Pastors in Transition: Navigating the Turbulence of Change (Word Alive Press, 2013) Servants of God change Ministries. People move to new ministries often. Navigating the turbulence of change is stressful whether within one’s culture or to a new culture. Vulnerability, stress, anxiety, loss, and grief are all part of moving. Families may be traumatized. Maximizing growth in the midst of change is a key to successful transition. This book will help.

The Web of Life: Inviting others to live or die in community. (Word Alive Press, 2016) Community is about relationships. Relationships build or destroy faith. The life I touch for good or ill touches another! Individualism doesn’t work. But how do we create community with intentionality?

Fruitful Boughs Broken: Pastors in Fruitfulness, Failure, and Forgiveness. (Word Alive Press, 2019) Servants of God in ministry experiences failure! This was a reality in the live of Biblical servants of God, even those held up as models. Failure should not be the end of the story. God redeems those who failed like Peter, Elijah, and many others. God’s discipline leads to redemption and restoration.

Finishing Strong: Exploring Endurance and Resilience in Ministry, (Amazon.com, 2020) Servants of God Desire to Finish Strong! The challenges of ministry are often overwhelming. “Fighting without and fears within,” Paul said. Consider the challenges of Abraham, Joseph, Moses, etc. These wilderness experiences of tensions and stress sometimes overwhelmed. What can we learn in the wilderness experiences in ministry? What is God seeking to teach us? How do we tap tragedies for our benefit and growth? A study of endurance and resilience is a good place to start.

All of these books are available from the publishers, Amazon or from the Author. glennmarytaylor@gmail.com 416-908-6511

This is a new book written by Glenn C. Taylor (Word Alive Press, 2019)

It is a Biblical study of faithful and fruitful servants of God who failed. However, it also studies modern pastors who likewise served faithfully, effectively but eventually failed and in frustration and shame left the ministry.

Failure is never a chosen or desired outcome for those who enter the ministry. They enter with the intention to finish strong, to endure in service. Brokenness occurs in many different ways. There are many contributing factors. For churches to respond with judgment and dismissal without understanding the contributing factors is unwise and harmful to churches, the pastor, the family, and the church.

This book explores these issues from the perspective of having spent five decades providing counseling/consultation to churches and pastors.  It is available from the author at glennmarytaylor@gmail.com, Word Alive Press, or other retailors in paper or electronic formate.

An analogy

The spider and his web may help us in our understanding. The sensitive web of the spider is an appropriate analogy. It is as necessary to his survival as our relationships are to us. Our relationships are important, influential and an essential part of our lives as is the spider’s web to him.
Have you touched a spider’s web and watched it vibrate its message to the waiting spider? The fine threads of the web transmit the message. Our communication extends through the connections in our personal web. The messages may be electronic. They will be expressed with a variety of emotions. But there is more. There will be gestures, eye contact, facial expression and other content. When we touch the life of another, it causes their web to tremble. Our web vibrates when others touch us in communicating. The connectedness is vital to our experience of life. The message may be positive or negative.
The trembling of the web of life, fragile, yet strong, is set in motion by all the touches we give and receive among the lives we encounter. It is my intention to explore our experiences as we move along the pathway of life…Truly, it is an interactive process. Sometimes we are influenced by a passing touch. An enduring relationship will very likely have more impact. The loss of relationship as we move through life will also alter our experience. “The life that I touch for good or ill will touch another life, and that in turn another, until who knows where the trembling stops.” (Fredreick Beuchner) Our lives are much more complicated than that of the spider, but the analogy teaches us muchThe Question: Does our touch invite others to live or to die?The above is a quote from “The Web of Life” a book written by Glenn C. Taylor. It is available from the author ($18:00) email – glennctaylor35@gmail.com

Life is about relationships. We spin them into complex webs…The complexity increases with each new addition or loss to our web. (Relationships may be toxic or they may be a tonic.) Our web of relationships is a growing, moving, changing thing. The comings and goings make our web a living reality. We become connected to others. The strength of the connection will vary. The purpose of each connection will be different.

“Connections are relationships. In the web of relationships, we experience others. Our web provides the environment where we interact, communicate, play, argue, have fun and love. The experiences we have in this web or relationships is the essence of life…We also need quietness in which to contemplate our web of life. Quietness and silence are an essential if we are to learn from our experiences. In quiet contemplation, we will become sensitive to the trembling of our web. We will become attentive to the touch of others. That sensitivity can teach us the art of touching the webs of others. With that knowledge, we can become much more sensitive to our impact. And, in quietness, respond to others with wisdom. Reflecting on the touch of other people on our lives may lead to gratitude for those who have affected us in positive ways. The potential for learning from the pain we experience in relationships increases when we enter into thought and silent assessment of the learning in each experience.” (excerpt from chapter 1)

What is the effect of this web of life relationships that we create? Are we richer or poorer for the web in which we live? Do we bring richness or poverty to others…How have your relationships influenced your life for good or ill?

These are questions explore in the book, The Web of Life: An Invitation to Live or Die in the Fabric of Community, written by Glenn C. Taylor.  The book is available from the author ($20.00 plus shipping) or from glennctaylor35@gmail.com, wordalivepress.ca or other booksellers.

  Glen C. Taylor began his pastoral ministry in 1956 pioneering three churches,   served as correctional chaplain, a professor and counsellor in College and Seminary,   a CEO of a large inner city ministry and as a counsellor/consultant to more than   thirty international mission organizations.He has graduate degrees in theology and psychology and training in trauma   counseling. He provided assessment, pre-field training and counseling for several   thousand missionaries and scores of pastors and church planters. He worked with a   research team addressing family issues in missions for fifteen years.In retirement, he continues to serve pastors and churches in counseling and consultation.His wife Mary, has been a partner in these many ministries including the operation of “Ferlie Brae”, a retreat centre for pastors and missionaries for ten years, during which time they accommodated over sixteen hundred persons. During these years, they also offered training, counselling, conflict management and trauma debriefing in over twenty different countries.This book grew out of experience. One of the greatest contributors to stress and trauma in ministry is moving through the turbulence of change from one ministry to another. Each member of the family experiences transition differently and each experience is different. Spouses and children are often not heard as to their experience. This book seeks to identify and offer healing to those factors.

To contact Glenn or purchase this book directly from him:

Telephone:   519-794-0389    email: glennctaylor35@gmail.com                                      

Cost:   $17.00 + postage

Postage:   In Canada  $4.00      To the U.S. $8.00