Fail

<P><B>Best Books About the Church from Byron Borger Hearts and Minds Bookstore</B></P><P>I thought God had called me to plant this church. Why did we have to shut our doors after only three years?</P><P>I was at my breaking point. Then I got the news that our nine-year-old daughter had leukemia. I would have quit ministry forever but I had no other employable skills.</P><P>False accusations were made against me and my family wrecking our reputation permanently and forcing us to leave not only the church but move out of the area.</P><P>I've served my church for the past 27 years and I've grown that church from 150 to 24 people.</P><P>What do we do when we've failed? Some ministries are shipwrecked by moral failures like affairs or embezzlement. But for most of us the sense of failure is more ordinary: disillusionment inadequacy declining budgets poor decisions opposition depression burnout. Many pastors are deeply broken and wounded and we come to doubt that God has any use for us.</P><P>J.R. Briggs founder of the Epic Fail Pastors Conference knows what failure feels like. He has listened to pastors who were busted in a prostitution sting or found themselves homeless when ejected from ministry. With candid vulnerability Briggs explores the landscape of failure how it devastates us and how it transforms us. Without offering pat answers or quick fixes he challenges our cultural expectations of success and gives us permission to grieve our losses. Somehow in the midst of our pain we are better positioned to receive the grace of healing and restoration.</P>