Thom Rainer always has something good to say, and while I don't always share his perspective, I always appreciate his thoughts. Who Moved My Pulpit explores how ministers can address a rapidly changing world. It's a question pastors are asking, and Rainer answers it very well.

This was a good book, though in my opinion not one of Rainer's best. As usual, Rainer uses a wealth of experience to communicate some helpful, practical tips about church ministry in a readable, storytelling style. In this book, Rainer's subject is change in the church. He doesn't use this book to push for a specific type of change, though he does say that some external changes are always necessary to avoid stagnation. I would tend to agree.

The strengths of this book are its easy to grasp, practical concepts of how to effectively lead change, as well as what strategies to avoid. Particularly helpful to me was Rainer's description of low hanging fruit: achieve easy victories and small changes before attempting change in bigger areas. I did see a couple of weaknesses in this book. First, Rainer doesn't do a great job in finding and articulating scriptural principles to back up his techniques. Thus, he occasionally sounds a bit too much like a self-help author revealing smart ways to deal with people. Second, Rainer doesn't spend much time discussing how a pastor should decide what changes are needed at his church. Each pastor could certainly benefit from some guidelines in this area, though each one must make his own decision. Despite these weaknesses, I found this book both engaging and eminently practical. I can recommend it to any pastor or staff member.

I received a digital copy of this book for free from the publisher and was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I express in this review are entirely my own.