Digging Deeper: Three Questions for Pastors and Churches
by Larry Davies
COZIEST MYSTERY BOOKY
The judge's reasoning
Digging Deeper knows exactly what it is and who it is for — and that clarity is its greatest strength. Larry Davies has written a church-study curriculum for pastors and congregations who are tired of stagnation and ready for an honest, scripture-rooted conversation about why. The three-question framework — How bold is your dream? How committed is your team? How firm is your foundation? — is simple enough to remember and flexible enough to apply across a bewildering range of church sizes, from the cowboy church that meets in a barn to the mega-church with the expensive pipe organ.
The genre here is practical Christian formation literature, and Davies executes it with confidence. He moves fluently between personal anecdote (the peanut butter standoff with his son Stephen is genuinely charming and earns its metaphorical weight), field observation (the four thriving churches in Virginia and Atlanta), pastoral testimony (Ron's letter about nearly counting down Sundays to retirement), and Scripture commentary. Each chapter closes with structured discussion questions, action steps, and a "Churches in Action" sidebar — the apparatus a small-group leader actually needs. This is curriculum that has clearly been road-tested in real rooms.
The section on persistent prayer anchors Week 3 with unusual emotional honesty — the wailing-wall joke lands, and the chicken-pecking-the-wrong-button analogy is unexpectedly effective at naming the quiet despair of unanswered prayer without dismissing it. Davies doesn't spiritually gaslight his readers; he sits with the difficulty before offering the path forward. That pastoral instinct is the book's most durable asset.
Judged by Brooke Hayes — Reader-at-Large · Cross-Genre · Emerging Voices
"Every book is the only book for somebody."
Supporting passages
"One day, the reporter asked the man: 'What is it you pray for with such vigor?' The old man thought for a moment and said, 'I pray for health, happiness and peace in my land.' The reporter replied, 'Are you healthy? Are you happy?' 'Not really,' said the man. 'And your homeland is in turmoil. Do you believe your prayers are heard?' The man bowed his head for a moment and then he slowly nodded and replied, 'Sometimes, it's like talking to a wall.'"
Davies uses a self-aware joke to open a genuinely vulnerable pastoral conversation about unanswered prayer — exactly the tonal balance a small-group curriculum needs to invite honest discussion.
"Ron wrote: 'I used to get defensive whenever I was confronted by church leaders. But now I listen, really listen, and from that I draw an understanding of what the issues are and seek ways to resolve the issues... the answers come from the church people themselves and not as an edict from me. This has been the most valuable lesson I learned personally.'"
This extended first-person testimony from a real pastor grounds the book's abstract three-question framework in lived, specific transformation — the kind of concrete case study that gives credibility to practical ministry literature.
"A woman found herself in the middle of a divorce. She had all the emotions of betrayal, shame, loneliness, insecurity, and desperation. She had no family in the area. A neighbor invited her to visit a nearby church... She said, 'I felt the presence of Christ. I have never been so happy. I try every day to show the gift of God's love to all I meet.'"
Brief and unadorned, this vignette typifies Davies's cumulative storytelling strategy — stacking human moments to demonstrate that bold dreams play out one ordinary person at a time.
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