Windows on My Work: Masculine Manhood
ENDURE
Serving Shepherd Press involves many different activities. The email that came from Bill Newton fascinated me. It was about a project he was working on—a book to help men to finish their lives in a strong position in the Christian faith. In fact, his desired title was Finishing Strong, but Steve Farrar (some years ago) had written a larger work using this title, so we would have to think of a different title.
I asked Bill if he would be prepared to tweak the work a little, so that he would also address some specifics that men face by way of militantly aggressive temptations, and straightaway he agreed to. With that in hand, I felt we had a really strong book to bring into the public arena, and, after taking the book through the editing process and playing around with some design concepts, we settled on a masculine-looking color scheme (grays, blacks, reds) using a truck tire as the central visual motif or metaphor for the concept of facing grueling trials, and yet sustaining significant tread life.
Bill, assisted by a good friend and colleague in ministry, has done a remarkable job in preparing a book for men to share with other men: as the back cover states, “Start, Stay, and Finish Strong… Too many Christian men start enthusiastically, then fall short. Falling short can be a public fall: Church-going husband has an affair. High-profile ministry leader gets caught in a scandal. Outspoken advocate is marred by hypocrisy.”
Alistair Begg endorses the book as “thoroughly biblical and intensely practical.”
Bill’s background is in the navy (he was a pilot based on a naval aircraft carrier) and in business before he entered the ministry in his more mature years. He states that he wants to “help men grow up.” He does a great job in ENDURE: A Christian Man’s Guide to Finishing Strong.
WARRIOR PREACHERS
My good friend Dave Harrell is likewise what I might (in the best sense of the word) call a “man’s man.” I have worked with Dave on several other projects (a total of eight mini books and two full-sized trade paperbacks, all very important books, packed with truth and practical application). When he shared with me his burden to write a book on the challenges of modern ministry, my ears pricked up.
The book is titled WARRIOR PREACHERS: A Spiritual Call to Arms in an Age of Militant Unbelief. Being published under his own imprint, Shepherd’s Fire Media, it is a very substantial (but not intimidating) book of 232 pages. Date states that his aim in writing it is “to fortify and encourage pastors and church leaders who are committed to a God-centered, biblically integrated, and consistent ministry as they face the increased challenges of militant unbelief in our culture and apostasy in the church, and to enlist new recruits to join the fight.
Steve Lawson has written a very strong foreword, including these words: “The church has faced dark days in the past, and it has always been led back to the high ground of biblical fidelity by strong men. It will be the same for the church today. A new generation of preachers, raised up by God, is desperately needed to help return the church to the solid footing of sound doctrine that produces holy living. May God use this book to challenge you to stand strong as a ‘warrior preacher’ in this hour of spiritual warfare.” John MacArthur similarly asserts “Whether you are a minister or a lay person who wants to support and encourage your pastor, this book will edify and encourage you.”
Featured Image: Setting up Shepherd Press books at The Shepherds' Conference, Sun Valley, California.
