Pastors are called to teach. “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations,” Jesus commanded his disciples before ascending to heaven, “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Mt. 28:19-20) We bear the sacred call to do many things: care for souls, manage the church’s finances, maintain the building, complete denominational paperwork, and visit people in the hospital. While the importance of these tasks is undeniable, without teaching, the pastoral call is lost.
Whether you’re on a church staff, leading a small group, mentoring students, or
running point on the parking team, I think you’ve felt it too—that unmistakable joy that
shows up when you’re in the middle of ministry done with heart.
In Boy Jesus, Joan Taylor provides us with that. Not ponderings, but expertly researched
historical and contextual details that help us make informed guesses about what Jesus’ childhood was like, how he interacted with his family, and how his community helped him prepare for his ministry.
Here are four things Boy Jesus helps us do to know Jesus better:
Perhaps you’ve heard of the Twelve Steps but don’t really know what they are. The coauthor of the Twelve Steps was a hopeless alcoholic named Bill Wilson who found recovery as the result of a Damascus Road–like spiritual experience in a hospital room where he was dying from alcoholism. From that day forward, Bill never drank again.
Every Christian today feels like an outsider in their own culture, and most don’t like it. To resolve that tension, they are tempted to conform to the culture, combat the culture, or cloister themselves from it. But what if we aren’t supposed to resolve the tension but live in it? What if Jesus wants us to be joyful outsiders and engage the culture?
I’ve been fascinated by biblical prophecy all my life, and nothing encourages me more than God’s predictions about the future. But I don’t make many predictions myself. The Bible is infallible; I’m not. Yet I’m going to predict right now that reading this book will make you feel like the farmer I read about in Kentucky.
We don’t know his name—he hasn’t divulged it, nor the exact location of his farm. But we know what he found.