Recent Books by Tom Bandy

Books by Tom Bandy

Introducing the Uncommon Lectionary: Opening the Bible for Seekers and Disciples

Abingdon Press, 2006

Tom Bandy guides worship designers to develop a seamless “Sunday Morning Experience” that generate significant conversations between seekers and disciples. Worship teams develop two distinct annual cycles for preaching, teaching, and worship. (Note: the cycles are also adapted for use in Australia and New Zealand).

• The Seeker Cycle connects scripture to the contemporary year of public holidays and observances, and the spiritual yearning of ordinary people. 

• The Disciple Cycle takes Christians deep into salvation history, shaping worship thematically around five story-lines that cover the entire Bible.

The Uncommon Lectionary is a strategy to multiply mentors and mentoring for a growing, faithful, mission-driven church.

Christian OptiMystics: Running the Rapids of the Spirit

Abingdon Press, 2006

Here is an intensely personal, profoundly theological study of clergy renewal following moral failure. Written as a dialogue between co-authors Dwayne Ratzlaff and Tom Bandy, the book describes a spiritual journey that explores all the great Christian traditions (holiness, evangelical, social action, contemplative, liturgical, confessional) in the context of personal transformation and growth.

This book is for clergy, personal support groups, and denominational personnel officers who are concerned about moral and theological integrity, leadership stress, and the recovery of true faithfulness.

Talisman: Global Positioning for the Soul

Chalice Press, 2006

This is a book for those who are seeking a profound Christian faith “outside the box” of traditional church. It introduces those who are seriously experimenting with faith to the six experiences of Christ that touch the deepest anxieties of living. Tom Bandy builds on his own experience receiving and giving mentoring to help people cross the boundary from the finite to the infinite. He provides practical coaching for busy people to find spiritual companionships and build spiritual disciplines.

This book is particularly helpful for faithful leaders in social service, health care, and corporate business, and education to develop a Christian lifestyle in the work place.

Why Should I Believe You? Rediscovering Clergy Credibility

Abingdon Press, 2006

Tom Bandy addresses one of most significant issues in the church today: clergy credibility. He helps church leaders and the general publics understand what credibility means in the contemporary world, by exploring apostolic leadership from ancient times. He provides a blueprint … radical, rigorous, and perhaps even dangerous … for the recovery of spiritual leadership in the eyes of a skeptical world.

This book applies the highest standards of accountability to the assessment of church leadership. Using the model of Dante’s Divine Comedy, he traces the fall, renewal, and rise of spiritual leadership for a new reformation. It’s a “must read” for all denominational leaders and anyone concerned about the future of the church.

Spirited Leadership: Empowering People to Do What Matters

Chalice Press 2008

How do you organize a church for bottom-up mission, high trust, and strong accountability? This book offers a true alternative to the tradtional hierarchical and bureaucratic organizations every denomination and established church has borrowed from the 19th century. This book brings the church up to speed with the team-based, entrepreneurial, organizations that are emerging in every other sector of North America. Refoce the church from program management to leadership development ... and unleash the creative energy of volunteers in your church.