Gardens in the Desert, Michael Adam Beck
Gardens in the Desert, Michael Adam Beck
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Gardens in the Desert
How the Adaptive Church Can Lead a Whole New Life

Author: Michael Adam Beck, Kenneth H. Carter, Jr.

Narrator: Basil Sands

Unabridged: 6 hr 11 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/11/2025


Synopsis

Many church people and leaders feel like exiles in their own land. We are facing tremendous challenges. And, just as for those who came before us, the challenges are also opportunities. If we adapt to our new environment, as people and as the body of Christ.

Gardens in the Desert offers local and denominational church leaders a practical, inspired, scripture-rooted vision for how we can do this—how we can become God's church now for God's intended future. Michael Adam Beck and Ken Carter draw from Jeremiah 29 to provide wise guidance for leaders and churches seeking to adapt and thrive. Jeremiah's imperatives resonate deeply today, compelling us to experiment, cultivate new relationships, prioritize faith-sharing with people of all ages, interact with others in humility, to "seek the wellbeing of the other," and to move forward with confidence.

The chapters are brief and packed with practical ideas and instruction. The authors include ideas from leaders inside and outside the Church, offering multiple ways for leaders to see and understand what it means to be an adaptive leader and how to shape an adaptive church. The book is an excellent resource to share with leadership teams at every level of the local church and in denominational settings.

About Michael Adam Beck

Michael Beck is director of re-missioning for Fresh Expressions US and cultivator of Fresh Expressions for the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. Michael serves as co-pastor of Wildwood UMC with his wife Jill, where they direct addiction recovery programs, a jail ministry, a food pantry, an interracial unity movement and house a faith-based inpatient treatment center. Wildwood is a traditional congregation and a network of thirteen fresh expressions that gather in tattoo parlors, dog parks, salons, running tracks, community centers and burrito joints. Michael earned a master of divinity from Asbury Theological Seminary and a doctorate in semiotics and future studies at Portland Seminary. He is the author of Deep Roots, Wild Branches, and A Field Guide to Methodist Fresh Expressions. Jill and Michael currently live in Wildwood. They have a blended family of eight children, four grandchildren and two pugs.


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