My relationship with Jesus has made an impact in my life, and it's brought me renewal and healing. This is the same thing that I want to see in the church today -- people finding healing and restoration. Unfortuntately the church is often a "toxic" environment without acceptance of each other and without real intimate sharing of love and true heart-felt fellowship. But, that's what the gospel is all about! Bringing people forgiveness and reconcilation to their heavenly father and to each other. This is what God wants the church to become!

Pastor Murren's book gives excellent guidelines on how to change the local body to become a church that can make an impact on people. He points out the messy problems that bringing true healing to people entails, and helps you to sight on the long-term goals, rather than the short-term problems. He also brings a lot of real-world examples (both positive and negative) that show how powerfully the Spirit can move in the church as well as bad-examples to avoid. Pastor Murren is transparent and talks about his own problems and short-comings, and his advice helps you to see your own problems, but how God can still work and use you and your church for His work. I found his book very useful and see it as a great resource for doing ministry in the 21st century

Many churches are struggling to find a way to reach the people of their community. This book reminds us that the focus should be on ministering to the broken. Doug provides practical advice on how to accomplish this. Our local church is in disarray and searching for a new pastor. I found this book to provide some practical insight as to the characteristics that we should strive for in rebuilding our church and selecting a pastor. It should be prayfully read by every pastor and deacon. It describes the focus that the local church needs to be relevant to the 21st century.

In a down-to-earth and honest manner, Murren reminds us of the Church's purpose and call to those in need. His stories and personal experiences, when matched with biblical truths, are a genuine reminder of how churches should operate. This book not only initiated my own introspection into how I deal with others, but offered biblical direction into how I should deal with others. Overall a very valuable read.

The case for discipleship is made clearly by Dallas Willard and Robert Coleman, among others. The day-to-day implications of discipleship's importance for churches is not so obvious. George Barna provides an invaluable service by, first, establishing via a survey of spiritual maturity that there is little spiritual growth happening in American churches and, second, profiling many churches that have been effective at discipleship.

Did you know that the majority of Christians believe that the Bible says, "God helps those who help themselves."? It's true. And did you know that, according to Barna's survey results, the only issues on which Christians hold a statistically significant difference of opinion from non-Christians are alcohol, profanity and homosexuality. Therefore, we (Christians) are rightly perceived by others as gay-bashing prudes who can't have a good time.

Discipleship, Barna makes clear at the beginning, is focussed on having only one goal in life: to become more like Jesus, to grow into Christlikeness. And churches that are effective at discipleship produce Christians that are light and salt in the world, not mean-spirited critics.

Barna then assesses the programs used by those churches that are intentional about discipleship, and are effective at it. Pantego Bible Church is a very interesting example. Their pastor, Randy Frazee, wrote The Connecting Church, which lays out their philosophy of ministry in more detail.

This book is essential reading for those on church staffs and boards.

This book is not quite like what some accuse Barna of. He gets to the point of true discipleship and what it looks like. This is not a book for the religionist.

George Barna continues to put out meaningful books that meet the need to cram statistical knowledge with christian insight. His personal desire to see the church mature and become healthy is evident and refreshing. This book is no exception.

Mr. Barna has provided the data and included his personal insight for our evaluation of meaningful ways to help the Body become more like Christ. Do you want a successful church? The information compiled in this book will make you think. I believe that is the number one goal here. What you did last year to disciple the Body will most likely not be good enough for this year.

Whether you adopt one of the models in the book or simply enhance your current system because of them your church will benefit. Try it on a small scale and see if it brings meaningful growth. If not, tweak it again and keep praying. I know that the Father want's us to grow in the likeness of His Son and we need to be leading thers in that same growth.

Enjoy Growing True Disciples, it offers much and may be the catalyst your church needs.

I am very impressed with Barna's book, as he hits the nail on the head on a number of issues. Based on his research, this Christian pollster shows how the church should relate to the world around it. I am going to go through this again--I highlighted throughout--and write down the main points. I also want to give this book to my pastors, as there are a number of areas my local church could improve. If we want to see God work in our churches, then we need to be smart and use biblical principles and practices. Barna definitely provides us with a solid work here.

Buy this book! George Barna always has some interesting insights that will challenge you to think about your church, denomination, or parachurch organization. Besides, his books are among the few resources you can get that are based on scientific research and not hunches.

Borrow this book only if you have everything Barna has written, you go to one of his conferences at least every two years, and you just want to take a quick look at his new book.

The book describes "a ministry as being effective when lives are transformed such that people are constantly enabled to become more Christ-like. Effective ministries foster significant and continual changes in how people live." page 7-8]

Of the nine habits, one of my favorites is that highly effective churches develop significant relationships within the congregation. Significant relationship with God and one another transform lives!

According to Barna, the bar that defines highly effective churches is high. It probably ought to be because too many churches feel that good enough is good enough when mandates of the Kingdom of God may be calling for more.

This book is must for anyone involved in church leadership. The traits described can be modeled by virtually any organization but are best applied in a religious setting. I strongly recommend this book to any persons striving to up-root their church and help it become all it can be.

This is not a book that will necessarily tell you "how" to program effective youth ministry. Nor, does it try. Rather, it is a book that gives you the background on what youth are thinking. As well, Barna gives some clues as to what might be expected from youth in the future. I am so thankful that I purchased this resource.

George Barna has written plenty in the realm of Christian ministry that pastors and other Christian workers ought to read. In "Real Teens," he hits another home run as he describes the "Mosaic" generation, utilizing a number of polls and other research to show just where this generation has been, where it is now, and where it is going.

Having worked with teens for the past decade, I believe that I need to continue to keep up with sociological research such as this. And Barna makes it quite easy to do, incorporating easy-to-understand explanations with numerous charts. (In the wrong hands, this would be a "boring" book, but if you like stats and facts, you'll be enthralled.) Much of this information will be considered as I continue to do ministry among this generation. (If I didn't listen, then I am not taking advantage of making my ministry the best it can possibly me, and that would be a shame.)

One fact that I just didn't realize was how religious this group is. One-third of the generation attends youth group, for instance, though it's not always for the spiritual benefit but rather for the social interaction they receive. This is a generation that desperately craves truth yet embraces many moral relativistic ideas. We Christian adults need to help these young people develop their Christianity so they can be of benefit to the next generation that comes along, whatever its name will be.

If you haven't noticed, my recommendation for this superb book is a big thumbs up. Barna at his finest.

I always appreciate Barna's fine research, though I sometimes disagree with his conclusions and suggested responses to data. But Barna not only provides us with a wealth of information about modern teens, he offers solid direction for church leaders or parents as well.

Today's teens are generally more positive and cheerful than teens were just 3 or 4 years ago. In many ways, they are a breath of fresh air when compared to the past two generations.

On the other hand, today's youth think less logically and more emotionally than previous generations. Using the "four personality type grid," Barna reveals that 45% of todays teens are Influencers (Sanguines), compared to 30% of the adult population. This section alone is worth the price of the book.

Barna tells all: their spiritual beliefs, their mode of thinking, and their views of church. After a thorough analysis of all the data, he urges church leaders and youth groups to concentrate more on ministry to teens and less on marketting (real ministry as opposed to merely drawing large numbers through entertainment).

The seven chapters are titled, Lifestyles and Influences, What They're Thinking and Feeling, Matters of the Heart, Inside the Heads of Teens, White/Black/Hispanic, Faith and Spirituality, and Challenges on the Road Less Traveled.

Anyone who is concerned about youth ministry (youth pastors, sponsors, senior pastors, board members, teachers, parents of teens, etc.)simply must read this one!

The word "vision" is tossed around a lot today, Barna does a wonderful job explaining what vision is for the individual & a church. It's now on my must read list for my leadership team.

A lot of people and organizations have no vision. Their lives and structures are chaotic because of their lack. Once vision is achieved things become more clearer. However, the vision isn't worth much unless it is turned into action. That is a very difficult thing to do. In TURNING VISION INTO ACTION, George Barna explains how anyone or any organization can take their vision and turn it into a material reality. This book is great for any church leader or for anyone who is struggling to find out what God's plan for their life is.

Concise, practical, and clear. Barna helped me look in a mirror to identify the values driving my work; then refine my vision and purpose. Helpful tool for teaching or counseling. Complements material found in Hyrum Smith's "10 Natural Laws of Successful Time and Life Management", as well as leadership books by John Maxwell and Stephen Covey. I've been working internationally with the same organization for 15 years (Brazil, Argentina, and southern Europe), in HR areas and with teams. After reading Barna's book I reviewed my personal values, vision and mission and have helped others do the same.

Of the thousands of books written on the subject, Barna's is at the very top of the pack. This book powerfully, succintly, grippingly presents what a vision is, where it comes from, how to capture it, how to apply it, how to deal with myths and vision killers, and much more. If you want to be an effective minister, or an effective, purpose-filled human being, read this book, then read it again. Every seminary and every Church ought to present this book as a gift to graduating students or at ordination. The vision comes from the Lord, the resources come from the Lord it is impoosible to fail.

To this point the, The Power of Vision is the best work I have read on the subject of vision for ministry. Barna does an outstanding job of defining vision and explaining its importance. Along the way he gives many valuable insights concerning the crafting and casting of vision for ministry.

This book is well worth the reading. Barna presents some good ideas about leadership, based on his experience. He presents his own theories about what makes a leader and the issues facing a leader.

His book is well worth studying. The book should be included in any course on leadership, secular or not. He make a good argument that leader are called to the task. I disagree with his premise that leadership can't really be taught. Christians in leadership roles need to read this book, and ponder the difficult questions he asks at the end of many chapters.

I was looking for advice on how to improve a stewardship program, but what I found was book that paves a path for building a dynamic congregation joyously returning time, treasures, and talents on which God's work is resourced to spread the Good News and change lives. CAUTION:If you don't want to get excited about stewardship -- stay away from this book.

This book was fantastic on the subject matter covered. It explains thoroughly how to plant churches by the 3 basic models and how to help them grow, and how to effectively contribute to already existing churches, as well as full scale churches. Very essential information is presented for anyone who wants to futher the kingdom of God in any way.

Barna studied some of the most successful churches in America (defined as those growing rapidly while having a major impact on the lives of people). What he found provides a new definition of effective church ministry: remaining true to the Gospel while remaining relevant to society. Anyone who thinks "church" has to mean "organs, robes, and cathedrals" will hate this book. Anyone who wants to know how to make church more relevant to Americans' daily lives, without compromising the Gospel message, must read it. This can (and should) change the way you do ministry