Great Books 2007

Great Books 2007

Leading From the Second Chair: Serving Your Church, Fulfilling Your Role, and Realizing Your Dreams

Mike Bonem & Roger Patterson

This book will raise awareness of the need for strong leaders in secondary positions. It will describe the value they can bring to their organization and to primary leaders when they are serving at their full potential. It will reshape the way they view their role, with an emphasis on their own responsibility as leaders. It recognizes the unique challenges and frustrations of serving in a subordinate position and equips these leaders with the attitudes and skills that they will need to survive and thrive in this new paradigm. Because of the scarcity of resources for second chair leaders, particularly those in the church, this book will offer a practical way to improve the performance of any organization. Leading Congregational Change discussed the importance of a “vision community”–a diverse group of key members who discern and implement the vision for a congregation–to guide the transformation of a church. This work will extend the theme of an empowered leadership team as we explore how individual clergy and laity can lead effectively.

“If you are a second chair leader, are considering a second chair role, or work with a second chair leader, this book is a must read! Mike Bonem and Roger Patterson have done a superb job of defining the living paradoxes a second chair leader deals with day in and day out. Don’t consider a second chair role without reading this book first.” –Warren Schuh

The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical

Shane Claiborne

Many of us find ourselves caught somewhere between unbelieving activists and inactive believers. We can write a check to feed starving children or hold signs in the streets and feel like we’ve made a difference without ever encountering the faces of the suffering masses. In this book, Shane Claiborne describes an authentic faith rooted in belief, action, and love, inviting us into a movement of the Spirit that begins inside each of us and extends into a broken world. Shane’s faith led him to dress the wounds of lepers with Mother Teresa, visit families in Iraq amidst bombings, and dump $10,000 in coins and bills on Wall Street to redistribute wealth. Shane lives out this revolution each day in his local neighborhood, an impoverished community in North Philadelphia, by living among the homeless, helping local kids with homework, and “practicing resurrection” in the forgotten places of our world. Shane’s message will comfort the disturbed, and disturb the comfortable . . . but will also invite us into an irresistible revolution. His is a vision for ordinary radicals ready to change the world with little acts of love.

Organic Church: Growing Faith Where Life Happens

Neil Cole

Churches have tried all kinds of ways to attract new and younger members – revised vision statements, hipper worship, contemporary music, livelier sermons, bigger and better auditoriums. But there are still so many people who aren’t being reached, who don’t want to come to church. And the truth is that attendance at church on Sundays does not necessarily transform lives; God’s presence in our hearts is what changes us. Leaders and laypeople everywhere are realizing that they need new and more powerful ways to help them spread God’s Word.

According to international church starter and pastor Neil Cole, if we want to connect with young people and those who are not coming to church, we must go where people congregate. Cole shows readers how to plant the seeds of the Kingdom of God in the places where life happens and where culture is formed – restaurants, bars, coffeehouses, parks, locker rooms, and neighborhoods. Organic Church offers a hands-on guide for demystifying this new model of church and shows the practical aspects of implementing it.

Off-Road Disciplines: Spiritual Disciplines of Missional Leaders

Earl Creps

In Off-Road Disciplines, Earl Creps reveals that the on-road practices of prayer and Bible reading should be bolstered by the other kinds of encounters with God that occur unexpectedly–complete with the bumps and bruises that happen when you go “off-road.” Becoming an off-road leader requires the cultivation of certain spiritual disciplines that allow the presence of the Holy Spirit to arrange your interior life. Earl Creps explores twelve central spiritual disciplines–six personal and six organizational–that Christian leaders of all ages and denominations need if they are to change themselves and their churches to reach out to the culture around them.

Earl Creps has written a deeply personal and challenging book—one that caused me to think about my own spiritual journey. Too many of us have made spiritual formation a series of activities and programs; Earl takes us off the map of common practice and into the places where the Spirit is at work. It reminds us that true spiritual formation pervades our lives and the ministries we serve, providing a helpful balance of being and doing. It will be a great encouragement to all who read it—Ed Stetzer, author, Breaking the Missional Code

Leadership is an Art

Max DePree

Perhaps we should banish all of our management books except Max De Pree’s gem, Leadership Is an Art. The successful Herman Miller, Inc., chairman . . . . writes only about trust, grace, spirit, and love . . . . such concerns are the essence of organizations, small or large—Inc. magazine

This book has long been a must-read not only within the business community but also in professions ranging from academia to medical practices, to the political arena. First published in 1989, the book has sold more than 800,000 copies in hardcover and paperback. This revised edition brings Max De Pree’s timeless words and practical philosophy to a new generation of readers.De Pree looks at leadership as a kind of stewardship, stressing the importance of building relationships, initiating ideas, and creating a lasting value system within an organization. Rather than focusing on the “hows” of corporate life, he explains the “whys.” He shows that the first responsibility of a leader is to define reality and the last is to say thank you. Along the way, the artful leader must: Take a role in developing, expressing, and defending civility and values; and Nurture new leaders and ensure the continuation of the corporate culture

This book offers a proven design for achieving success by developing the generous spirit within all of us. Now more than ever, it provides the insights and guidelines leaders in every field need.

Confessions of a Reformission Rev: Hard Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church

Mark Driscoll

This is the story of the birth and growth of Seattle’s innovative Mars Hill Church, one of America’s fastest growing churches located in one of America’s toughest mission fields. It’s also the story of the growth of a pastor, the mistakes he’s made along the way, and God’s grace and work in spite of those mistakes. Mark Driscoll’s emerging, missional church took a rocky road from its start in a hot, upstairs youth room with gold shag carpet to its current weekly attendance of thousands. With engaging humor, humility, and candor, Driscoll shares the failures, frustrations, and just plain messiness of trying to build a church that is faithful to the gospel of Christ in a highly post-Christian culture. In the telling, he’s not afraid to skewer some sacred cows of traditional, contemporary, and emerging churches. Each chapter discusses not only the hard lessons learned but also the principles and practices that worked and that can inform your church’s ministry, no matter its present size.

The book includes discussion questions and appendix resources. “After reading a book like this, you can never go back to being an inwardly focused church without a mission. Even if you disagree with Mark about some of the things he says, you cannot help but be convicted to the inner core about what it means to have a heart for those who don’t know Jesus.”—Dan Kimball, author,The Emerging Church “… will make you laugh, cry, and get mad … school you, shape you, and mold you into the right kind of priorities to lead the church in today’s messy world.”—Robert Webber, Northern Seminary

Culture Shift

Robert Lewis with Wayne Cordiero

Culture Shift, written for church leaders, ministers, pastors, ministry teams, and lay leaders, leads you through the process of identifying your church’s distinctive culture, gives you practical tools to change it from the inside-out, and provides steps to keep your new culture aligned with your church’s mission. Real transformation is not about working harder at what you’re already doing or even copying another church’s approach but about changing church culture at a foundational level.

Becoming a Healthy Church: Ten Traits of a Vital Ministry

Stephen Macchia

Becoming a Healthy Church illustrates the ten most important characteristics of church health. Based on extensive surveys, this helpful volume is designed to encourage the creation of a healthy climate for any church and its ministry.

“A wonderful tool that I recommend to every church that is serious about being purpose-driven.” -Rick Warren, author of The Purpose-Driven Church

An Unstoppable Force: Daring to Become the Church God Had in Mind

Erwin Raphael McManus

An Unstoppable Force will excite and inspire readers about being part of the Church that God had in mind! A “force” created to change the world. A Church that is engaged with its community, daring to cut itself free from atrophied practices and programs to flourish in creative and compelling worship. A Church that risks reaching out to our jaded culture with “outside the box” expressions of faith and love.–Amazon

An Unstoppable Force will excite and inspire readers about being part of the Church that God had in mind! A “force” created to change the world.

Practicing Greatness

Reggie McNeal

Based on his extensive experience as coach and mentor to many thousands of Christian leaders across a broad spectrum of ministry settings, Reggie McNeal helps spiritual leaders understand that they will self-select into or out of greatness. In this important book, McNeal shows how great spiritual leaders are committed consciously and intentionally to seven spiritual disciplines, habits of heart and mind that shape both their character and competence:

The discipline of self-awareness–the single most important body of information a leader possesses. The discipline of self-management–handling difficult emotions, expectations, temptations, mental vibrancy, and physical well-being. The discipline of self-development–a life-long commitment to learning and growing and building on one’s strengths. The discipline of mission–enjoying the permissions of maintaining the sense of God’s purpose for your life and leadership. The discipline of decision-making–knowing the elements of good decisions and learning from failure. The discipline of belonging–the determination to nurture relationships and to live in community with others, including family, followers, mentors, and friends. The discipline of aloneness–the intentional practice of soul-making solitude and contemplation.

Shaped by God’s Heart

Milfred Minatrea

Discover the tools to create a new kind of church and move from merely surviving to thriving.
Drawing on an extensive two-year field study of 200 churches from a variety of denominations and geographic regions, Milfred Minatrea–a missiologist, urban strategist and practioner in minister–presents the best practices for re-energizing Christian spirituality in a congregational setting. He provides readers with the tools for assessing their congregation’s position on the continuum between maintenance and mission and for determining the actions that will move them toward becoming a missional community. He also outlines key strategies that successful churches have used to become relevant in a postmodern society without losing what is distinctly Christian in their spiritual practices. Milfred Minatrea (Irving, TX) is Director of the Missional Church Center for the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

The Peacemaker—A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict

Ken Sande

Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” But it often seems like conflict and disagreement are unavoidable. Serious, divisive conflict is everywhere-within families, in the church, and out in the world. And it can seem impossible to overcome its negative force in our lives.

In The Peacemaker, Ken Sande presents a comprehensive and practical theology for conflict resolution designed to bring about not only a cease-fire but also unity and harmony. Sande takes readers beyond resolving conflicts to true, life-changing reconciliation with family members, coworkers, and fellow believers.

Biblically based, The Peacemaker is full of godly wisdom and useful suggestions that are easily applied to any relationship needing reconciliation. Sande’s years of experience as an attorney and as president of Peacemaker Ministries will strengthen readers’ confidence as they stand in the gap as peacemakers.

The Multi-Site Church Revolution: Being One Church in Many Locations

Geoff Surratt, Greg Ligon and Warren Bird

The authors have done their homework. They have firsthand knowledge of the successes and failures of this movement, having been networking with and facilitating dialogue among churches across the country for years.”—Max Lucado, Senior Minister, Oak Hills Church

This book captures the story of a widespread movement of churches that are expanding their ministries to include multiple formats, venues, and locations, using dozens of in-the-trenches examples, identifying the primary reasons churches succeed as well as how they overcome common snags on the route to “one church—many congregations.”

The Elephant in the Boardroom

Carolyn Weese & Russ Crabtree

Carolyn Weese and Russ Crabtree have done churches a great service in breaking the curious silence about pastoral transition, perhaps the most serious threat to churches in the less institutionalized twenty-first century world. Here you will find the reality-based principles that lead to strategic succession–Bob Buford, Leadership Network

“Carolyn Weese and Russ Crabtree have done churches a great service in breaking the curious silence about pastoral transition, perhaps the most serious threat to churches in the less institutionalized twenty-first century world. Here you will find the reality-based principles that lead to strategic succession” –Bob Buford, Leadership Network

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