Next Wednesday, Mars Hill Ballard will host Church Planter: The 2010 Acts 29 National Boot Camp. This will be the biggest church planting event we’ve ever done, and quite frankly, we're pretty excited about it. (You can register for the event here.) The event will also be the launch of Pastor Darrin Patrick’s new book, Church Planter: The Man, the Message, the Mission, which will provide the framework for the conference. Pastor Darrin is an Acts 29 vice president and lead pastor of The Journey, a church he planted in 2002 in St. Louis. From the book's summary on Amazon:

Much of what is written about church planting aims at methodology and strategy for facing such challenges, but specific strategies do not apply to every context. What lies deeper, at the heart of every church plant?

The most critical human component of every church plant is the planter.

Darrin Patrick, vice president of the Acts 29 Church Planting Network, looks at what Scripture teaches about this man’s character, his teaching, and the aim of his church. Offering guidance and wisdom from years of experience, Patrick reminds us that ultimately no church will succeed apart from a man with a message who leads a church on a mission.

This book is for every Christian leader.

Church Planter is an essential resource for those considering planting a church or already in such a plant, and maybe even more important for those leading an established church.  It has wide-ranging application for elders and leadership teams seeking to better understand how the gospel must take root in their church. Avoiding an over-emphasis on particular models or methods, Patrick lays out biblical principles and sound wisdom as he urges the church to return to biblical criteria for determining the man, the message, and the mission God uses to build his church.

Read a sampling of the reviews from Christian leaders across the country after the jump:

"This is a great new book on church planting that balances the personal spiritual issues with the theological, cultural, and technical. Church planters should all read this." Tim Keller, Senior Pastor, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York City "This book is a weapon. Church Planter is one of the more important pieces of equipment that a church planter (or a man aspiring to any level of church leadership) can own. Darrin Patrick writes out of biblical conviction and proven experience, not preference or pragmatics. I trust Darrin. I trust what he's written here. I hope this book is placed in the hands of men all over the world." Justin Buzzard, Pastor, Central Peninsula Church, San Francisco Bay Area; author, BuzzardBlog.com "I like being pushed, and Darrin Patrick is a careful thinker and a hard-working pastor. Here he has written a clear, carefully considered, well-illustrated introduction to the pastor and his ministry. In reading it, I've been challenged, provoked and encouraged. I disagree with some things, like Darrin's correlation between the resurrection of Christ and the transformation of cities, but this book has been exciting and helpful and I appreciate a great deal. I happily commend this book to you, and pray that God will use it to help establish churches that take the gospel of Christ to the end of the world." Mark Dever, Pastor, Capitol Hill Baptist Church, Washington D.C.; President, 9Marks

For more information about the conference, visit the Acts 29 site.