Brian Croft - Prepare Them to Shepherd: Test, Train, Affirm, and Send the Next Generation of Pastors

Praise forPrepare Them to Shepherd

The church possesses a unique responsibility to identify leaders among Gods people and equip them for ministry among all peoples. As the Holy Spirit sets men apart for ministry, the local community of faith is accountable to God for training them up and sending them out in a way that glorifies Christ. I am thankful to Brian Croft for this immensely helpful, thoroughly biblical, and extremely practical resource that will serve well those called by God, their pastors, and their churches.

David Platt, senior pastor of The Church at Brook Hills,Birmingham, Alabama, and author of Radical

We live in an individualistic world where subjective and private experiences are often thought to be beyond contradiction. If someone claims he is called to ministry, who are we to doubt it? Brian Croft demonstrates, however, that an internal call to ministry must be matched by an external call. The people of God, the church of Jesus Christ, should play a major role in assessing whether someone is called to ministry. Prepare Them to Shepherd is biblically grounded and full of wise pastoral advice. I commend it enthusiastically.

Thomas R. Schreiner, James Buchanan Harrison professor of New Testamentinterpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Brian Croft loves the Savior, and he loves the church. That comes through on every page of this book. For those who care that the harvest is plentiful and want the Lord of the harvest to send workers, this book helps us to be sure the workers are worth their wages. Croft tells us what to look for and when we find it, how to cultivate it.

Thabiti Anyabwile, senior pastor of First Baptist Church,Grand Cayman, and author of What Is a Healthy Church Member?

Pastor Croft has led his church to develop an intentional approach to evaluating a mans sense of call. If you have responsibilities of spiritual leadership in your local church, youll want to get this book, for youll find it helpful every time a man indicates that he senses Gods call to vocational ministry.

Donald Whitney, associate professor of biblical spiritualityat The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

What Brian Croft has written will help pastors, churches, seminary professors, and students include an important but often-missed step in a mans journey from a mysterious call to the ministry to a local congregations call of that man to a pastorate. Vocational and lay leaders should keep this work close at hand when a man professes an inward call to ministry.

Eric C. Redmond, executive pastoral assistant and Bible professor inresidence at New Canaan Baptist Church, Washington, DC

When Paul wrote to the Galatians, he expected those churches to be able to discern whether the true gospel was being preached or whether what they were hearing was another gospel even if the preacher was Paul himself or an angel from heaven! Brian Croft calls churches to take up responsibilities Paul expected them to exercise and pastors to do the kind of work Paul charged Timothy and Titus to do.

Jim Hamilton, associate professor of biblical theology at The SouthernBaptist Theological Seminary and senior pastor of Kenwood Baptist Church

In Prepare Them to Shepherd, Brian Croft provides much-needed biblical discernment for ordinary pastors like myself. Pastor, read it to benefit your soul. Read it to equip your church. Read it to be amazed that you serve the Chief Shepherd.

Brian Chesemore, pastor of Sovereign Grace Church, Louisville, Kentucky

Brian Croft has helpfully heralded a call to local churches to return to the ownership of pastoral discipleship. Prepare Them to Shepherd will offer great clarity where much confusion has been found in recent years.

Eric Bancroft, senior pastor of Castleview Baptist Church,Indianapolis, Indiana

Brian Croft highlights the churchs responsibility to call and affirm individuals who claim a personal, divine draw to the ministry. This undermines the highly individualistic sense of call that people speak about today, which is considered above evaluation or critique. This book will change minds about how we, as the body of Christ, affirm the pastoral ministry of individuals.

D. Jeffrey Mooney, senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Norco, California,and assistant professor of Christian studies at California Baptist University

ZONDERVAN

Prepare Them to Shepherd

Copyright 2014 by Brian Croft

Previously published in 2010 by Day One Publications under the title

Test, Train, Affirm, and Send into Ministry

ePub Edition March 2014: ISBN 978 0 310 51717 7

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Croft, Brian.

Prepare them to shepherd : test, train, affirm, and send the next generation of pastors / Brian Croft.

p. cm. (Practical shepherding series)

ISBN 978 0 310 51716 0 (softcover)

1. Clergy Post-ordination training. 2. Discipling (Christianity) 3. Theology Study and teaching (Continuing education). I. Title.

BV4165.C76 2014

253 dc23 2013041294

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible. Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Any Internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Cover design and illustrations: Jay Smith-Juicebox Designs

Interior design: Matthew Van Zomeren

Printed in the United States of America

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 /DCI/ 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To my brother, Scott, who first challenged me to seek and value the external call

CONTENTS

by Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr.

HAS GOD CALLED YOU TO MINISTRY? Though all Christians are called to serve the cause of Christ, God calls certain persons to serve the church as pastors and other ministers. Writing to young Timothy, the apostle Paul confirmed that if a man aspires to be a pastor, it is a fine work he desires to do (1 Timothy 3:1 NASB). Likewise, it is a high honor to be called by God into the ministry of the church. How do you know if God is calling you?

First, there is an inward call. Through his Spirit, God speaks to those persons he has called to serve as pastors and ministers of his church. The great Reformer Martin Luther described this inward call as Gods voice heard by faith. Those whom God has called know this call by a sense of leading, purpose, and growing commitment.