The third millennium. It's a time of tremendous opportunity for the church--and tremendous challenge. More than ever, pastors need a model for ministry that can equip them for the rigors of a restless, increasingly secularized culture. In the 21st Century Pastor, David Fisher explores the apostle Paul's concept of ministry to offer a paradigm that is both biblical and relevant. Paul's view is fleshed out with examples from Fisher's own twenty-five years of pastoral experience, presenting a roadmap for today's pastor that is scholarly, practical, dynamic, and inspiring. The 21st Century Pastor first addressees crucial issues of pastoral identity, the significance of geography, time, and ecclesiology. It then explores Paul's metaphors for ministry (jars of clay, farmers and builders, servants and stewards, and others) to reveal an accurate portrait of an effective, biblical pastor--the kind who will speak to the heart of modern culture rather than languish on its fringes. Filling the rare role of a pastor to pastors, Fisher's sage insights help pastors answer their own identity questions, empowering them to minister to a deeply needy society. Says Fisher, "Pastors who know what time it is will, in the name and power of God, create communities of faith where the values of the Gospel are embraced, taught, and lived out."

The emergence of the pastor Chief Executive Officer (CEO) position in churches today has become widely acceptable in Mega and Meta churches. Recent studies have not explored this issue. David Fisher acknowledges that in the 21st century, being a pastor presents major challenges because it leads to professional and personal identity crisis resulting from secular and ecclesial challenges. Studies have supported the idea that there is the need for church leaders to adopt the secular models of leadership and several noted authors have shown that churches today have become like other organizations that have to market their products. This is a problematic interpretation because leadership in modern churches has gone beyond the biblical and theological definitions of becoming shepherds of their flock and servants of God. In the search for an effective pastoral leadership role, this paper will explore the contemporary definition of pastoral leadership and compare it with what the scriptures say concerning the elders and servants of God assigned the duty of being shepherds of their flock.

In this book Alvin Padilla, Roberto Goizueta, and Eldin Villafa e bring together an impressive array of Hispanic scholars from across the theological disciplines to articulate just such a comprehensive construction of Hispanic theology. Their purpose is to delineate the common elements in Hispanic biblical studies, theology, and ethics and to draw these together into a statement of what Hispanic theology has to say to the larger theological community, and to the church. To do so they organize their presentation around four theological streams that run through Hispanic theology: * Reading Scripture from the Margins: The contributors will present a reading of the biblical text that incorporates into its interpretative methodology the experience of alienation and marginalization, the central feature of Hispanic sociohistorical reality. * Subversive and Liberating Memories: The contributors discover the subversive and liberating stories and voices within the Christian tradition and demonstrate how the memory of these "liberate" Hispanics and others from contemporary oppression. * Liberating Truth: The authors offer fresh perspective on theological truth, incorporating the distinctive Hispanic sources, locus, and expressions. * Liberating Praxis: Drawing on current Hispanic religious experience (for example, spirituality, church life, and ministry), the authors reflect on the way Hispanic religious experience is changing and how it will change the landscape of Western Christianity in the 21st century.

From the author of Dying for Change, a book on how to bring change to a local church to meet the challenges of a changing society.