Called to Stay

Everyone told David Smith he was pastoring a "small church." They were wrong. He was pastoring an average-sized church in an extraordinarily small town -- population 709.

Called to Stay is the book David Smith wishes someone had handed him before he and his wife, Tracy, loaded a moving truck for Nucla, Colorado. Drawn from twelve years of ministry in a "micro-town" -- a community of fewer than 800 people -- this book names a reality that seminary never prepared him for: rural ministry and micro-town ministry are not the same thing, and the difference will make or break a pastor.

With disarming honesty, Smith walks through the four hardest, most necessary lessons he learned: why a pastor's marriage is his first ministry, why patience outperforms ambition, why showing up matters more than showing off, and why saying no might be the most spiritual thing a pastor ever does.

Woven with real stories -- a search-and-rescue helicopter, a parsonage potluck gone sideways, a seven-year "itch" that nearly ended it all -- Called to Stay is equal parts memoir, field guide, and love letter to the forgotten places God still calls people to.

If you're serving, or discerning a call to, a church the world has overlooked, this book will remind you: faithfulness in forgotten places is never wasted.

Open the first chapter and see why staying might be the boldest thing you ever do.