{"product_id":"9780692721513","title":"An Exploratory Study of First-Time Elder Leadership in the Presbyterian Church: A Thesis-Project Submitted to the Faculty of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary","description":"Lay elders are important to the Presbyterian Church. In my short tenure as an ordained Presbyterian pastor and my church experience as youth director of churches before that, I have seen firsthand how important well-trained and strong leaders are in the church.\u003cbr\u003e While serving as an associate pastor, I was helping the congregation build up the young adult ministry. I was working closely with one elder in the church, a young adult, and he continually shared his frustration about the church. He could not wait for his three years of service to finish. For him, it had been a horrible experience that he did not want to repeat.\u003cbr\u003e After talking to a few other young adults in the congregation and asking them if they would serve on the session as an elder, I received similar responses. All of the young adults who had served were burned out by being on session and wanted nothing to do with serving again. There has to be a better way.\u003cbr\u003e This frustration culminated when I was asked to take part in an all-day training session for elders that ended up looking like an all-day lecture. As the eyes of those newly elected officials rolled back as they were faced with one lecture after another, thoughts came to mind of \"Isn't there a better way?\" This project is an attempt to find a better way.","brand":"Parsons Porch Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47027534070000,"sku":"9780692721513","price":17.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780692721513_p0.jpg?v=1763611307","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780692721513","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}