Win The Shepherd Leader At Home: Knowing, Leading, Protecting, And Providing For Your Family Composed By Timothy Z. Witmer Digital Copy

helpful for some good review questions at the end of chapters to make you think through some pretty obvious things.
Nothing very novel at all in this book, Being a husband and father isn't terribly complicated, it's mostly just difficult, An outstanding book on this topic in my opinion is one that puts things into the proper perspective as a means to motivate husbands and fathers.
This book did not excellent at doing this, Biblical tothepoint advice on being a husband and father, I recommend to all current and aspiring husbands and fathers, Witmer, having written a book for church leaders called The Shepherd Leader, takes the same paradigm and applies it to home leadership.
What sets his work apart from others on a husband/father's leadership is the shepherding paradigm with the fourfold framework of knowing, leading, providing, and protecting.
This framework is helpful for understanding the totality of a man's role in the home, I was reminded of a great many things I need to improve in my leadership of my own home.
For that, I am grateful, Husbands and dads play a crucial role in the health and survival of the family.
That's why leadership expert Tim Witmer has written this bookto strengthen our efforts to lead well, He applies a biblical framework to the role of leadership in the home, showing how effective shepherding involves knowing, leading, protecting, and providing for your family all the while communicating solid principles with a downtoearth, relatable tone.


Find in this book the wise counsel and practical direction that is sure to make a difference in your family today.
Helpful thoughts and pointers from an experienced man of God, Timothy Witmer, professor of practical theology at Westminster Seminary, is best known for his book sitelinkThe Shepherd Leader: Achieving Effective Shepherding In Your Church.
Its reviews were so good that I nabbed itand put it on my shelf to await that glorious future day when I will actually read books I buy.


But when I saw his new book The Shepherd Leader at Home available for review, I decided to read it immediatelybecause fathering and husbanding are pressing issues for me, a young dad.
I assumed that the book was written to tell pastors I'm something of an outreach pastor, preaching weekly to a group of mostly nonChristians how to handle the unique challenges ministry presents to a growing family.


I was somewhat disappointed when I began to realize that the book was much more general, written for every Christian husband/father.
And, I admit, I was also disappointed when I began to feel I'd heard everything before,

But that's actually the value of the book, In a straightforward style, in admirably short chapters, Witmer explains what the Bible has to say about a man's responsibility toward his wife and children.
Nearly every paragraph had something to tell me about my responsibility either directly from Scripture or from the wisdom of an experienced, godly man who has lived Scripture out in his home over the years.


Witmer reminded me that knowing, leading, protecting, and providing for my family is my calling as their shepherd.
If some of the material in the marriage chapter, for example, sounds a bit hackneyed it isn't full of the scintillating insights of a Tim Keller book the counsel is nonetheless valid: date your wife, thank her for taking care of you and the kids, tell her she's pretty, let her complete her sentences to you, don't check your iPad while you're talking to her.


Likewise the fathering chapter: eat dinner together every day, have a family night each week, spend oneonone time with your kids.
There was less Bible in this chapter, though the advice seems selfevidently good,

Likewise the family leadership chapter: a leader is someone who leads followers toward a goal.
A Christian leader is one who helps his followers reach God's goals for them, A Christian leader is also a servant,

Likewise the chapter on the husband's leadership of his wife: women are made in the image of God Jesus himself treated them with a respect alien to His culture and time the Pauline call for wives to submit is not a blanket permission for husbands to coerce their wives, nor is it a command for all women to submit to all men.


I'll tick off the other chapters even more briefly:

The chapter on leading one's children focused on the consistent example which is so necessary to avoid hypocrisy.


The chapter on providing for one's family was basic but included some enriching personal stories and multiple key verses from Scripture.


Th chapter on family devotions had more good, simple advice, One searching question: if someone asked you if you have family devotions could you say yes with a good conscience

The advice to men on sexual purity was

simple, filled with Scripture, and therefore utterly sound.


The chapter on protecting children didn't feel like a pendulum swing away from spanking and into grace nor did it feel legalistic.
It was just standard, middleofthe conservativeevangelicalroad Bible talk about kids, And for once, I think I've come across an acrostic I'll actually use, Witmer's ABCDEFG process for discipline I'll post it up on my blog soon.


The only thing I think I disagreed with in the whole book was his description of marital love as something defined by commitment and independent of circumstances instead I'd rather say that commitment is one of the defining features of my circumstances.
But he did not hang out on this point anywhere near as long as, for example, Tim Keller did in his marriage book.


So my conclusion: this seems to me to be the kind of book that you hand to a fairly new Christian dad.
Or a book to dip into when you need to be reminded about the basics of your calling as a husband and father.
I'm glad I read it, I pray for God's grace to live up to the biblical vision it sets, There are some books that you just need from time to time, This is one of them, A book written simply to get to the heart of the matter: Leading your family well, Being a father of four isnt an easy task, let alone finding time to read! But the author of this book is a seasoned man in his empty nester years reminding us younger men of the necessity of man to know, lead, protect, provide for his family, the four tennets of our family ministry.
I found that as I read and dig in the words of this book, the more that I noticed blindspots in my own shepherding at home.
I think every young parent, young husband, or any man in any season of life should read this book to construct or rehearse a solid understaning of what God expects of man to believe and do to shepherd his wife and kids.
.