Book: "Lasting Investments" by Kent Humphreys

A thoroughly good read that left me many times wishing pastors would really read what Humphreys has to say.

The author is a former CEO and 30+ year business owner. His stories of challenges and triumphs are very encouraging and real.

The subtitle is "A Pastor's Guide for Equipping Workplace Leaders to Leave a Spiritual Legacy." While it is a great read for not just pastors, but all people in the workplace, I warn you though, you could begin wondering why your pastor isn't tuned in to the honest-to-goodness struggles you experience 40, 50, and more hours per week.

Included is a step-by-step guide on how a pastor might bring a group of business leaders through the process. The case studies at the end of the book are really good discussion topics for anyone to wrestle through.

This book is real and should leave any reader at least wondering how he or she could be better equipped to minister to his or her co-workers.

Humphreys doesn't beat-around-the-bush with what he believes. Case-in-point is the following exert from pages 53-53;

"Ministry must have as its long-term eternal focus either evangelism or discipleship as defined by Jesus in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20). Ministry has as its goal to enlarge and mature the body of Christ. Is feeding the hungry a ministry? Yes, if its focus is eternal. But if it is only to fill empty stomachs, then it is just a good deed. So, ministry is determined not just by what we do by why we do it."

That's good stuff. He goes on to quote a friend, Walter Henrichsen: "The secular becomes spiritual if done for the eternal, and the spiritual or religious becomes secular if done for the temporal."

Yikes. That'll keep a few people at arms-length from the book. But Humphreys is obviously more interested in the truth than selling books.

It really is a good book and should cause anyone "searching the matter out" (Proverbs 25:2) to ponder deeply. Again, the case studies, with scripture notations, at the end of the book are excellent tools for individual and group discussions.