REST IN THE STORM, 20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

Reviews

 “This twentieth anniversary edition of Rest in the Storm is a long-overdue, well-thought-out, and masterful work. Dr. Kirk Byron Jones utilizes his life experiences to teach the value of self-care and rest. This work delves into personal spaces while incorporating biblical truths to uplift, refine, and redirect the reader’s journey to a place of refreshment. Dr. Jones provides an exciting change of pace from the standard clinical compositions on self-care, one that wins over the reader with every turn of each page. Each chapter induces provocative exploration into why we do what we do and for whom, with an endless supply of action-driven self-care narratives for clergy and caregivers. The fact that a storm can elicit negative and uncertain reactions simultaneously becomes a source for channeling new positive outlooks on life is genius. I highly recommend this work and add “’It's about time.’”  —Rev. Dr. G. Dianne Lewis, BCC, Federal Endorsed Chaplain, African Methodist Episcopal Church

 “I keep a copy of Rest in the Storm on my study desk and in my ministry toolkit. This resource by Dr. Kirk Byron Jones has often gently guided me ‘to the back of the boat,’ where I have found requisite rest and renewal in turbulent times. I’m grateful for this twentieth anniversary edition. I am giving it to several of my spiritual sons and daughters. Whether they know it now or not, they will be in storms. They will seek rest.” —Rev. Dr. Aidsand F. Wright-Riggins III, Executive Director Emeritus, American Baptist Home Mission Societies

 “For two decades, Rest in the Storm has equipped congregational clergy, chaplains, pastoral educators, and ministry students to face external forces and internal conflicts that dismiss the essential best practice of rest for those who offer care. With 20/20 vision in this unprecedented time, Kirk Byron Jones offers us a twentieth anniversary edition of his prophetic text, integrating contextual concepts and concrete practices. In new chapters and expanded appendices, Dr. Jones summons readers to heed Jesus’ call to rest and to wake up, faithfully deepening our connection with our souls, soul friendships, and soul wisdom. As we answer that call, we may joyfully embrace challenging ministry toward genuine creative change. Attuned to the risks and burdens all caregivers experience in this liminal time, Dr. Jones’ new edition explores how rest, relaxation, and refreshment prepare us for God’s ever newly beginning creative work in us.” —Rev. Greta A. Wagner, ACPE Certified Educator (ret), ABCUSA Ordained Minister and Endorsed Chaplain

 “During this unprecedented time of disruption due to pandemic, economic instability, and racial injustice, pastors have been compelled to learn and exercise new skills while increasing the already massive weight of ministerial leadership and service. These stressful experiences are compounded by the caregiver’s challenges and distress. The social and economic components, along with the loss of loved ones—both family and in the congregation—can be overwhelming, pushing the pastor to an unstable brink of despair in a wilderness of discontent. Dr. Jones’s timely reintroduction of Rest in the Storm is both a practical guide for one’s journey toward mental and physical well-being and an ark of comfort and safety for one’s weary soul.” —Rev. Dr. Lisa D. Jenkins, Senior Pastor, St. Matthew’s Baptist Church of Harlem; Author, 40 Days of Biblical & Cultural Insight into the Black Panther Movie

“With the 20^th Anniversary Edition of Rest in the Storm, Kirk Byron Jones refreshes this essential classic by reminding us of the soul-shaping power of deep, authentic friendship and by urging us to embrace what it means to manifest the Imago Dei through empowering our creative selves. If you read the original edition, I invite you to read it again as if for the very first time. It will bless your life anew. If this is your first reading—I promise you it won’t be your last.” —Phaedra D. Blocker, Founder/Principal, Word&Wisdom, Affiliate Professor in Leadership and Formation, Palmer Theological Seminary

“Rest in the Storm is a seminal work by pastor, scholar, teacher Kirk Byron Jones. He postulates that the violence of overload is a socially acceptable form of brutality and that self-violence and overload are disguised as exemplary commitment when, in fact, they are lethal to self-healing, refreshment, and tending to one’s soul. Dr. Jones provides a way back to freedom—a way back to abiding in the Presence through sabbath engagement, creativity, and an authentic friendship with one’s true self and with others.” —Betty Wright-Riggins, Spiritual Director, Oasis Ministry for Spiritual Development and Spiritual Direction Network at Princeton Theological Seminary

“The hope of the past speaks volumes to our present in this anniversary edition of the seminal work by Rev. Dr. Kirk Byron Jones. Dr. Jones’s theological underpinning is thorough and forged in the experience of humanity infused with divinity. The book’s contents stretch the heart and search the soul, fortifying one’s faith to seek refuge in the ever-present reality of God’s omnipotence and to escalate hope in the midst of despair. In today’s multifaceted crisis of twin pandemics, racism and COVID-19, Dr. Jones introduces us to stormology, a new form of theology and a new way of navigating the storms of our lives. The readers that digest this work will be empowered.” —Paris L. Smith Sr., Pastor, Mount Carmel Baptist Church, D.C.

“Dr. Kirk Byron Jones’s classic book is powerful, insightful, and thought-provoking. His prophetic imagination and metaphorical language ground his readers. He informs us that caregivers—who may be pastor, teacher, social worker, or caregiver to a parent—are never to robe ourselves with the ’salvific savior’ syndrome. Instead, he invites us to find our way to ’the back of the boat’ with Jesus, a biblical analogy for the necessary breaks we need. A well-written book that establishes necessary boundaries and creative encouragement for the spirit of caregivers.”— Rev. Dr. Randy L. Ware, former President, New York Progressive Baptist State Convention, Inc., and Senior Pastor of the Greater Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, NY 

“In this anniversary edition of Rest in the Storm: Self-Care Strategies for Clergy and Other Caregivers, Kirk Byron Jones provides us ’Martha’ types with access to the ’Mary’ within us (Luke 10:38-42). Specifically, his exegesis of Martha and Mary’s conflict with each other and of their encounter with Jesus, opens up new possibilities for Marthas like me. Jones writes that Martha was many different things, not just a one-note housekeeper, but was actually a person who had room for rest in her heart. But she needed to make the transition from being open to rest that lets Jesus in to making Jesus the one thing she prioritized highest.

“The lessons one finds in Rest in the Storm disrupt old caricatures that exhaust ministers. For instance, the stereotype that there are ’deep’ ministers who let others do their work for them and ’worker-bee’ ministers who lack theological depth, cannot survive Jones’ nuanced and generous perspective on self-care. The book itself is both deep and practical—Mary and Martha, together—and a classic.”—Sarah Birmingham Drummond, Founding Dean, Andover Newton Seminary at Yale Divinity School

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