The Leadership Labyrinth

The Leadership Labyrinth: Negotiating the Paradoxes of Ministry by noted pastor and author Judson Edwards is an original and wholly unorthodox book on what it takes to be a pastor in the 21st century. It offers no simple answers, gimmicks, or church growth suggestions. Instead, Edwards, who has been a pastor for over thirty years, says that ministry is paradoxical, irrational and fun! He explores more than twenty paradoxes that every pastor needs to understand. If you’ve grown tired of “self-help” books for pastors, and if you’re skeptical of “techniques” for being an effective leader, this book is for you. It will jar you out of conventional thinking about church leadership and make you glad again to be a pastor.

This is a book I couldn’t stop reading. Judson Edwards understands the challenges of being a pastor. His refreshing, funny and insightful commentary on the paradoxes connected with what we pastors do is right on target!

— Philip Wise
Senior Pastor Second Baptist Church, Lubbock, Texas

Here is a highly readable, insightful book on pastoral ministry that counters much of the common wisdom of pastoral leadership.You can read it in one sitting and go back to it many times for encouragement. Edwards understands the congregation as a system and claims new ground for engaging its challenges in a passionate, human, manageable, and creative way.By recognizing the various paradoxes he describes, one can maintain excitement, integrity and effectiveness as a contemporary church leader.I plan to encourage every student I teach to read it.

— Larry McSwain
Professor of Ethics and Leadership
McAfee School of Theology Mercer University