The Honest Guide to Church Planting, Tom Bennardo
The Honest Guide to Church Planting, Tom Bennardo
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The Honest Guide to Church Planting
What No One Ever Tells You about Planting and Leading a New Church

Author: Tom Bennardo, Larry Osborne

Narrator: Tom Bennardo, Gabe Wicks

Unabridged: 4 hr 54 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Zondervan

Published: 08/13/2019


Synopsis

Church planting has become a cottage industry. National conferences, hip planting organizations, and all-in-one resource kits celebrate the thrill of pioneering a church and inspire visions of glorious victories. Yet few who respond to the call are warned what they’ll actually encounter: the relentless opposition they’ll endure; the eventual scattering of their entire core group; the failure of their tried-and-true, field-tested system.Here’s the dirty little secret of church planting: the roadside is strewn with casualties. Many have closed their churches. Some left ministry permanently. Others abandoned the faith altogether.Church planting is at once the greatest and most grueling ministry work on earth. This audiobook is for those toiling in the trenches, those about to bail out, and those considering jumping in. It’s for the church planters laboring and struggling, seeing little movement, and wondering what they’re doing wrong or why God is failing them. It’s also for mother churches, planting organizations, and denominations, as a challenge to rethink and re-calibrate the way they approach and measure planting endeavors.The Honest Guide to Church Planting is a fresh and candid conversation about the challenges and joys of planting new churches. Tom Bennardo speaks the truth so that those involved in church planting can embrace a more accurate and realistic picture of what planting a church is really like; one that not only enables them to survive, but to thrive in this wondrous work.

About Tom Bennardo

Tom Bennardo has been  a catalyst in church planting for over three decades as a planter, sending church pastor, church planting mentor and coach, and the leader of a church planting network. He currently serves as co-director of the Synergy Church Planting Network and as Director of Pastoral Development for the Fellowship of Evangelical Churches.  He holds an M.Div. from Grace Theological Seminary and a doctorate from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and is a sought-after speaker and seminar leader, as well as a consultant in church leadership and organization. He and his wife live in San Clemente, California.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Matt on January 17, 2021

This book rocked me. I didn’t know what to expect; I wasn’t familiar with the author and we aren’t really in the same theological tribe. Bottom line: it is superbly written, vividly illustrated, and thoroughly bracing. Speaking from decades of experience, Bennardo is a straight-shooter who challenge......more

Goodreads review by Eliot on August 28, 2024

Reread summer of 2024 w/ RoG elders. Review: This is the most realistic and refreshing resource on church planting that I’ve read! In my experience, there is a huge difference between the expectations set by most church planting resources and the actual experience of church planters. Conferences, podc......more

Goodreads review by Eric on January 29, 2021

The best book on church planting I've ever read. Fantastic book. I highly recommend this to anyone serving in ministry.......more

Goodreads review by Tyler on July 08, 2022

I was the church planting intern at an atypical church plant in suburban Delaware. I’ve lived through the hype of the church planting movement, and the cynicism of the rise and fall of mars hill era, that exposed its underbelly. I’ve even considered planting a church myself, which the author is righ......more

Goodreads review by Timothy on June 18, 2021

I thought this was a great articulation of warnings that church pastors (especially planters) should heed. Though the book is framed for church planters, i can see similar risks for most in ministry leadership. I appreciate the way the book pulls from real life experiences. I do wish Tom did a bette......more