Test, Train, Affirm, and Send Into Ministry: Recovering the Local Church's Responsibility in the External Call (Ministering the Master's Way)
In this new and important book, Brian Croft presents a bold and biblical understanding of the call to ministry. Along the way, Brian clarifies many issues of contemporary confusion, and his commitment to the local church ensures that his understanding of the call to ministry is never severed from the context of God's people. Few books are more timely than this one, and I am thankful to Brian Croft for his faithful and careful consideration of the call to ministry. --R. Albert Mohler, Jr., President, The Southern Baptist Theological SeminaryBrian Croft provides clear, practical teaching about the role of the local church regarding men who sense a call to vocational ministry. This process used to be referred to as a church's ongoing ministry of 'calling out the called.' Pastor Croft has led his church to develop an intentional approach to evaluating a man's sense of call, an approach that is as effective as that of almost any church I know. If you have responsibilities of spiritual leadership in your local church, you'll want to get this book, for you'll find it helpful every time a man indicates that he senses God's call to vocational ministry. --Donald Whitney, Associate Professor of Biblical Spirituality and former Director of Applied Ministry, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, USABrian Croft loves the Savior, and he loves the church. That comes through in every page of this book. And every page of this book offers cogent, biblical, and useful instruction for this most necessary of responsibilities in the local church: testing, training, affirming, and sending workers into the ministry. For those of us who care that the harvest is plentiful and want the Lord of the harvest to send workers, this book helps us to be sure the workers are worth their wages. Croft tells us what to look for, and when we find it, how to cultivate it. --Thabiti Anyabwile, Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church of Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, and author, 'What Is a Healthy Church Member?'