Near the Vine: A shepherd's eight-week devotional on abiding

By: Randy Sedlacek

You cannot lead anyone to a vine you are not attached to.

Shepherds are the last to be shepherded. You prepare the meal and eat standing up. You carry other people's questions and leave your own unopened. It works for a while - until you notice you are producing ministry without receiving anything.

Jesus said it to men who would soon be responsible for a flock of their own: apart from me you can do nothing. Not a warning about fruitfulness. A statement about supply.

Near the Vine is eight weeks for the person who feeds others.

The same passage and the same eight movements as the believer's edition, read from the other side of the pulpit: what abiding asks of someone responsible for a flock, and what happens to a flock whose shepherd has quietly stopped abiding. Each day brings a short reading, a passage to sit in rather than skim, and one question worth carrying into the week's meetings and conversations.

This is for you if

you are an elder, deacon, or pastor who has not been pastored in yearsyou can teach abiding more easily than you can practice ityour own reading has quietly become preparation for someone elseyou are tending people who cannot remember the last time someone tended them

It does not offer a better ministry method. It asks the prior question: whether the one doing the feeding is being fed.

Near the Vine is published in two editions, sharing the same passage and the same eight movements. This is the shepherd's edition. A believer's edition - for anyone who has worked harder at the Christian life than they have rested in Christ - is also available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0970190182
• ISBN13: 9780970190185
• Release Date: September 2026
• Publisher: Wounded Shepherd
• Length: 212 Pages
• Dimensions: 7.0" x 0.5" x 5.0"