45. Preparing Boys for Heroic Manhood w/Tim Wright

New Kind of Man

Tim has been an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America since April of 1984 when he joined Community Church of Joy, Glendale, AZ, as the associate pastor after graduating from Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. Much of the work Tim did during his 22 years at Joy centered around creating seeker-friendly worship experiences, managing the staff, and overseeing Joy’s Leadership Center.

In 1994, Abingdon released Tim’s first book, A Community of Joy: How to Create Contemporary Worship. The book went on to become a “standard” book in Church Growth Circles on Worship and was even used in some Christian colleges/Seminaries as a recommended text on Contemporary Worship. Other books included Unfinished Evangelism: More Than Getting Them in the Door (Augsburg); a handbook on worship called Contemporary Worship (Abingdon); The Ministry Marathon (Abingdon); and The Prodigal Hugging Church (Augsburg Fortress). Tim has had the opportunity to lead training seminars for pastors and church leaders in Australia, England, Finland, Canada, France, and Germany.

In March of 2005 he left Joy to start a sister congregation of Joy called Community of Grace, in Peoria, AZ. This new church start has enabled him to pursue new ministry opportunities, specifically in the areas of connecting the church’s mission to the wider world, resulting in 3 trips to Rwanda; and in finding new ways to disciple children through adults based on the latest in brain research and theology. That’s when Michael Gurian came into his life!

Tim and Michael Gurian have been working together since 2006 on issues of boys and girls. Together they have created several rites of passage programs and they travel the country presenting a one day seminar called The Helping Boys Thrive Summit.

Tim’s newest books are available on Amazon: Searching For Tom Sawyer: How Parents and Congregations Can Stop the Exodus of Boys from Church; and Sunday Schooling Our Kids out of Church: The True Story of How One Congregation Dropped Sunday School to Save its Soul.

Tim is married to his high-school sweetheart, Jan. They have two children: daughter Alycia, married to Corey, and son Mike, married to Amber, and 5 grandchildren. (www.timwrightministeries.org)

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