best selling author
What the World Needs Now
Redefine leadership and character.
Discover a path to a more connected and meaningful life with What the World Needs Now. Written by Clay Stauffer, a seasoned pastor, professor, husband, and father, this book explores moral leadership, character, and values that transcend generational and cultural divides.
With 30 concise chapters covering topics such as love, hope, diversity, and joy, Stauffer invites you to reflect on how we can improve our relationships, reshape culture, and build a sustainable future for generations to come. Blending Christian wisdom with universally accessible principles, the book illuminates the importance of virtues, emotional intelligence, and spiritual growth.
What the World Needs Now inspires readers from all walks of life to embody values of decency, civility, and mutual respect.
best selling author
What the World Needs Now
Redefine leadership and character.
Discover a path to a more connected and meaningful life with What the World Needs Now. Written by Clay Stauffer, a seasoned pastor, professor, husband, and father, this book explores moral leadership, character, and values that transcend generational and cultural divides.
With 30 concise chapters covering topics such as love, hope, diversity, and joy, Stauffer invites you to reflect on how we can improve our relationships, reshape culture, and build a sustainable future for generations to come. Blending Christian wisdom with universally accessible principles, the book illuminates the importance of virtues, emotional intelligence, and spiritual growth.
What the World Needs Now inspires readers from all walks of life to embody values of decency, civility, and mutual respect.
Clay Stauffer
Author
About
Clay Stauffer is the Senior Minister of Woodmont Christian Church in Nashville, Tennessee, and teaches moral leadership at Vanderbilt University. He earned a Bachelor’s degree from Texas Christian University (2002), a Master of Divinity from Princeton Seminary (2005), and a Doctor of Ministry from the University of the South at Sewanee (2015). His doctoral work explored the intersection of faith and politics and the growing polarization within American culture. Known for his preaching and leadership ability, Clay is a community leader in Nashville and serves on many nonprofit boards. He is a regular columnist for The Tennessean Newspaper, writing articles about faith, values, spirituality, and culture. Clay is married to Megan, and together they have three children.
My Books
This book addresses the deeper issues that matter most in life: faith, wisdom, values, spirituality, relationships, connection, and self-reflection. As our world becomes more and more secular, people remain restless and hungry to discuss these important topics. What does it mean to grow spiritually? What does it mean to do meaningful soul work? What are the values and priorities that should matter most? What type of culture will our children and grandchildren inherit? Here are a few insights that I believe to be true.
-All human beings long for meaning and deeper purpose in their lives.
-Jesus Christ continues to speak to and challenge our culture.
-Issues of character and integrity are very important.
-Growth in the spiritual life has become much more challenging in this busy age of technology, multi- tasking, and over-commitment.
Religion, politics, and money. Three things you’re never supposed to discuss in polite company. But what if you’re a pastor? Forget red state/blue state divisions, what happens when your church members disagree about politics? In this age of prosperity preaching, how do you preach, “You cannot serve God and money?” Clay Stauffer addresses the challenges that preachers face when serving a politically diverse congregation in Preaching Politics. Money, materialism, and their effects on modern-day faith and spirituality are viewed through the teachings of Jesus, as well as the work of Methodist minister Adam Hamilton and Duke University ethicist Stanley Hauerwas.
Posts from Clay
Chaos, Unrest, & Race Relations
The tragic murder of George Floyd on Memorial Day while in the custody of Minneapolis police officers set off a firestorm in this country. Truth be told, this storm was already brewing and Floyd’s death blew the lid off. The protests that we are now witnessing...
Returning to the Sanctuary
The Woodmont Board met on Monday night, June 8, and approved a 2020-21 operating budget that is now being presented to the congregation. The details are in this Inspire. The budget is essentially a flat budget from this current fiscal year. There will be a...
Pain In Our Country
On Memorial Day, May 25, an unarmed African American man named George Floyd was taken into police custody in Minneapolis, MN. We have all now seen the horrific video footage of the officer who did not remove his knee from Floyd’s neck for over eight minutes, causing...
Spiritual Wisdom for the Class of 2020
In my undergraduate class this past fall at Vanderbilt, I had a number of ambitious seniors who were all looking forward to graduation, law school, moving to larger cities and entering what was then a red hot job market. Times have drastically changed, and they have...
How Coronavirus Will Continue to Impact Christianity
Last week, I found myself on an evening Zoom call with our church’s Board of Directors talking about how to safely allow people to return to the church building for worship in the coming weeks. As many faith leaders have already figured out, this is a very complicated...
Drive-in services 9:30 & 10:45 A.M. this Sunday
What a few days this has been in Nashville with the storms Sunday and Monday nights on top of ongoing COVID-19 challenges. Many of our church members still do not have power. On Monday night May 4th, the Woodmont Board met via Zoom to talk about how we can slowly...
Holding Steady During Quarantine
Considerable research has gone into providing charts, graphs, and diagrams of how we can “flatten the curve,” keep hospitals from being overloaded and prevent a health care catastrophe in our community. All of this has been very necessary, valuable, and appreciated....
A Virtual Holy Week
There is a tendency in our culture to skip directly from the celebration of Palm Sunday to the celebration of Easter. Actually, let’s be completely honest: there is a tendency on the part of many to simply celebrate Christmas and Easter and that’s all. High Holy days...
Morality, Ethics, & the Common Good During COVID-19
What if a time traveler suddenly approached you ten years ago and predicted the following: “I can't explain, but 2020 is going to be crazy. Donald Trump, the Apprentice guy, will be the President of the United States. Once he is in office, he will fly around the...