattan church, and I travel to Livermore and know of Steve’s ministry thru Greg Brown who is there on staff at Tri-Valley. LOTS of great things going on there! All that to say that I am REALLY excited to get this new study, because I know those of us who use it will be blessed by all of your collective efforts! THANK YOU to ALL of you! Now, get back to that book. 🙂Love you bro,DU