Leadership

DEDICATION AND LEADERSHIP

DOUGLAS HYDE  

From the Publisher: On March 14, 1948, Douglas Hyde handed in his resignation as the news editor of the London Daily Worker and wrote “the end” to twenty years of his life as a member of the Communist Party. A week later, in a written statement, Hyde announced that he had renounced Communism and, with his wife and children, was joining the Catholic Church. . .

In Dedication and Leadership, he advances the theory that although the goals and aims of Communism are antithetical to human dignity and the rights of the individual, there is much to be learned from communist methods, cadres and psychological motivation. Hyde describes the Communist mechanics of instilling dedication, the first prerequisite for leadership. Here is the complete rationale of party technique: how to stimulate the willingness to sacrifice; the advisability of making big demands to insure a big response; the inspirational indoctrination; and the subtle conversion methods.

In this small book, so large with implications, Douglas Hyde comments on both Communist and Catholic potential and their lack of maximum effectiveness. He advocates positive Catholic action, not just a negative anti-Communism, and he points out that the guidelines are now down for a decisive choice between total Communism and a total Christianity.

Here is a realistic approach to an acute problem uncolored by emotional propaganda, and here is a realistic answer on how to inspire dedication for leadership.

The JPC 60-Second Review: The setting of this book is Communism. But its subject is leadership, i.e., influence: how to lead people to a cause worth believing in; how to lead them in that cause; how to make them leaders in that cause. Hyde uses Communism as his object lesson because, as a twenty-year insider in the movement, he saw its historic successes and, as a Communist leader, he came to understand how those successes were repeated and maximized again and again around the world. When he joined the Catholic church, he expected to find an organization as committed to, and as well-organized in the same mission of leading people to, leading people in, and making people into leaders, i.e., disciples. What he found instead was more than disappointing. Looking again at the leadership principles and practices he had learned in Communism, he applies them here to the work of the church and wonders at their impact if tried. No, he is not advocating Communism, but many of the leadership training methods of Communists, many of those methods clearly described in Scripture. We have the greatest cause in the world. Isn’t it time to act like it and act on it? A philosophical and practical primer on leadership

STRENGTHENING THE SOUL OF YOUR LEADERSHIP

RUTH HALEY BARTON

From the Publisher:  “I’m tired of helping others enjoy God―I just want to enjoy God for myself.”

With this painful admission, Ruth Haley Barton invites us to an honest exploration of what happens when spiritual leaders lose track of their souls. Weaving together contemporary illustrations with penetrating insight from the life of Moses, Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership explores topics such as

• responding to the dynamics of calling
• facing the loneliness of leadership
• leading from your authentic self
• cultivating spiritual community
• reenvisioning the promised land
• discerning God’s will together

Each chapter includes a spiritual practice to ensure your soul gets the nourishment it needs. Forging and maintaining a life-giving connection with God is the best choice you can make for yourself and for those you lead.

The JPC 60-Second Review:  Strengthening The Soul sets leadership where it belongs:  not in techniques, but the soul.  As the leader focuses his attention on developing his own soul in Christ, he naturally develops his ability to lead others: the Great Good Shepherd leads His people through the one who leads from his soul rather than through directing programs.  Barton not only calls leaders to nurture their own souls, but she gives guidance in just how to do so.  This is a book for those who wish to be pastors who lead rather than leaders who attempt to pastor.  

CREATIVE MINISTRY

HENRI J.M. NOUWEN

From the Publisher: Creative Ministry is a thoughtful examination of the various complex tasks that are part of ministry life.

Separate chapters treat each of the five areas that Nouwen considers the primary responsibilities of the minister: teaching, preaching, counseling, organizing, and celebrating. He shows how these main functions are inextricably tied to the minister’s spiritual life and why they must be directed toward a creative dialogue with other Christians if they are to be rewarding.

It is also essential, he maintains, that the minister leave himself open, take risks, and “lay down his life for his friends” in order to give new life.“There is today a great hunger for a new spirituality,” observes Nouwen, a hunger that requires new and creative forms of ministry. Citing numerous examples from his rich experience, the author offers practical advice for infusing daily pastoral work with meaning. The result is an insightful presentation and a resonant spiritual guide for every man and woman who wants to be of service.

The JPC 60-Second Review: One of the fundamental themes of Journey Pastoral Coaching is wrapped up in two words: Being and Doing. Healthy public ministry for Jesus – doing – is the expression of healthy private ministry in Jesus – being. Doing is the flow of being. Pastoral ministry, in its healthiest and most effective expression is just this.

Nouwen expresses this dynamic flow of being and doing in “Creative Ministry,” even going so far as to show how it is lived out in what he calls the five primary responsibilities of pastoral ministry. Imagine a ministry life free of striving and filled with streams of life. Imagine a ministry life where the burden is light because what you are doing is simply the flow of Christ in and through you. This process is the point of “Creative Ministry.”

The church world is filled with pastoral “flaming rockets,” those professionals obsessed with “success” and numbers who will continue to burn out in ministry, a book on church growth techniques and success methods gripped tightly in their hands as they breathe their last breath. But those who last, those who not only survive, but thrive in a lifetime of healthy and effective ministry are those who focus their energies on doing as a flow of being, in other words, on the principles shared by this widely respected and wise guide, Henri Nouwen. Highly recommended.

THE REMNANT

LARRY STOCKSTILL

From the Publisher: God is issuing a call to bring integrity back to American Christianity. The foundational truths in this book will show the way. In this book Larry Stockstill challenges readers with principles for turning our nation around to integrity and commitment and precluding the judgment of God. There is a new breed of pastors and laypeople who are asking the tough questions: * Where has the glory of God gone in the American church? * When did the simple, pure gospel of the Savior become about “me,” “my,” and “mine”? * What happened to the transparency and integrity that marked the church for centuries? To each reader God is saying, “I want to start with you.” Allow this book to shake you to the core and reorganize your family, your ministry, and your future.

JPC 60-Second Review: Long-time pastor Larry Stockstill speaks to the present cultural free-fall by calling to the leaders of the church of Jesus. The solution for America’s situation, he writes, is not pointing fingers at the world, but at ourselves: the world is broken because pastors are broken, we are not men and women of wholeness – integrity. In the first five chapters, Stockstill writes that the church is broken – unfathered, uncorrected, unfruitful, unhealed and untaught. Leaders should respond to this brokenness, i.e., absence of integrity, by restoring the five-fold gifts, not the positions, but the heart and action of those gift: apostles to father/mentor believers, prophets to correct believers, evangelists to lead in multiplication of believers, pastors to heal believers, and teachers to instruct them. In this way, a broken church can find integrity, wholeness, and so be able to model wholeness to the world. The second and larger portion of the book presents what Stock-still calls The Ten Commandments of Ministry, giving church leaders markers for their personal life that will produce effectiveness (in God’s terms) in ministry. Highly recommended. A great book for mentoring, teaching, coaching young leaders.

SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP

J. OSWALD SANDERS

From the Publisher: The need for talented, vigorous leaders in the church today cannot be overemphasized.  The world situation demands a strong voice from the church, and this can coe only from leaders guided by God and devoted to Jesus Christ.

Sanders writes that spiritual leadership is the blending of natural and spiritual qualities.  He adds that even natural qualities are God-given, and their true effectiveness can only be reached when they are used to the glory of God.

The principles of leadership in both the temporal and spiritual realms are presented and illustrated both from Scripture and from the biographies of eminent men of God – men like Moses, Nehemiah, Paul, Livingston and Spurgeon.

Here is a book written to encourage men and women of God to place all their talents and powers at the disposal of God so He can create leaders to be used for His glory.

The JPC 60-Second Review:  This book is the classic on leadership and for good reason: it identifies the nuclear core elements of what it is to be a spiritual leader, both challenging and encouraging us to live and lead in and from that core. This is meat for leaders. There’s a lot of milky technique books out there that have more currently popular names, but fifty years from now, if Jesus hasn’t returned, this book will still be the standard.

A TALE OF THREE KINGS

GENE EDWARDS

From the Publisher: “What do you do when someone throws a spear at you?”

To the many Christians who have experienced pain, loss, and heartache at the hands of other believers, this compelling tale based on the biblical figures of David, Saul, and Absalom offers comfort, healing, and hope.

Christian leaders and directors of religious movements throughout the world have recommended this simple, powerful, and beautiful story to their members and staff.

You will want to join the thousands who have been profoundly touched by this incomparable story.

The JPC 60-Second Review: One may wonder why this book is found on the Leadership shelf of the JPC library.  Read this simple narrative and you’ll discover why this book is essential – essential – reading for every leader. Every church leader knows the pain of being struck by fellow believers. Most church leaders know the pain of being broken by these attacks. Few church leaders know the power of brokenness in the hands of God when we are attacked. This simple narrative holds keys to set leaders free.

THE CALL

OS GUINNESS

From the Publisher: The Call continues to stand as a classic, reflective work on life’s purpose. Best-selling author Os Guinness goes beyond our surface understanding of God’s call and addresses the fact that God has a specific calling for our individual lives.

Why am I here? What is God’s call in my life? How do I fit God’s call with my own individuality? How should God’s calling affect my career, my plans for the future, my concepts of success? Guinness now helps the reader discover answers to these questions, and more, through a corresponding workbook – perfect for individual or group study. According to Guinness, “No idea short of God’s call can ground and fulfill the truest human desire for purpose and fulfillment.” With tens of thousands of readers to date, The Call is for all who desire a purposeful, intentional life of faith.

The JPC 60-Second Review: Os Guinness is at the front of the list of our favorite authors; any book by him is not only worth reading, but will be sure to become a top shelter. In The Call, Guinness speaks not only to spiritual leaders but to anyone who wants to discover the meaning of his or her life. Your call comes from the God who created you with purpose. This books helps the reader discover that creation and call. Ten out of ten on any scale.

THE (UNADJUSTED) GOSPEL

Mark Dever, J. Ligon Duncan III, R. Albert Mohler Jr., C.J. Mahaney, Thabiti M. Anyabwile, John MacArthur, John Piper, R.C. Sproul

From the Publisher: Responding to the perennial temptation to “tame” the message about Jesus, eight prominent church leaders, including John Piper, John MacArthur, Al Mohler, and R. C. Sproul, challenge Christians to hold fast to the faith by emphasizing the importance of maintaining a pure and unadulterated view of the gospel.

Looking back at the New Testament and the church fathers and forward to the church’s continued mission of faithful biblical preaching and effective cultural engagement, the contributors draw on their extensive ministry experience to offer us a thoughtful plea for safeguarding the message of the gospel in the midst of our pluralistic world.

The JPC 60-Second Review: The (Unadjusted) Gospel represents the plenary session messages brought by leading evangelical theologians to the 2010 Together for the Gospel Conference, a bi-annual gathering of evangelical pastors. TUG is the collective effort of the authors to present an argument, encouragement and path for living and ministering the Gospel together as members of the body of Christ, whatever our church affiliation.

Chapter themes include:

The Church is the Gospel Visible

The Defense and the Confirmation of the Gospel

Trajectories Toward an Adjusted Gospel

How Wrongly “Engaging the Culture” Adjusts the Gospel

Sowing Seed and Sleeping Well

Did Jesus Preach the Gospel of Paul?

Did the Church Fathers Know the Gospel?

Ordinary Pastors.

TUG is a defense of the Gospel in doctrine, in individual discipleship, and in church life. The Gospel is held out as defining message of the church for the church and for the world. As such, it is a message to be continually examined, protected, understood, taught, preserved, preached, applied, defended, conformed to, celebrated, enjoyed, lived in and lived out.

It is clear in our day that the Gospel is not only under attack in American culture, but in many quarters of the American church – even within the Evangelical church. Many in the church of Jesus Christ have become bored with Jesus. This is reflected in the apathy of many in the church toward His Gospel – we are told that we have to find a message that is relevant to us and our world. Many in the church of Jesus Christ have become embarrassed with Jesus Christ. This is reflected in the altering – the adjusting – of the Gospel by many in the church – we are told that Jesus didn’t die to satisfy the wrath of God (“the God we serve isn’t mad at anyone”), but to show us how much God loves us. Etc, etc, etc.

The Gospel must be restored to the primacy given it by Jesus Christ. And it must be preserved in its purity, again, as given to us by Jesus Christ, and explained by the New Testament. It is only as we come to believe the unadjusted Gospel that we will be able to stand one day before the eternal and unadjusting Judge of Heaven and Earth. Highly recommended.

ABOVE THE LINE

URBAN MEYER

From the Publisher: Ohio State’s 2014 season was in many ways Urban Meyer’s master class in leadership. The world knows how the story ended: with the Buckeyes capturing the inaugural College Football Playoff Championship with a 42–20 victory over Oregon, with the team’s third-string quarterback at the helm, in only his third collegiate start. Few remember how it began: with a bad early season loss that sent OSU out of the Top 20, season-ending injuries at the most important position on the team, and then, infinitely worse, the tragic death of a teammate. But this team’s resilience was no accident. In Above the Line, Urban Meyer shares with readers OSU’s groundbreaking game plan—the game plan he followed every day in the Buckeyes’ historic 2014 season—for creating a culture of success that engages and inspires the people around them

A student of psychology long before he became a coach, Meyer believes that trust is the bedrock of great achievements and healthy relationships, and explains how to build it, step by step—whether in a team, a family, or a Fortune 500 company. With trust in place, a deep bond unites us in common purpose, and cultivates what he calls “Above the Line” behavior—a learned, empowered response to the challenges we face every day.

Writing with his customary candor and humility, Meyer delivers insights both practical and profound—and applicable far beyond the football field. Packed with real-life examples from a storied season, Above the Line offers wisdom and inspiration for taking control and turning setbacks into victories.

The JPC 60-Second Review: Let me begin with this disclaimer: Yes, I am an Ohio State fan. No doubt about it. Both of my daughters are alumna, we are proud Buckeye nation members, and we pull hard for the Scarlet and Grey. Guilty on all counts.

But, my review and recommendation of Urban Meyer’s book: Above the Line – Lessons in Leadership and Life From a Championship Season is in no way a reflection of my passion for the Buckeyes. Above the Line is not so much a look at a football team’s BCS championship season as it is a look at how leadership within the team itself took the team there. There’s a lot of leadership principles here for the individual, but where ATL shines is in its focus on team context: leadership is all about team and Coach Meyer writes in clear terms just how leaders can build effective units of leaders who then lead others. So much of what he writes applies very well to your leadership team. You’ll read about building trust through building the three C’s of Character, Competence and Connection. You’ll learn about the importance of response, culture, thought process, and excellence. And yes, it’s all seasoned with a few stories (but not really that many.) This is no tribute to Coach Meyer: he is transparent and brutally honest about himself, and so, he gives every one of us less than perfect leaders great hope that we, too, can build great leadership units that lead their ministries like the overcomer-champions Christ intends for us to be. Christian leader, if you enjoy football, here’s a great way to combine two passions: ministry and football. Here’s your opportunity to capture again what you’re fighting, training, and leading for, and how you can lead Above the Line.