Jerry Wilkins. New York, New York: Page Publishing, 2014. 115 pp. (Paperback).
Smooth Sailing” is a handbook for pastors, full of practical help in the form of short entries. Author Jerry Wilkins is well equipped to have written the book; he was in ministry himself for 49 years, including 28 years as director of missions for Tuscaloosa Baptist Association.
As the title indicates the book is designed “to help every minister be aware of the mistakes that can be made that cause storms in the ministry.” While not judgmental at all, the book makes it clear that it is sometimes the actions (or inactions) of the pastor himself that allows storms to brew and grow until they can destroy a ministry.
Oh we all know about the big, spectacular moral failures that some ministers experience, but what about the smaller things that can creep up on a minister and catch him by surprise?
Things like using the church credit card, even for legitimate church purposes; being insensitive to people’s physical issues like the need to make a trip to the restroom during the sermon; and stepping into political quicksand also can derail or seriously impair a minister’s work, according to Wilkins.
Two shorter sections at the end of the book describe how the spouse can help or hinder a person’s ministry and those “welcome storms” like church growth, change and ministering to people not like us.
When I first began reading the book I was thinking it would be a good guide for young ministers or those new in the ministry. By the time I had finished, I was thinking every Christian would profit from it.
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