Incarnate Leadership


Book Description

Whitworth University president Bill Robinson highlights five qualities that characterized the leadership style of Jesus. Conversational in tone and seasoned with real-life stories from his own successes and failures as a leader, Robinson helps Christian leaders understand how to emulate the strong yet humble approach to leadership that Jesus used to establish his church.




Ecclesial Leadership as Friendship


Book Description

When it comes to talking about the activity of directing the church, the language of leadership and leaders is increasingly popular. Yet what is leadership – and how might theological narratives better resource the discourse and practice of leadership in ecclesial contexts? In identifying and critiquing managerialism as a dominant narrative of leadership in the Western church, this book calls for an alternative approach founded on the concept of friendship. Engaging with the wider field of leadership studies, the book establishes an understanding of leadership activity and brings it into conversation with an incarnational ecclesiology. The result is a prophetic reimagining of ecclesial leadership in terms of a relational, kenotic praxis. This praxis of mutuality and love is framed here in the rich language of Christian friendship. The book also wrestles deeply with the embodiment of such a praxis, making explicit the power behaviours typical of friendship-leadership and offering constructive guidance for practitioners in the task of implementation within a complex and fractured world. This book offers a new vision of the centrality of friendship to leadership of a healthy church community. As such, it will be of great use to scholars of practical theology, ecclesiology and leadership, as well as practitioners in church ministry.




Christian Leadership Essentials


Book Description

Christian Leadership Essentials finds university president David S. Dockery assembling a great wealth of tried and true insights on the distinctive methods of leading Christian organizations and institutions. No matter how much experience a faith-based leader may already have, there are plenty of fresh thoughts and indispensable guiding principles here on topics including finance and budget planning, mission and vision, employee relations, theological foundations, mentoring, crisis management, and more. A majority of the nineteen contributors are active academic presidents, including Robert B. Sloan (Houston Baptist University; "A Biblical Model of Leadership"), Judson Carlberg (Gordon College; "Managing the Organization"), Jon Wallace (Azusa Pacific University; "Financial Oversight and Budget Planning"), Evans Whitaker (Anderson University [South Carolina]; "Development, Campaigns, and Building Projects"), Carl Zylstra (Dordt College; "Accreditation and Government Relations"), Jim Edwards (Anderson University [Indiana]; "Relationships with Multiple and Various Constituencies"), Phil Eaton (Seattle Pacific University; "Employee Relations in a Grace-filled Community"), Barry Corey (Biola University; "Engaging the Culture"), and Randall O'Brien (Carson-Newman College; "The Leader as Mentor and Pastor").




NIV, Once-A-Day: Bible for Leaders


Book Description

With this NIV Once-A-Day Bible for Leaders you can read through the Bible in a year. Or at your own pace. Now you can practice the spiritual discipline of daily Bible reading with a special focus on leadership. Plus, you can read at your own pace. Want a reading plan that will take you through the Bible in a year? You got it–with check boxes and all. Don’t want the guilt of falling behind? You won’t—each daily reading is not dated but numbered, allowing you the flexibility you need as you strive to engage God’s Word every day. The NIV Once-A-Day Bible for Leaders organizes the clear, accessible New International Version Bible into 365 daily readings. Each day’s reading includes a portion of Scripture from the Old Testament, the New Testament, and a Psalm or a Proverb. And to help you develop your leadership skills with a biblical focus, each daily reading includes a leadership insight from both past and present outstanding leaders. Featured leaders include Bill Hybels , Wayne Cordeiro, Erwin McManus, Charles Stanley, Max Lucado, Ann Voskamp, Chuck Swindoll, and many more.




The Steward Leader


Book Description

In this book R. Scott Rodin offers a unique and profoundly theologically informed model of leadership forged out of his extensive experience and theological studies. This model is personal, dynamic and transformative for the leaders themselves, for the people they work with and for the institution or organizations in which they serve.




Leading People from the Middle


Book Description

First, you can't lead the way I lead. You wouldn't want to, and the people you lead wouldn't want you to either. The best leaders lead from their strengths. You want to lead in the way that works best for you. Only I can lead my way, and sometimes it's pretty bizarre. According to a fund-raising consultant, I'm not very presidential. I consider this high praise. We have to work within our basic dispositions to be effective. Unfortunately, a lot of parents, coaches, and inspirational speakers try to get us to believe otherwise. Commencements are breeding grounds for these aggrandizing lies, and it's the speakers who are doing the lying. Leading People from the Middle addresses 20th century leadership assumptions, the new dynamics of 21st-century leadership, and how leaders can change to meet the demands of today's organizations. Over the course of this book, the author, William P. Robinson discusses his understanding of leading from the middle as it refers to influencing from among, rather than from above, below, or in front of one's group. Leading from the middle refers to positioning ourselves alongside of those whom we've empowered, working shoulder to shoulder. It refers to living in the center of a mission, rather than simply lifting it up. He believes that leaders will set the standard and then work very hard to help their people achieve the group's goal.




Christ-Centered Leadership


Book Description

"If a leader is a Christian, what difference does it make?" Giant strides have been made in secular leadership theory toward a Christian viewpoint. Priority is now given to character as well as competence, accountability as well as power, transformation as well as transaction, and servanthood as well as success. But these qualities apply to secular as well as to Christian leadership. So, the question remains, "What difference does it make?" David McKenna finds the answer in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ--a divine act for him and a defining attitude for us. Philippians 2:11-15 sets the standard and gives the details. "Your attitude should be the same as Jesus Christ" means following his call to the cross, where we die to self and sacrifice all self-interest in position, power, and prestige in order to serve obediently, faithfully, and humbly for the good of others and the glory of God. Christ-centered leadership is not an extension of the highest and best of human leadership. Radical obedience to the call of Christ and utter dependence upon the Holy Spirit make a substantive difference. In the most practical terms, Incarnation continues in us when we live fully, lead freely, and go where he wants us to go.







The Leader’S Palette


Book Description

No! Not another book on leadership! That was my first reaction as I received the manuscript of this book. Upon careful reading, I came to realize that Dr. Enlow has artistically captured the essence of leading by influence and has presented it in a clear and colorful way. As a veteran leader, Dr. Enlow speaks from vast experience, but it is not merely subjective anecdotal experience. The book is firmly rooted in serious and current research. As I meet leaders from all over the globe, I am no longer hesitant what to recommend them to read. Riad Kassis, director of Langham Scholars Ministry; international director of the International Council for Evangelical Theological Education This book under-promises and over-delivers with a powerful palette of leadership wisdom. But drop everythingright nowand read the warning in the last chapter on doxological leadership. I am recommending this book to all my clientsand I will likely reread this gem once a year. Its that important. John Pearson, consultant (www.johnpearsonassociates.com) and author of Mastering the Management Buckets




Hasidism Incarnate


Book Description

Hasidism Incarnate contends that much of modern Judaism in the West developed in reaction to Christianity and in defense of Judaism as a unique tradition. Ironically enough, this occurred even as modern Judaism increasingly dovetailed with Christianity with regard to its ethos, aesthetics, and attitude toward ritual and faith. Shaul Magid argues that the Hasidic movement in Eastern Europe constitutes an alternative "modernity," one that opens a new window on Jewish theological history. Unlike Judaism in German lands, Hasidism did not develop under a "Christian gaze" and had no need to be apologetic of its positions. Unburdened by an apologetic agenda (at least toward Christianity), it offered a particular reading of medieval Jewish Kabbalah filtered through a focus on the charismatic leader that resulted in a religious worldview that has much in common with Christianity. It is not that Hasidic masters knew about Christianity; rather, the basic tenets of Christianity remained present, albeit often in veiled form, in much kabbalistic teaching that Hasidism took up in its portrayal of the charismatic figure of the zaddik, whom it often described in supernatural terms.