The lessons in, Christian Outdoor Leadership, are timely and universal. Ashley uncovers and examines in detail absolute truths that apply equally as well in the boardroom as they do in the great outdoors. If you are in a business leadership position you need this book to survive everyday in the wilderness of American business where everything (including morals) gets tested each day. Teams bond in the wilderness just like they do when they face daunting challenges in the office. I highly recommend this book. Reading it will equip you to survive in the many wildernesses we encounter.

–HAL MASSEY, Former Vice President, Hewlett-Packard Integrity Hardware Business

Thanks Hal for your hearty support for Ashley’s new book!

Thanks for following:

Facebook page for Christian Outdoor Leadership (Click “Like” on the top of the facebook page and you’ll get more regular, brief, updates & resources from Ashley)
Twitter @OUTDOORLEADERS
Web: www.wildernessministry.org
Book & Resources: www.outdoorleaders.com
Blog: “Inklings on Christ and Culture”: www.ashleydenton.org
Blog: “Christian Outdoor Leadership”: http://bit.ly/gJn2Uy/

Christian Outdoor Leadership was inspirational! This book made my top ten list after only a few minutes into it. If you’ve ever been on a hike that involved heart-to-heart talks between hikers as they traversed along a day’s trail, then reading this book is a lot like walking behind Dr. Ashley Denton and listening to him integrate the beauty and power of the backcountry with the joy and challenge of following Christ in today’s world. I loved the way he keeps pointing the reader to Jesus and how Jesus used outdoor experiences to speak truths to hungry souls. Whether you’re in ministry as a Christian leader or just drawn to outdoor experiences that bring you closer to God, this book is foundational. You can read it from cover to cover, or browse the table of contents and pick your way through to your heart’s content. I will always have a copy of this book in my library and recommend it without hesitation.

-Scott (posted on Amazon.com’s book reviews of Christian Outdoor Leadership: Theology, Theory, and Practice)

Here are a few other ways you can get involved:

1)  Follow Dr. Denton’s Outdoor Leadership & Wilderness Ministry Blog and Twitter @OUTDOORLEADERS

2)  Become a fan along with hundred’s of others on the Christian Outdoor Leadership Facebook Page!

3)  Check out the Free Online Resources on the book’s website…

Thanks again for being a fan!

Sincerely,

Smooth Stone Publishing Team

Christian minister highlights importance of teaching in nature

“Christian Outdoor Leadership” by Ashley Denton, D. Min., shows Christians how to follow a rhythm of work and retreat in the beauty of nature

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – While most people today yearn to be freed from the chaotic pace of modern life, their busy lives do not make this possible. Written for the busy Christian, Ashley Denton’s “Christian Outdoor Leadership: Theology, Theory, and Practices” (ISBN 0615413250) advises how to find peace and productivity by imitating Jesus Christ’s rhythm of work and retreat.

As hectic as the world seems today, first century Palestine and its citizens faced distractions and burdens of prosperity, poverty and false religions that were just as troubling, says Denton. As Jesus looked into the culture of His day, He decided on a strategy to change the world after choosing a young group of disciples. He began using the wilderness as His primary classroom, and knew that people needed time in the outdoors to rest mentally and physically. Jesus’ teachings, coupled with the wilderness, helped His disciples disconnect from worldly entanglements that choked their faith.

As a minister, Denton applies the principles of Robert Coleman’s “Master Plan of Evangelism” to his teachings. The revolutionary idea of patterning ministry after the way Jesus  did it is incredibly simple, yet deeply profound asserts the author. By equipping a few people through Christ, a ministry can multiply.

“This book expands on Coleman’s chapter on Demonstration to highlight in detail the significance of the outdoors, in which Jesus conducted much of His ministry training,” Denton said. “Jesus used His creation as the backdrop for His teachings. I view nature as His primary classroom.”

It is critical in our increasingly urban world to have opportunities to encounter Jesus through wilderness experiences, says Denton. His book aims to help readers rediscover the ancient discipleship method which produced leaders such as Noah, Moses and Paul.

“Christian Outdoor Leadership: Theology, Theory, and Practice” is available for sale online at Amazon.com and other channels.

About the Author:

Backpacking in New Zealand

Ashley Denton, D. Min., is currently the director of Wilderness Ministry Institute, which encourages indigenous leaders in some 20 nations to introduce young people to Christ through youth ministry and outdoor adventure. He also serves as a professor of outdoor leadership at Denver Theological Seminary.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Ashley Denton

Phone: (970) 672-4355

Website: www.outdoorleaders.com

REVIEW COPIES AND INTERVIEWS AVAILABLE

Ashley Denton carefully builds a prominent cairn for practitioners in the field of Christian outdoor leadership and wilderness ministry by expertly pointing new and experienced adventure ministers to the ancient model of how Jesus used the wilderness for outreach and discipleship. This book is refreshing and impressive.

–MATT ISMERT
Director, Young Life’s Wilderness Ranch

“In Christian Outdoor Leadership, Ashley Denton achieves a coup d’etat by surprising even seasoned readers of the New Testament about how much of Jesus’ teaching and discipleship takes place outdoors.  We all have seen the amazing results of organizations like Outward Bound, but Denton takes it a step farther by demonstrating the theological basis for outdoor ministry and mentoring.  If you are looking for an alternative to the inwardly focused, self-referential spiral of today’s hedonistic spirituality, then go no farther.  Christian Outdoor Leadership calls an ‘inward’ and ‘indoor’ generation back out into the great outdoors – and reminds us that this is God’s world and it is still his favorite workshop!”

Timothy C. Tennent, Ph.D.
President
Professor of World Christianity
Asbury Theological Seminary

When Jesus taught His disciples He did so in real settings that were in a constant state of flux. From what we can tell, His stories and illustrations were not usually contrived to just make a point, but rather He crafted His teaching to sow seeds of life into people’s hearts in the context of a real experience the audience was either currently experiencing, or had recently experienced. Their frame of reference was genuine and fresh.

I am particularly fascinated with how often Jesus took His disciples on journeys in order to facilitate teachable moments from situations that occurred. He taught along roads, in fields, in boats, in the Temple court, and while resting in gardens. I believe that if you look at the setting of His teaching and try to discern the impact of the experiential aspect of the learning process, you might discover fresher ways to reach the hearts of people today.”

Excerpt from Ashley Denton’s book, Christian Outdoor Leadership:  Theology, Theory, and Practice.

Finally, wind-whipped and facing the darkness, Jesus stood up, re-tightened his sandals for the descent to the water’s edge.  Climbing down was a relief.  He knew His friends would soon be released from the painful predicament they had been coping with.  Sand sinking and oozing between His toes, He walked into the foaming waves.  Then with only a thought, He stepped up onto the shimmering glaze of the waves and strolled the rest of the way out to the boat. Standing atop the very waves that threatened to capsize this little boat full of terrified men, He pretended to walk by them as they fought against their perishing.  One of them saw a shadow and screamed, “It’s a ghost…’ and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: ‘Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid (Matt. 14:26-27).”

God used the wilderness of this wild water to strip away facades and reveal the core of who they really were.  These men were in great need of faith.  Their foggy human-sightedness was getting in the way.  Now from the stress of the adventure Jesus had them in the palm of His hand.  He came out to them like a potter to His wheel.   God is about shaping His disciples into vessels for a noble purpose.  Like sheep that tremble when the shepherd holds them tight to shear their wool… God uses the wilderness and all of its adventure and fearful circumstances to still us into faith and trust.  Jesus loved them enough to wait on the mountain long enough for them to reach a point of desperation.  Then he came to their rescue, and their formidable faithlessness met its match… the loving face and embrace of their Master who has all authority over all creation.”

Excerpt from Ashley Denton’s book, Christian Outdoor Leadership: Theology, Theory, and Practice.

Everyone knows that young men and women imbued with the Spirit of Christ embody the hope of the world.  Yet the question remains: how do you reach them?

Ashley Denton in this landmark volume turns to Jesus for some answers.  What soon arrests attention is the priority given to the training of a few chosen disciples.  While Jesus does not ignore the multitudes—crowds sometimes numbering into the thousands—clearly he concentrates upon developing the potential of his closest companions.  For the better part of those years he pours his life into them, then before returning to heaven, he tells them to go into the world and replicate in their lives what they had learned with him:  “Make disciples,” make Christ followers who will disciple others, teaching them to do the same, until through multiplication the nations will hear the Gospel (Matthew 28:19).

One of the obvious ways to pursue this mission, especially appealing to youth, is working out-of-doors, a terrain where Jesus often ministered.  Alert to this example, Dr. Denton has set out to capture that dynamic.  Away from the confines of traditional centers of instruction, the wilderness becomes his sanctuary and classroom.  He unpacks a comprehensive vision for Christian camping that builds relationships through trust and encourages strong commitment to Jesus.  It is experiential learning all the way, full of adventure and challenge.  The book is also replete with resources for life-style teaching and leadership development in the way of Christ.

Giving the presentation a ring of authenticity is the author’s own experience in this work. He speaks, not as a bystander, but as a practitioner.  For more than twenty years, discipling young people in the world has been his ministry, and what he writes has been forged on that anvil.  We can learn from such a teacher.

This is a refreshing study.  It is relevant.  It is spiritually motivating.  One looking for some new ways to fulfill the Great Commission will find it here.  With joy, I commend it to you.

Dr. Robert E. Coleman

Read what reviewers are already saying about this must read for Christian leaders:

In Christian Outdoor Leadership, Ashley Denton achieves a coup d’etat by surprising even seasoned readers of the New Testament about how much of Jesus’ teaching and discipleship takes place outdoors.  We all have seen the amazing results of organizations like Outward Bound, but Denton takes it a step farther by demonstrating the theological basis for outdoor ministry and mentoring.  If you are looking for an alternative to the inwardly focused, self-referential spiral of today’s hedonistic spirituality, then go no farther.  Christian Outdoor Leadership calls an ‘inward’ and ‘indoor’ generation back out into the great outdoors – and reminds us that this is God’s world and it is still his favorite workshop!

Timothy C. Tennent, Ph.D. (author of Christianity at the Religious Roundtable: Evangelicalism in Conversation with Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam)
President
Professor of World Christianity
Asbury Theological Seminary

Ashley’s years of experience in youth ministry and wilderness adventures set the stage for this journey through the Scriptures in search of a theology of wilderness ministry. For many of us who are involved in leading wilderness expeditions, this book fills a long standing gap in the literature of our field by providing a Scriptural basis for the significance of the wilderness environment as a ministry platform. In this, Ashley Denton has given us a great gift.

Amy Smallwood
Assistant Professor of Outdoor Leadership, Simpson University
President, Christian Adventure Association