New Book Released in the USA

December 15, 2024 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

I am very pleased to announce that my new book, The New Birth, has now also been released in the USA.

If you would like a copy of the book and will see me in person during January/February, please ask. (I will be in Oregon, St Louis and Chicago.) To order the book from my affiliate link in the USA – click here. (To order the book from my affiliate link in the UK/Europe – click here.)

Thanks so much! I hope you enjoy the book! (Please comment on this post if you’ve read the book already, but I would also greatly appreciate any positive reviews on 10ofthose, Amazon, GoodReads, etc.)

Endorsements

“Peter Mead presents this essential doctrine in a way that warm, clear, rich, and readable. The book is accessible and engaging, and the addition of stories and reflection questions at the end of each chapter enables us to consider and imagine the way that the truth of the gospel can and should shape our lives. This is a lovely and helpful book—a great introduction to those new to or exploring faith, and a refreshing encouragement to those who have been Christians for a while.”

Ellidh Cook, Student Worker at All Souls Langham Place, London

“This tiny book conveys a huge reality: that Jesus came to raise spiritually dead people into abundant life! Peter Mead’s insights into the new birth that Jesus offers are both pastorally wise and profoundly helpful.”

Philip Miller, Senior Pastor, The Moody Church, Chicago

“When I became a Christian, I didn’t really grasp what had happened. It was an infinitely bigger deal than I realised-it was (and is) beyond my wildest dreams. Peter has given us an excellent primer into this huge adventure. This lovely, heart-warming book opens up the foundational truth of the new birth. As with the rest of the Essentials series, it is short and simple, yet full of deep and delightful teaching.”

Jonathan Thomas, pastor, author & broadcaster

“I found Peter Mead’s The New Birth contribution to the Essentials’ series most helpful, because it weaves together our story with the big story of Scripture through the lens of the work of the Holy Spirit. Taking as its anchor point Jesus’ encounter with Nicodemus, it wonderfully explains the theology and the felt experience of Christian conversion, and all along there are thrilling stories of how the Spirit transformed the likes of Spurgeon, Whitefield, C.S. Lewis, and modern men and women.”

Rico Tice, Co-Founder of Christianity Explored

The New Birth – UK Release

September 5, 2024 / Peter Mead / 5 Comments

I am very pleased to announce that my new book, The New Birth, has been released in the UK. (It will be released in the USA next month.) See the links at the bottom of this post if you want to buy it from my affiliate link so that I receive a small amount from the sale (thanks!)

Coincidentally, on the day the book was released, my eldest daughter (whose testimony is in the book) went into labour with our first grandchild! So we enjoyed two new births in less than 24 hours!

If you would like a copy of the book and will see me in person, please ask. To order the book from my affiliate link in the UK/Europe – click here. And to pre-order the book from my affiliate link in the USA – click here.

Endorsements

Ellidh Cook, Student Worker at All Souls Langham Place, London

Philip Miller, Senior Pastor, The Moody Church, Chicago

Jonathan Thomas, pastor, author & broadcaster

Rico Tice, Co-Founder of Christianity Explored

Preacher, What Do You See?

April 28, 2011April 22, 2011 / Peter Mead / 1 Comment

This is an important question. If you can’t see what you’re preaching, then your listeners won’t see it either. That’s true with Bible stories and illustrations and applications and visionary leadership of the church and so on. But most important is not what you see, but who.

C.H.Spurgeon wrote that “We shall never have great preachers until we have great divines.” Yet we live in a busy and very noisy world: a world of phone calls, emails, text messages, emergencies, easy travel, financial complexities, family responsibilities and ministerial intricacies. Not the easiest place to keep the gaze of our souls firmly fixed on our core vision. Our core vision is not a philosophy of ministry, a theological stance or sense of calling. Our core vision is God Himself.

Jesus spoke to a theological giant of his day late one evening – a man who had political clout, theological nous and societal import. He pointed his thoughts back to Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness. People were saved back then by looking at that serpent. No work, no effort, no responsibility, nothing. Just looking. In the same way must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes, has faith (as just defined in the previous sentence), will live. Faith is more about the gaze of our heart and soul than it is about credal affirmations or signatures on doctrinal statements (while recognizing the vital nature of right doctrine).

Now if I can shift from Jesus in John to Paul’s writings for a moment, isn’t the whole Christian life a faith life? We certainly don’t switch into works mode once saved, may it never be! So preacher, how’s your faith? How’s your gaze? Without that constant gaze in the right direction, you may be many things, and you may achieve many things, but you won’t be what Spurgeon called “a divine.”

We have the privilege of being so captivated by the greatness and grace of our Lord that every moment of our lives is lived in the shadow, no the glory, of that vision. A deep awareness of who God is will continue to drive us back to His Word, diligently pursuing more of Him so that we might respond further. This is not about discipline and effort, this is about delight and response. We dive into His Word so that we might see Him more clearly, be captured more fully, and be stirred more deeply. Then we will preach more effectively.

Our preaching should flow from a personal intimacy with God and a personal passion for His Word. That is what our people need.