Rooted in Good Soil: Cultivating and Sustaining Authentic Discipleship

"Tri Robinson helps me understand how God's land, our life development, and the Lord's ministry can be integrated. Like Jesus, he tells us stories that change our lives. I loved reading this book!" ―Dr. Joel C. Hunter, senior pastor of Northland, A Church Distributed, Longwood, Florida

"I want to become the 'spiritual horticulturalist' that Rooted in Good Soil describes. Tri's vulnerability and experiences inspire me to more deeply surrender to Jesus. This is the real deal." ―Dave Workman, pastor and author of The Outward-Focused Life

"I have liked and admired Tri Robinson for twenty years. In Rooted in Good Soil, he brings together the keen, curious, and sharp mind of a teacher; the wise experience of a farmer; the warm heart of a disciple; and the expert guidance of a veteran pastor. If you're interested in how followership of Jesus really works, read this simple, enjoyable book." ―Todd Hunter, founder of Churches for the Sake of Others; pastor of Holy Trinity Church, Costa Mesa, California

Tri Robinson is the founding pastor of Vineyard Boise Church. He is the author of Saving God's Green Earth: Rediscovering the Church's Responsibility to Environmental Stewardship and Small Footprint, Big Handprint: How to Live Simply and Love Extravagantly. Tri and his wife, Nancy, manage an eighty-acre farmstead at the base of Timber Butte, about an hour from Boise, Idaho.

After pastoring for twenty-eight years Tri Robinson came to the realization that people are robbed of an authentic Christian life due to the pursuit of empty promises from the world. Taking a deeper look at Jesus's parable of the sower, Robinson discovered that the authentic work of faith happens as people become rooted in good soil.

Both a pastor and a farmer, Robinson offers a compelling exploration of Jesus's parable, showing how the natural world is a rich source of wisdom for our spiritual lives. Pastoral scenes of agriculture blend with gut-wrenching stories from real life as Robinson shows readers how to cultivate a deep and lasting faith. In a culture that seems enamored with quick fixes and superficial amusements, Rooted in Good Soil gives readers a more authentic and fulfilling way to live.

Publishers Weekly

Don’t scoff at the idea of a pastor who is also a farmer writing about Jesus’ parable of the sower. Robinson is the real deal—a farmer who lived off the land for two decades, raising children with his wife and without electricity. He is also founding pastor of Vineyard Boise Church and author of several books, including Saving God’s Green Earth: Rediscovering the Church’s Responsibility to Environmental Stewardship. The book resonates with the injunction to live simply so others can simply live and has a profound simplicity of message and tone. Sometimes focus is lacking; many specific details of people and places are interesting—young lovers in a cabin—but other details belong in memoir, which the book doesn’t claim to be; they bog down the exposition. In the end, the book redeems itself by its humility and raw edge—“Notice me,” the author confesses as a young man. In a gently admonitory tone the author offers a radical call to all believers to join in the harvest of a healthy crop of followers in the fields of the Lord. (May)

Tri Robinson is the founding pastor of the Vineyard Boise Church and author of Saving God's Green Earth: Rediscovering the Church's Responsibility to Environmental Stewardship and Small Footprint, Big Handprint: How to Live Simply and Love Extravagantly. Tri and his wife, Nancy, manage an eighty-acre farmstead at the base of Timber Butte, about an hour from Boise, Idaho.