David W. Henderson

David W. Henderson is married to Sharon Joy, a woman whose middle name beautifully captures her heart. They delight in their four children, all in their twenties. Home is in West Lafayette, Indiana, where he serves as senior pastor of Covenant Church, part of the EPC denomination.

Before attending Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he received both his Masters of Divinity and his Doctor of Ministry degrees, David studied marketing and management at Miami University and then worked in Brand Management with Procter and Gamble. An atheist until his twenties, he became a follower of Christ during his senior year in college.

David’s interests are wide, and include photography, poetry, rocks, books, and the outdoors. He has been known to climb onto his roof to watch a sunset, jump out of an airplane with his daughter, or canoe down the Wildcat Creek in a snow storm. He is a particular fan of George Herbert, a British pastor from the 1600s whose poems have shaped his soul.

About his books David writes . . .

About Tranquility

“Tranquility: Cultivating a Quiet Soul in a Busy World is on the themes of hurry, busyness, and the many ways time plays into the Christian life. The title is borrowed from a line in Ecclesiastes that shapes the structure of the book: "Better one handful with tranquility, than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind" (Ecclesiastes 4:6). Written over a twenty-year period, Tranquility reflects the ways God both humbled and encouraged me in my own efforts to navigate through time.

“The first part of the book explores the two-handful dynamics, both internal and external, that propel us into busyness and hurry. This includes an exploration of the way we became a clock-dominated society in the first place. Then the second and longer part of the book explores the framework the Scriptures provide for how we are to view and live within time: understanding the times, making the most of the time, and trusting God with the rest. The goal is to equip the reader to live artful and faithful lives within the bustling current of our time-bent culture . . . and within time itself.

“Most of us find ourselves caught in the busyness trap, which boils down to trying to fit an infinite number of things into a finite amount of time. One of the things that makes Tranquility somewhat unique is that it seeks to frame in a way of thinking about time that begins not with cultural assumptions but with Biblical texts. It uncovers and highlights the spiritual structure of time as part of the organizing fabric of the world God created. It then bridges from the reflective to the practical, gathering together various Biblical clues that guide us concerning how life should be lived within time’s currents, equipping us not only to think critically and biblically about time but also to live faithfully within it.

“The book melds cultural critique, Biblical reflection, and practical application, drawing on everything from The Avengers to Augustine. Sprinkled with plentiful personal examples and honest journal entries, and strewn with pithy quotes and spatterings of insight from poetry, nature, literature, film, and history, the book is designed to lead the reader into an altogether new way of thinking about time and negotiating its currents.”

About Culture Shift

“The preeminent project of the book is this: Jesus tells us to go to the world and speak the good news of the Kingdom, but dramatic shifts in the fabric of Western culture have nudged the world out of reach of our words. The gospel is unchanging, but our culture never stops changing. How do we connect unchanging Word with ever-changing culture? It is up to us to meet the world where it is - not where it used to be. This book explains where the world has drifted, and how to meet it there.”

“Culture Shift is both an interpretive survey of our culture today and a practical handbook for communicating Biblical truth (specifically, preaching and sharing faith) within that culture. It digs deeply into the major shaping influences of the world around us, but does so in a conversational, non-technical style. The book is chock-full of engaging real-life examples. It also draws on resources as diverse as bumperstickers, the movie Back to the Future, the novel Brothers Karamozov, and the rock band Bad Religion.”

“The book has seven sections. In the first I wrestle with the challenge of interpreting and applying Scripture in general. When the culture is changing, how much can (and should) our message change as well? Then in each of the remaining six sections I take up what I see as the six primary factors shaping how we have come to understand ourselves (we are consumers, spectators, and individualists) and to understand reality (secularism, moral relativism, postmodernism). In each of these sections I explore how our culture has shifted to where we find ourselves today, and then share practical suggestions about how we can join changing world and unchanging word.”