Escape from Church, Inc. - Hardcover

This book was born out of a passion for the church -- and for you, one of its pastors. If you struggle with burnout and disillusionment, if something within you keeps insisting, "This isn't what it's supposed to be about!" then Pastor Glenn Wagner offers a model for pastoring that can radically reshape how you relate to your congregation. Wagner guides you into new vision, new values, and a new way of pastoring that begins not with doing, but with seeing and being. "I believe the one problem underlying all the others is that we have moved both pastors and churches from a community model to a corporation model," says Wagner. "If we go back to the very beginning, back to the Lord's bedrock idea for his people, what do we find? We find shepherds and sheep." Escape from Church, Inc. offers hope to the weary and water to the thirsty. Find out for yourself, in both biblical and practical terms, how the model of the shepherd is best suited to growing a healthy, effective church -- and discover deep satisfaction and joy in your role as pastor.

Dr. E. Glenn Wagner (Ph.D., Oxford Graduate School and D.Min., Northwest Graduate School of the Ministry) is senior pastor of Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. Glenn is the author of Escape From Church, Inc., The Heart of a Godly Man, Strategies for a Successful Marriage, The Awesome Power of Shared Beliefs; he co-authored Your Pastor’s Heart; and is a contributor to We Stand Together: Men of Color in Reconciliation, and Seven Promises of a Promise Keeper. Glenn and his wife, Susan, have two children.;Steve is president of Crown Media, Ltd., a literary enterprise that specializes in book editing and collaboration. Steve has co-written books with Luis Palau, Dave & Jan Dravecky, and many others, and is the author of three books himself. Steve formerly was a senior editor with Multnomah Press and Questar Publishers, and before that was a reporter for two newspapers in southern Wisconsin. He holds a Master of Divinity degree from Western Conservative Baptist Seminary in Portland and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and Spanish from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Steve and his wife, Lisa, are active at Sunset Presbyterian Church in Portland, Oregon. The Hallidays live in Hillsboro, Oregon.