Off-Road Disciplines Reviews

“This is one of the most exciting books I have read in years. It shifts our focus from doing church to being church, and promises to be a standard reference in all future discussions of missional leadership.”

• Leonard Sweet, Drew University & George Fox University

“As a well-traveled explorer of the Church over many years, Earl offers more than a description of the latest cool topics in leadership. . . . You hold something that is rich, cured, and aged to sink into your mind and heart in a way that couldn’t happen without breadth of experience behind it. This isn’t a book about a quick fix to break an attendance barrier, or bringing new music or a new design for a worship gathering. It isn’t about how to give better sermons. Earl writes about the most important thing he has discovered in all his exploring of the Church: the life of the missional leader and its effect on a missional organization.”

• from the Foreword by Dan Kimball, Pastor, Vintage Faith, Santa Cruz, CA

“If you are trying to figure out what is going on in contemporary culture you’ve got to read Off-road Disciplines. Creps not only knows what is going on today, he teaches us how to engage today’s people as well. The chapter on “reverse mentoring” is worth the price of the book. No one can be effective in ministry today without the skills and attitudes associated with listening and conversation. Off-Road Disciplines gives us the map and points us in the right direction.”

• Todd Hunter, national director, Alpha USA, former national director, Vineyard USA

“No matter how hard the leadership industry tries to refine the key ingredient in effectiveness, a transformed leader is always the precursor to a transformed church or organization. Because Earl Creps actually listens to the hearts of emerging leaders, he has discovered spiritual pathways that are being more traveled these days. Here’s a leadership book that actually believes substance trumps style!”

• Byron D. Klaus, president, Assemblies of God Theological Seminary

“Earl Creps has written a deeply personal and challenging book—one that caused me to think about my own spiritual journey. Too many of us have made spiritual formation a series of activities and programs; Earl takes us off the map of common practice and into the places where the Spirit is at work. It reminds us that true spiritual formation pervades our lives and the ministries we serve, providing a helpful balance of being and doing. It will be a great encouragement to all who read it.”

• Ed Stetzer, NAMB, author, Breaking the Missional Code

“Earl Creps, a very proficient speaker who specializes in challenging ministry leaders to question how cultural mores are shaping the church today, has produced a tome that encapsulates this discussion and brings it down to the individual level. The reader is left to posit, “What is my part to play in this unfolding clash between generations and worldviews?” I have seen leaders fidget as Creps poses questions, presents well-documented research, and allows the awkward silence for self-discovery. In Off-Road Disciplines, Creps makes me fidget, but I sensed it was Another who was using the issues he raises to make me rethink how we “do church” and how much our generational biases affect the outcome. The chapter on Witness forces me to differentiate between the “sought” (placing the onus of seeking on God and not on humans) and the popular term today, “seeker.” His chapter on Harmony could breach the strained/stalled talks between pastors of at least three generations.”

• Clint Bryan, pastor, Cleveland, Ohio

Church planter Jonathan Dodson reviews O-RD in the September 2007 online edition of Next Wave