Pastors Book Club Begins

Illinois-Missouri Regular Baptist Church Representative Bernie Augsburger led 12 men in the first Chicago-area Pastors Prayer and Book Club meeting on January 15 at Village Baptist Church in Aurora, Illinois. Bernie said the purpose of the meetings is “to expose pastors to dynamic books of the day and give them resources they need for ministry.” After refreshments, each pastor shared personal prayer requests and then, during a time of prayer, prayed for the requests of the person seated beside him. Following that, the men sang one verse of a hymn before Bernie began the discussion of Philip Ryken’s book City on a Hill. Bernie opened by saying, “We need to discuss great Biblical themes because we are in a battle for truth.” Bernie led the hour-and-a-half meeting with stimulating questions about how the key points of Ryken’s book applied to various aspects of pastoral and congregational ministry in a postmodern society. The next meeting of the Chicago book club will be on March 18 in Aurora. The book club is one of six Bernie is currently leading in different regions of the state. Other book club sites include the Peoria region, which meets at Germantown Hills Baptist in Metamora, Illinois; the Decatur region, which meets at Riverside Baptist in Decatur, Illinois; the Quad Cities region, which meets at Berean Baptist in Davenport, Iowa; the Quincy region, which meets at Columbus Road Baptist in Quincy, Illinois; and the St. Louis region, which meets at Brown Street Baptist in Alton, Illinois. Some groups meet monthly, while others meet every other month. Pastors interested in joining can contact the churches listed for the next meeting date or call the Illinois-Missouri representative at 720-244-1720. The next book the clubs will be discussing is Erwin Lutzer’s Ten Lies about God.