Customer Reviews

Dog Training, Fly Fishing, And Sharing Christ In The 21st Century: Empowering Your Church To Build Community Through Shared Interests

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This book blows the doors off of mainstream accepted taboos in our culture. After personally experiencing the highs and lows of traditional cell-based groups, I was at a point of wondering why change was not being made in churches. Then, I came across this book. In it, Ted delightfully shows how a church can face change and come out of it truly blessed. Thanks so much for sharing your results, and your honesty! We are all blessed, because of it. I exhort other churches to openly test their waters and see if this book and what it presents can be applied in their congregations. And... as we all know... this book, and the concepts it speaks of... will evolve as they continue to understand the power of God more fully in their midst.

I've read many books on small groups and building community within the body of Christ. This is by far the best! Having tried the traditional models for small group ministry for over eight years, I discovered that most people simply don't have the interest or commitment to gather with brothers and sisters based on geographical location. They have all failed. But this past Sunday, three months after having read Haggard's book, our congregation is already beginning our first semester of small groups, and the excitement surpasses anything I've experienced. This book will transform your church and your community. And the priesthood of believers will move more fully into their ministries than ever before!

Fr Greg Evans, Pastor of Church of the Good Shepherd in Chelsea, Alabama

I have been a Small Groups' Pastor for nine months now and have read numerous books related to small group ministry. I also attended a Leadership Conference at Ted Haggard's church this past summer in Colorado Springs. This book takes a very honest look at what many people like and dislike about small groups. I appreciate Pastor Ted's willingness to just "tell it like it is" and I truly love the way his church does small groups. His approach makes sense to me and much of the vision that began to form in me after seeking God's guidance and during my research for small groups was confirmed even more so after reading this book. With God's help and supportive senior leadership, I have developed my church's small group program and begun the process of building out a structure to accommodate our growth. We have gone from being a church of 20 groups to one of 43 in just 9 months. We also have 3 new section leaders that serve with me as well. Each one of them has a copy of this book and needless to say, I highly recommend it.

It's refreshing, insightful, and helpful. I especially appreciated Ted's advice about not just overlaying some other church's small group ministry onto your church, but rather praying, wrestling, and struggling with what God wants at your church.
What he's saying make a lot of sense, especially in our American free enterprise culture.

Haggard actually got half of it right... people enjoy affinity groups, and they're a great place to connect with unchurched people and build relationships.

However, his definition of a "cell group" is weak and he lumps all the various kinds of affinity groups in that definition.

Healthy cell groups are holistic, meaning they contain the lifestyle commanded in both the Great Commandment and Great Commission. They are also Christ-centered, and do not find their purpose in snowboarding or scrapbooking.

However, I firmly believe that what Haggard has written about in this book should be employed by holistic small group-based churches as a relationally evangelistic arm of each group in addition to a true, Christ-in-the-midst gathering of believers.

Man cannot live on interest groups (bread) alone.

I bought this bought this book because I do respect Ted Haggard ministry and his books. After reading the book, I bought another 2 for my pastors. By the time I wrote this review I bought another 10 books for friends in ministry. I do think that this book is a great resource for anybody that want to grow his church

Good Christian though he may be, this man lacks the moral stature to write about fly-fishing.

Despite this book's title, the author provides no useful information regarding the art of angling with flies, and readers seeking advice on fishing the waters of Colorado, where the author lives, should look elsewhere.