Like Stepping Into a Canoe

“If you are a student graduating from seminary . . . you need a companion. I have one to suggest. Take Bill Kincaid along with you! Read this book and keep it close at hand. Share and discuss it with your friends, colleagues, and mentors. Kincaid will help you cultivate the curiosity, clarity, agility, proximity, and temerity it takes to flourish in ministry. He is a wise and generous guide.”


—Craig Dykstra, Duke Divinity School





“In a previous era, pastors could afford to put off bold leadership moves in their congregations until several years into their calls. Today, though, things move more quickly. . . . For recent graduates who find this prospect both exciting and daunting, William Kincaid is a wise and humane guide. This book will inspire faithful courage for new pastors as well as those undergoing significant transition in their ministries at any stage.”


—Robert Saler, Center for Pastoral Excellence at CTS





“Bill Kincaid offers a wise and insightful guide for new pastors as they transition from seminary into their ministries. This book is a delightful, dynamic combination of savvy analysis, poetic prose, fresh theological connections, rich metaphors, and vital narratives that unpack the importance and nuances of ‘nimbleness’ in ministry. . . . I intend to give this book to every young pastor with whom I serve.”


—Kim Gage Ryan, Bethany Fellows and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Pastor





“Bill Kincaid brilliantly targets a pivotal time in the life of all new clergy that is often overlooked—the time immediately after seminary graduation when the student becomes clergy. Kincaid offers wisdom in this ‘threshold’ that is very timely. Our world needs theologically reflective leaders with keen self-awareness and deep spiritual wells.”


—Isabel N. Docampo, Perkins School of Theology/SMU





“Had this book been written twenty years ago, it would have saved my colleagues and me many inelegant overturned canoes, but now that is written, every seminary graduate would be wise to read and internalize it when the time comes to approach the water’s edge and step boldly into the wondrously buoyant beautiful call of parish ministry.”


—Libby Davis Manning, Wabash Pastoral Leadership Program