John R. Bisagno

John Bisagno is a hero for pastors. He served First Baptist Houston faithfully for decades. His ministry was innovative, effective and biblically sound. I am grateful for him.

But Letters To Timothy: A Handbook for Pastors is a mixed bag of tricks. This book is subtitled "A Handbook for Pastors". A better appellation would be "A Handbook for pastors of certain kinds of churches with certain kinds of theology." Letters is a potpourri of essays addressing a myriad of issues that churches deal show more with. It's scope is extremely broad. Unfortunately, it's breadth is a weakness, not a strength.

With 114 chapters (none of which are very lengthy), Letters to Timothy addresses everything from what to pay a guest preacher to how you should counsel a couple desiring to be married. Hidden within the book are some wonderful nuggets of wisdom. Still, I kept finding myself thinking, "This is a mega-church mindset promoted in a book that small church pastors will read." To that end, I'm not sure how helpful Bisagno's offering is worth. Like I said, there are definitely some nuggets of wisdom - worthy of a 5 star rating at times. Mining those nuggets is tedious. You have to sift through lots of superfluous chapters that aren't comprehensive enough to be helpful.

My opinion of John Bisagno is much higher than it is of Letters to Timothy, which has been in large part expanded and repackaged in Bisagno's Pastor's Handbook. show less

I found chapter 3 using offensive language in this quote: "God has placed deep in the heart of every woman the desire for a man she can look up to as the head of the home and spiritual leader of the marriage." p. 9.
However, the chapter on Single ministry was helpful.
Each chapter is in 1-3 pages in length and the book offers practical advice. You just have to weed through some difficult spots.

B.Whitteker

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