The unifying theme among all seven characteristics seems to be that the Spirit of God controls the man in his character (who he is) and empowers the man in his calling (what he does).

Tim Brister begins a three part review of Church Planter: The Man, the Message, the Mission by Darrin Patrick (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010), 238 pp. with Part 1: The Man.

One does not have to look far to discover the plethora of books in the world of church planting. However, the majority of these books focus on the pragmatics of church planting—systems, techniques, processes, etc. Wisdom has often been discovered not in those who have learned to give all the answers, but rather from those who have learned to ask the right questions.

The burning question among most church planting books seems to be, “How to plant a church?” In his book, Church Planter, Darrin Patrick takes a completely different approach, starting with a different, and I would argue, more pertinent question.

He begins by asking not how to plant a church but who should plant a church. The first section of his book seeks to answer this question with the end goal to find men who are “fit to carry the message of Jesus to the world” (103). Patrick’s focus and prayer is that there would be a resurgence of “godly men to serve the church by the power of God’s Spirit” (17). This theme runs throughout this section and in many ways lays out a template for discovering and assessing men according to God’s Word.

In Section One, Patrick provides seven leading characteristics of a man prepared to lead in gospel ministry. I say gospel ministry and not church planting because these characteristics can (and should) be applied to anyone seeking to pour their lives into the spread of the gospel through leadership in a local church. Patrick writes from the perspective of a planter and pastor, providing personal anecdotes and lessons from his own experiences. As vice-president of the Acts 29 Network, he also writes with a reference to the values, vision, and philosophy of this church planting network. One could argue that this book could be intended as a boot-camp-in-a-book for aspiring church planters.

Summary
Not only does Patrick begin by asking the right question, he also begins by answering that question with something that is so often assumed—the gospel. He writes,

“Salvation is the first and most important qualification for Christian ministry. Without it, nothing else is possible, and if you go into ministry without it, you will ruin yourself and those you seek to serve” (26).

While this may sound painfully elementary, the fact is that our generation has largely been raised on a truncated, man-centered gospel producing men seeking to plant efficient churches with an efficient gospel message that does not save. From his own observations, Patrick notes,

“I have found that the main question both liberals and conservatives often start with is not, Is this man a Christian? but rather, Can this man grow the church? This lead question is revealing and alerts us to one reason why there are so many men who are planting and leading churches, yet who do not have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ” (23).

In the following chapters, Patrick focuses on the calling and qualification of men, accessing great resources from the past (e.g., John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, Richard Baxter, Charles Spurgeon et al.) to glean wisdom and practical application in the process of discovering such men. Patrick explains that the call is confirmed by the heart (deep, unavoidable desire) and head (understanding specific ministry calling), constituting the inward call, as well as skill confirmation constituting the outward call. Chapter three (qualified man) is essentially an exposition on 1 Timothy 3:1-7 wherein we find the most detailed list of biblical qualifications of an elder in the local church.

The remaining four characteristics in the first section are evenly divided between who the man is (dependent and determined) and what the man does (skillful and shepherding). Patrick is careful to emphasize our deep need for the indwelling presence and empowering work of the Holy Spirit in the man’s life.

For instance, in the chapter on dependence, he argues that “our effectiveness in ministry depends directly on our dependence on the power of the Holy Spirit” (59). This is repeated in the call to persevere in pastoral ministry as he argues, “The only way you can endure in ministry is if you determine to do so through the prevailing power of the Holy Spirit” (94). The unifying theme among all seven characteristics seems to be that the Spirit of God controls the man in his character (who he is) and empowers the man in his calling (what he does).

The most significant contribution in this section clearly is his chapter on shepherding. When looking for the kind of men who are visionary, driven, entrepreneurial, and ambitious to plant churches, these very same men often find it hard to slow down, live in the trenches, and lovingly address problems in people’s lives. Perhaps they don’t see it as important of an investment as they should and would rather be training future leaders than rescuing straying sheep.

But what Patrick points out that the pastoral care and genuine nurturing of the sheep are indeed great investments in the health and progress of the church. As one who is concerned the biblical call to shepherding is often given back seat to biblically unwarranted characteristics such as entrepreneurial aptitude, I am greatly encouraged to feel the weighty exhortation to care for those whom Christ died, knowing that the minister will give an account to God for how he shepherded them.

The most unique contribution would be the triperspectival approach to leadership in his chapter on being a skilled man. Based on the offices of Christ (prophet, priest, and king), this triperspectival approach has been popularized over the past five years but to my knowledge not been widely accessible in book format. Patrick argues that the three basic skills of being a pastor or church planter is leading (king), teaching (prophet), and shepherding (priest).

One way to assess each perspective is to consider the questions each one answers. The prophet answers the what question (speaking God’s truth to God’s people); the priest answers the who question (considering who needs care, encouragement, counsel); and the king answers the how question (giving oversight to the systems and structures to accomplish the mission of the church). A very helpful section in this chapter is addressing the dangers of this approach to leadership.

Patrick writes,

“Any church developing a leadership culture that incorporates the prophet, priest, king philosophy must avoid the temptation to view it as a personality test. Since Jesus was the perfect prophet, priest, and king, and since as believers we are becoming more like Christ, we should be growing in all these areas. Leaders, especially pastors, must not lock people (themselves included) so firmly into any of these categories that they limit the usefulness of the gifts God has given them to build up the church” (75).

Critique
There are a couple of nagging questions that linger that could Patrick could give further clarification and explanation. In his explanation about the man “desiring” the office of an elder in the heart confirmation of his calling, Patrick provides a strong description of how powerful that urge and compulsion is to serve God in ministry, and rightfully so. However, it seems that strong urge can easily (and quickly!) turn into ministry idolatry, or at least be used to justify it so. How does one fan into flame the desire within the heart confirmation without it consuming one’s entire life in ministry idolatry?

Another concern in the calling is the skill confirmation, in particular the questions to inspect the fruit of his ministry (39). These skills, albeit important to leadership in general, are not necessarily warranted in Scripture and therefore could be considered more accessory than essential. The kind of skills Scripture seems to emphasize are teaching/preaching, shepherding/overseeing, discipling/mentoring, evangelizing/witnesses, and praying/interceding. Perhaps it could have been better stated that the general skill set laid out (on page 39) are important but not essential while these that I have mentioned are both important and essential to a skilled workman called by God and confirmed by the church.

One final point to mention is the general influence of mysticism in Patrick’s experience. This is understandable and expected from a non-cessationist, yet the references to feelings and direct revelations from God could make some readers uncomfortable, especially regarding the sufficiency of Scripture and the relationship between the Word and Spirit. Nevertheless, a Reformed cessationist should not have a problem getting into the car Patrick is driving, so long as the seatbelt is securing fastened.

Conclusion
Overall, the first section on “The Man” is one that I see being incredibly useful to a number of people, including future church planters for self-assessment, networks for coaching and training, and pastors in general for raising up the next generation of men to be used by God to carry the gospel message in the power of the Spirit. I highly recommend you to pour through this section, answer the questions at the end of each chapter, and probe deeply into your heart and life, as I believe it will serve you and those you lead as well in the future.

Tim Brister (@timmybrister) is the pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Florida. He describes himself as a Christian, Husband, Photographer, Cyclist, and Blogger. This review appeared at www.plntd.com, a network whose vision is to cultivate community for church planters and assist churches in the process of becoming church planting churches and is used with their permission.

[Editor’s note: The link (URL) to the original article is unavailable and has been removed.]