FROM SMALL ACORNS
Fifty years ago in a small Sunday School class in Carluke Baptist Church, a man called Ian planted a seed. Ian was my Sunday School teacher. The seed he faithfully planted, like a small acorn, took root and began to grow.
Fast forward fifty years, and just a few weeks ago it was a humbling and emotional moment to visit Ian in his care home in Carluke and give him a copy of my aptly titled new book, ‘From Small Acorns’. It’s a book I’ve written on the hugely relevant and challenging theme for us all of ‘investing in young and emerging leaders’.
‘From Small Acorns’ I’ve dedicated to Ian, for the seed which he planted, is a seed which grew in the years that followed. Two others, along with myself, have reason to be grateful for the seed, those small acorns, Ian so faithfully sowed.
But why write a book on the theme of investing in young and emerging leaders? Put simply, it’s because investing in the next generation is not only Biblical, but also because without investment in, and discipleship of, our young and emerging leaders now, our churches and our Union will be the poorer tomorrow.
What I’ve written in ‘From Small Acorns’ has been filtered through the prism of experience of youth work and my observation of church life in its different facets over many years. In my book, I’ve attempted to bring something of God’s big heart for the pressing leadership needs of the church, for how we prepare for that today, and to invite leaders to own the biblical truth that disciples make disciples and that some of them are tomorrow’s leaders. 
I’ve also written not just about the problems church leaders face, but have endeavoured to offer pragmatic solutions with encouragement on how best we might invest in, empower and release future, and younger, leaders.
‘From Small Acorns’ has been written as a helpful guide for any type of leader within your local church (pastor, elder, deacon, youth leader) and as humbly as I know how, can I urge and encourage you to invest in a copy?
Written from my heart, and in my own alliterative style, we unpack in ten chapters with these headings, the themes of Personal Passion, Vibrant Vision, Lasting Legacy, Relational Releasers, Decisive Discipleship, Emerging Essentials, Facing Facts, Church Challenge, Mentoring Models and Sowing Seeds.
If you’d like to purchase a copy of ‘From Small Acorns’, priced at £12 plus £3 postage & packing, then please email me at glenpcartwright@gmail.com
Ian sowed the seed in my life. In what young and emerging leaders lives might you plant those small acorns?
By Glen Cartwright
Newton Mearns Baptist Church
