Books by Rosario Picardo

Rosario Picardo was a recently divorced and slightly jaded ex-Marine when he heeded God's call to plant "a church for broken people." This book chronicles the struggles and triumphs of Embrace Church, from its beginnings in his basement as a rare urban church plant to a multi-campus congregation that reaches hundreds of folks broken by poverty, burned by Christians, and in need of healing grace. By telling his story, Picardo hopes to inform, inspire, and encourage seminary students, future church planters, and any Christian committed to expanding the body of Christ among marginalized people in urban areas. Alongside relevant data and theological insights, Picardo shares the practical lessons he learned, as well as personal journal entries about his internal struggles, in order to offer a comprehensive glimpse into not only the need for new church plants, but the difficulties and opportunities that exist in this sort of ministry.

Ministry Makeover examines the decline within the church, especially the United Methodist Church (UMC), and some causes for this decline. It calls for a reforming of United Methodist structure and polity by drawing more attention to the value of the bi-vocational model of ministry and a re-visitation of the Wesleyan/United Brethren view and historical perspective. This book establishes a solid theological foundation upon which to build this shift and it goes a step beyond typical ecclesiology (the study of the church) to identify Trinitarian theology as the basis for the practice of the church. In turn, this text reveals bi-vocational ministry and support of new congregations as not only a viable option, but also arguably the model towards which the church is heading. These insights will transform the church and lead to more effective church ministry with respect to resources, structure, and reach in a post-Christendom world context. Picardo uses Embrace Church (Lexington, KY) as a case study, and incorporates his experiences into this text in order to show how these implications have played out in a true bi-vocational, church-plant context.

About the Contributor(s):Rosario ""Roz"" Picardo is lead pastor of Embrace Church in Lexington, Kentucky.