This book will not offer you best practices related to church planting. What it will do is offer you a framework by which you can pray and think about your specific, unique efforts at church planting. Aubrey Malphurs is professor of pastoral ministries at Dallas Theological Seminary. As a consultant he serves as president of the Malphurs Group ({{malphurs group.com | http://www.malphursgroup.com/}}). This is a comprehensive volume. It begins with assessing leadership traits of the church planter. It ends with a well-stocked appendix of tools related to topics covered in the book. Of the current available church planting books, this one comes closest to being a textbook that covers the most material. It will probably most appeal to planters that want to work through a process that is organized and intentional. It will be less appealing to those with strong improvisational skills (though this book might be a corrective for such leaders). The book includes these key questions: What are the core values of this new church? What are our foundational assumptions? Who will be reached ? How will we raise funds? If these are the kinds of questions you want to pursue, then this book is likely to be helpful to you and those with whom you serve.

Reviewed by Tim Shapiro