by Leadership Network: Next week, our very own Kadi Cole will be on the mainstage at the Exponential Global Conference sharing with thousands of church planters and leaders. God has positioned Kadi with influence and insight into how churches can multiply a movement of female leaders. This issue must matter to us in our moment in time.

At Leadership Network, our commitment is to identify and help ignite the conversations that matter most for the Church. We have loved being a part of Kadi’s ministry and what God is doing through her.

Last year, Kadi released a book with us entitled Developing Female Leaders. It has been transforming the perspectives and practices of church leadership teams across North America. Why has her book been so impactful? Well, as Kadi describes it:

“The research for the book includes interviews with over 30 high-level female and male church leaders and surveys from over 1200 female ministry leaders.  The book highlights The Eight Best Practices for developing female leaders and recommended steps that are eye-opening, encouraging and practical to implement.“

Kadi has been directing a Developing Female Leaders Group with us over this last year and we are preparing for additional initiatives in 2020. If you would like more information on developing female leaders, click here.

The post Have you forgotten someone at the leadership table? appeared first on Leadership Network.

Source: Have you forgotten someone at the leadership table?

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Source: 20 Books I Read in 2019

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by Carey Nieuwhof: So many leaders struggle with willpower and self-control, whether that’s grabbing that extra piece of chocolate cake, acting up at a meeting or just not taking care of themselves. Drew Dyck discusses his latest book on willpower and explains how habits are the key to greater self-control.

As a journalist and publishing acquisition editor, Drew also talks about the massive changes in publishing since the rise of the internet, how curated content is just about gone, and the new digital world that publishing finds itself in.

Welcome to Episode 275 of the podcast. Listen and access the show notes below or search for the Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and listen for free.

Guest Links

Drew Dyck | Your Future Self Will Thank You

Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Episode Links

Pro Media Fire has the media solution that’s right for your church at promediafire.com/carey. Podcast listeners receive 10% off for life.

Get your volunteers ready to serve with simple online training. Try TrainedUp free for 14 days at servehq.church.

CNLP 168: John Ortberg on the Problem with Hurry in Leadership, Why so Many Leaders Struggle with Intimacy and His Friendship with Dallas Willard

CNLP 246: John Ortberg on What’s Wrong with How We Define Salvation and What It Really Means to Follow Jesus

CNLP 170: Esther Fedorkevich on Pro Tips on Getting Your Message Out There, How Anyone Can Get Published and How to Stand out in a Crowded Marketplace

CNLP 250: Gary Chapman on How the Five Love Languages Can Improve Employee Performance at Work, Make Your Marriage Better and Foster a Better Relationship with Your Kids

ctpastors.com

Amazon Publishing

Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis

The School of Greatness Podcast, EP. 793

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

Atomic Habits by James Clear

3 Insights from Drew

1. If you want to write a book, you need more than a good topic

If you are going to write a book today, you have to get a little more refined and original in the idea. The best books are books that grow out of the author’s personal experience. Often times, those are lessons that they have learned the hard way. When an author can tap into a pain point in their story that helps a larger audience, they have found a topic they can build a book off of.

As an author, 2 other things you will need to get published are good writing skills and some kind of audience. You attain both of these issues by testing your ideas out in a few articles or blog posts that you publish to test your ideas in. One of the biggest frustrations Drew has is when someone comes to him wanting to write a book but they are not even willing to write articles. Authors need to get reps and get feedback before they dive head-first into a book.

2. Willpower is a finite resource

Ever wonder why you eat healthier at breakfast than at 8 at night? While researching for his new book, Drew has learned that you only have so much willpower for any given day. There are multiple factors that drain this willpower. Decision making, resisting temptation and maneuvering conflict are 3 examples.

This depletion of willpower causes you to lose your cognitive ability to make good decisions as the day goes on. This is why you eat well in the morning but lose all self-control by 8 PM. Another danger of this is that people make plans for the day in the morning when their willpower is high, but then, when evening rolls around they are much less motivated or equipped to use the self-control required to go on that run they planned on.

3. Want to win self-control? Build your habits

If two people are going into a situation and one of them is just relying upon willpower to do the right thing and one has a good habit in place to do the right thing, the habit person will win every single time. Although we think every action is based on a conscious decision, habits are what actually guide our actions in life.

If we don’t take control of our habits, they will continue making our decisions for us. A simple way to begin controlling your habits is by studying yourself and figure out what things you are doing and when. Once you track your habits, you can begin to change how your life is organized so that you can begin replacing bad habits with good habits.

Quotes from Episode 275

Willpower is a finite resource. @drewdyckClick To Tweet

Good character is when your habits are healthy and holy. @drewdyckClick To Tweet

If knowledge was the key to success, we’d all be billionaires and have perfect abs. @cnieuwhofClick To Tweet

When you finish writing a book, you’re half done. @drewdyckClick To Tweet

Read or Download the Transcript for Episode 275

Looking for a key quote? More of a reader?

Read or download a free PDF transcript of this episode here.

Watch the Podcast on YouTube

Select episodes of this podcast are now on YouTube. Our new YouTube Channel gives you a chance to watch some episodes, not just listen. We’ll add select episodes to YouTube as time goes on.

Didn’t See It Coming Will Help You Solve the Problems Most Leaders Miss

If you want practical help overcoming some of the biggest challenges leaders face, my new book Didn’t See It Coming: Overcoming the 7 Greatest Challenges That Nobody Expects and Everyone Experiences tackles the seven core issues that take people out: cynicism, compromise, disconnectedness, irrelevance, pride, burnout, and the emptiness of success and provides strategies on how to combat each.

I wrote the book because no 18-year-old sets out to be cynical, jaded and disconnected by age 35. Yet it happens all the time.

The good news is, it doesn’t have to be that way.

Here’s what top leaders are saying about Didn’t See It Coming:

“Seriously, this may be the most important book you read this year.” Jud Wilhite, Lead Pastor, Central Church

“Powerful, personal, and highly readable. ”Brian Houston, Global Senior Pastor, Hillsong

“Whatever challenge you’re facing, whatever obstacle you’re hoping to overcome, whatever future you dream or imagine, there is something powerful for you here.” Andy Stanley, Founder, North Point Ministries

“Uncommonly perceptive and generous…You have to read this book.” Ann Voskamp, NYT bestselling author

“Masterful.”Reggie Joiner, CEO Orange

“Deep biblical insight, straightforward truth, and practical wisdom to help you grow.” Craig Groeschel, Pastor and NYT bestselling author

“This book is sure to help you.” Daniel H. Pink, NYT bestselling author

Over the years, one of the things I’ve enjoyed most about being a public speaker is having opportunities to hang out with Carey…It’s not a matter of if you’ll run into these challenges; it’s a matter of when. Be prepared by spending a little time with a leader who has already been there.” Jon Acuff, NYT best-selling author

“Nieuwhof’s book provides expert guidance…with an accuracy that pierces the heart.” Nancy Duarte, CEO Duarte Inc.

“A refreshingly transparent guide for all leaders in a wide variety of industries.” Bryan Miles, Co-Founder and CEO, BELAY

You can learn more and get your copy of Didn’t See It Coming here.

Subscribed Yet? 

Subscribe for free and never miss out on wisdom from world-class leaders like Brian Houston, Andy Stanley, Craig Groeschel, Nancy Duarte, Henry Cloud, Patrick Lencioni, Francis Chan, Ann Voskamp, Erwin McManus and many others.

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Spread the Word. Leave a Rating and Review

Hopefully, this episode has helped you lead like never before. That’s my goal. If you appreciated it, could you share the love?

The best way to do that is to rate the podcast on Apple Podcasts and leave us a brief review! You can do the same on Stitcher and on TuneIn as well.

Your ratings and reviews help us place the podcast in front of new leaders and listeners. Your feedback also lets me know how I can better serve you.

Thank you for being so awesome.

Next Episode: Chris Norton

Little did Chris Norton know that making a routine football play would change his life forever. Paralyzed from the neck down, doctors told him he had a 3 percent chance of ever regaining sensation in his body. Last year, Chris walked down the aisle with his bride at his wedding. His story has been covered by The Today Show, Good Morning America, NBC Nightly News, FOX & Friends, and PEOPLE Magazine. Chris talks about the journey, what he’s learned and shares leadership lessons and even public speaking tips on how to motivate unmotivated crowds when you speak.

Subscribe for free now and you won’t miss Episode 276.

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Source: CNLP 275: Drew Dyck on the Rise of the Internet, the Demise of Curated Content, the Massive Changes in Journalism and Tips on How to Develop Better Self Control

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by Healthy Growing Churches: This summer, our focus has been on helping you lead well. We posted about leading ourselves, our families,  our ministries, through transformation, and leading through conflict and adversity. Last week, we shared with you some of our favorite Podcasts to help you grow and mature in your faith, marriage/family, and ministry. This week, our focus is Books. Check out the five that we think you should read this summer.

1. Pioneering Movements, Steve Addison

God’s mission needs movement leaders. Jesus pioneered something completely new in human history—a dynamic missionary movement intent on reaching the world. His mission is as clear and as relevant today as in the days of the early church: to make disciples everywhere, baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything Jesus has commanded. But the potential of the church remains untapped. What does it take to lead movements that successfully carry out this mission? In Pioneering Movements, Steve Addison identifies what it takes to follow Jesus’ example. Building on his previous books Movements That Change the World and What Jesus Started, he reveals the apostolic qualities and behaviors of biblical, historical, and contemporary pioneers who can guide church and ministry leaders today. This is a book for those who are called to embrace the mission-driven work that Jesus and his disciples began—making disciples of all nations, in all places.

2. Switch on Your Brain, Dr. Caroline Leaf

According to researchers, the vast majority–a whopping 75-98 percent–of the illnesses that plague us today are a direct result of our thought life. What we think about truly affects us both physically and emotionally. In fact, fear alone triggers more than 1,400 known physical and chemical responses in our bodies, activating more than thirty different hormones! Today our culture is undergoing an epidemic of toxic thoughts that, left unchecked, create ideal conditions for illnesses.

Supported by current scientific and medical research, Dr. Caroline Leaf gives readers a prescription for better health and wholeness through correct thinking patterns, declaring that we are not victims of our biology. She shares with readers the “switch” in our brains that enables us to live happier, healthier, more enjoyable lives where we achieve our goals, maintain our weight, and even become more intelligent. She shows us how to choose life, get our minds under control, and reap the benefits of a detoxed thought life.

3. Deep Roots, Wild Branches: Revitalizing the Church in the Blended Ecology, Michael Adam Beck

What is the future of the church in North America? Churches are closing faster than new ones can be planted. Existing churches engaged in effective evangelism beyond the tired tactics of attractional approaches are increasingly rare. One of the major pitfalls of the past few decades is “either/or” thinking—either attractional or missional; traditional or contemporary; old or new. In Deep Roots, Wild Branches, missiologist and church planter Dr. Michael Beck contends we must cultivate what he calls a “blended ecology” of church that has both deep roots and wild branches. Beck introduces us to present-day models and examples that don’t leave traditional forms behind, but harness the power of “both/and.” It honors vintage models while blending fresh expressions of real evangelism.

4. Canoeing the Mountains, Tod Bolsinger

Explorers Lewis and Clark had to adapt. While they had prepared to find a waterway to the Pacific Ocean, instead they found themselves in the Rocky Mountains. You too may feel that you are leading in a cultural context you were not expecting. You may even feel that your training holds you back more often than it carries you along. Drawing from his extensive experience as a pastor and consultant, Tod Bolsinger brings decades of expertise in guiding churches and organizations through uncharted territory. He offers a combination of illuminating insights and practical tools to help you reimagine what effective leadership looks like in our rapidly changing world. If you’re going to scale the mountains of ministry, you need to leave behind canoes and find new navigational tools. Now expanded with a study guide, this book will set you on the right course to lead with confidence and courage.

5. Anxious Church, Anxious People, Jack Shitama

The key to effective church leadership is the ability to be a non-anxious presence.

This is not a technique. It is a way of being. It is deceptively simple but tremendously difficult. Yet, if you are willing to take the journey, you can lead change in even the most challenging contexts. Read this book and you will understand:

•The process that keeps churches anxious and stuck.

•How leadership through self-differentiation gets churches unstuck.

•How to develop as a non-anxious presence so you can lead change anywhere, but especially in an anxious church.

Anxious Church, Anxious People is based on a family systems approach to congregational leadership. It is for church leaders who are willing to learn more about themselves and their family of origin so they can be a non-anxious presence. It will resonate with those who have tried everything else and realize that they cannot change others, but can only change themselves. It makes family systems concepts accessible and practical through the use of examples from personal experience.

The post Leading Yourself Well – Five Books appeared first on Healthy Growing Churches.

Source: Leading Yourself Well – Five Books

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by Carey Nieuwhof: Something’s driving your church.  There are a variety of things that drive a church…the challenge for many church leaders is no one is really quite clear on what that is.

What drives your church is critical because it impacts everything you do. Ultimately, it directly impacts both your health and your growth as a congregation.

As I talk to leaders of churches of all sizes, I find different factors at work.

As much as we’d all love to say Jesus runs the church, the reality is that church is a partnership. God seems to delight in human interaction, and while God is in control, leaders have a role.

How we play that role can can create health or dysfunction.

Here are 4 things that shouldn’t drive church growth (and one thing that should)…

The post 4 Things That Shouldn’t Drive Church Growth (And One Thing That Should) appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: 4 Things That Shouldn’t Drive Church Growth (And One Thing That Should)

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by Bobby Harrington: Discipleship.org asked the leaders of 12 Disciple Making ministries that partner with us to share their top 2 book recommendations. We told everyone to assume the recommendations of two classics: The Master Plan of Evangelism, by Robert Coleman and The Cost of Discipleship, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. We also encouraged each leader to only recommend only one of books that they have written.

Here are top two recommendations from each leader (and their organization).

Bill Hull (Bonhoeffer Project)

Conversion and Discipleship, Bill Hull
Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard

Jim Putman (Relational Discipleship Network)

Real-Life Discipleship Training Manual, Jim Putman, Bill Krause, Avery Willis, and Brandon Guindon
Four Chair Discipling, Dann Spader

Daniel Im (LifeWay)

No Silver Bullets, Daniel Im
The Disciple Makers Handbook, Bobby Harrington and Josh Patrick.

Greg Ogden (Global Discipleship Initiative)

Transforming Discipleship: Making Disciples A Few at a Time, Ogden
The Disciple Making Pastor, Bill Hull

Dann Spader (Sonlife Ministries)

Four Chair Discipling, Dann Spader
Bold Moves, Craig Etheridge

Robby Gallaty (Replicate Ministries)

Rediscovering Discipleship, Robby Gallaty
The Disciple Making Pastor, Bill Hull

Regi Campbell (Radical Mentoring)

Mentor like Jesus, Regi Campbell
Bo’s Café, John Lynch, Bill Thrall and Bruce McNicol

Justin Gravitt (Navigator Church Ministries)

Ways of the Alongsider, Bill Mowry
High Quest: Women of Distinction, Navigators

Monte Starkes (Life on Life Ministries)

Transforming Discipleship: Making Disciples A Few at a Time, Greg Ogden
The Training of the Twelve, A. B. Bruce

Kennon Vaughan (Downline Ministries)

The Training of the Twelve, A. B. Bruce
Trellis and the Vine, Colin Marshall and Tony Payne

Dave Buehring (Lionshare)

The Discipleship Journey, Dave Buehring
The Complete Book of Discipleship, Bill Hull

Craig Etheredge (discipleFIRST)

Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus, Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg
Four Chair Discipling, Dann Spader

The four books that received more than one recommendation are The Disciple Making Pastor by Bill Hull, Four Chair Discipling, by Dann Spader, Transforming Discipleship: Making Disciples A Few at a Time, by Greg Ogden, and The Training of the Twelve, by A. B. Bruce. We recommend all of the books we have listed to our readers.

Our National Disciple Making Forum, October 25-26th will feature ten of the authors of these recommended books. Our theme for 2018 is Discipling Relationships. We hope you will be able to join us.

Written by Bobby Harrington

Bobby Harrington is the Executive Director of Discipleship.org, a national platform, conference, and ministry that advocates for Jesus’ style of disciple making. He is the founding and lead pastor of Harpeth Christian Church (by the Harpeth River, just outside of Nashville, TN). He has a Doctor of Ministry degree in consulting and has spent years as a coach to church planters and senior pastors. He is the author of several books on discipleship, including DiscipleShift (with Jim Putman and Robert Coleman) and The Disciple Maker’s Handbook (with Josh Patrick).

Photo by João Silas on Unsplash

Source: The Top Book Recommendations of 12 Disciple Making Leaders

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by Greg Ligon: Being a couple in ministry is a daunting and difficult task. Many couples find that ministry is all-encompassing, time with your spouse is hard to prioritize, the pressure is overwhelming and balance seems impossible. It’s a unique calling with unique challenges and often comes with less-than-adequate preparation, training, or even warning. In their new book from Leadership Network NEXT/Harper Collins Christian Publishing Book Series, Together: A Guide for Couples Doing Ministry Together, Geoff and Sherry Surratt share vital lessons they’ve learned in over 30 years of experience that helped them thrive in ministry and in marriage.

Whether you are both in vocational ministry or just one spouse is in ministry, Together will encourage you to continue serving side by side and help you maintain the fulfillment of helping others while being drawn closer to God as a couple.

The following is an excerpt from Together: A Guide for Couples Doing Ministry Together.

“We’ve always wondered what life is like for ministry couples who always seem to be pursuing the same dream. They are both focused on the same church, the same ministry, and the same goals. Some couples both work for the same church, and sometimes one works at the church while the other one stays home, but they see themselves as walking the same path. If that describes you, we envy the clarity that must bring. That has seldom been our story.

While we’ve always supported each other’s dreams, those dreams have often been in different arenas.

Thirty-plus years of marriage and ministry together is a long time. We have learned, and are still learning, a lot along the way, and we have had some incredible experiences. We are amazed we’ve had opportunities to teach thousands of leaders, meet world leaders, and lead ministries that impact tens of thousands of people. We are very average people whom God uses in spite of ourselves.

One of our biggest struggles as a couple in ministry has been that of comparison. We are jealous of ministry couples we see on Facebook with perfect churches, perfect kids, and perfect hair. We wish we had their lives, but we don’t. We wish it hadn’t taken us twenty-five years of marriage before we learned to pray together. We wish we had taken our kids on amazing memory-making trips on their milestone birthdays instead of to dinner at Applebee’s. We wish every day was a new experience of spiritual insight and revelation instead of budgets and board meetings.

What we are realizing after doing ministry together for so long is that we will never be the Facebook couple, but we can fiercely love each other, our family, and the people we minister to. Something else we’re learning is that there are more ministry couples like us than the perfect couples on Facebook.

Most of the couples we talk to struggle with the same questions we do.

How do you prioritize your spouse when ministry is all encompassing? How do you raise kids who are semi-normal and love Jesus in the fishbowl of ministry? How do you discover whether God is calling you to be faithful or move on when ministry knocks you down?

We don’t pretend to have all the answers to all the difficult questions, but we believe we are
learning some important principles along the journey that might help other couples like us.

Our new book Together is our conversation with you about these important questions. The image we have is sitting down together at our favorite Starbucks and talking about the ups and downs of doing marriage and ministry together. We’ll be as transparent and authentic as possible. We’ll share our mistakes and foibles and the lessons we’re learning. We’ll talk about the unstated expectations we brought into marriage, the difficulty of raising preacher’s kids, and the times when we both thought our marriage was over. We’ll discuss the thrill of seeing God use us to change people’s eternal destinies and the challenge of working together and working apart. We’re not afraid to talk about the hard stuff, and we’ll invite you to tackle it too.

We admit we struggle with bad attitudes, selfishness, and sometimes still crumble in the face of criticism.  But it’s okay. We bet you do too.

We are writing for couples in ministry. You may be a young couple just starting down the road of ministry, and you’d like to not pay the same “dumb tax” we paid. You may be in the middle of raising kids in a ministry home and desperately need someone to say, “It’s going to be all right.” You may be in a very rough time in your marriage and struggling to find your way through. Some of you are navigating the new reality of doing ministry from an empty nest. Some couples are both in vocational ministry, and other couples will have one spouse in ministry while the other stays at home with the kids or works a secular job.

The thing we all have in common is we are deeply invested in being faithful in ministry and fruitful in marriage, and we all know how challenging both can be.

Our hope is not that you’ll want to emulate our marriage or ministry; our hope is that our stories will spark meaningful conversations for you as a couple.

We encourage you to learn to laugh at yourselves with us. If you’re not ready to see the humor
in your own story, we invite you to laugh at ours. It’s okay, we do.”

The post New Release – Together: A Guide for Couples Doing Ministry Together appeared first on Leadership Network.

Source: New Release – Together: A Guide for Couples Doing Ministry Together

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by Greg Ligon: Many people in our churches are heading toward burnout in the areas they serve, but they still feel like no one has invited them to do anything challenging, exciting, or creative for the sake of the world. Their passion meter is low while their frustration meter is high. What if, instead, churches trained and released people back into the vocations, careers, and ideas they already have? We can make inroads to join them in their neighborhoods and in their relationships to utilize the creativity they already possess to bless the world. If we dig a little, we usually find incredible dreams and ideas for impacting people.

In Everyone’s a Genius, his latest release in the Leadership Network NEXT/Harper Collins Christian Publishing Book Series, Pastor Alan Briggs explains his belief that church leaders need to recognize and empower the gifts in others.

The following is an excerpt from Everyone’s a Genius:

When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time with a shovel in my hand. I dreamed of digging up an ancient city or dinosaur bones. I even tried to dig and get to China. One day I learned about gold at school. After the bell rang I came home and started to excavate. My shovel became my tool. A few days later I finally found some. From the hard Virginia clay, I unearthed a chunk of (fool’s) gold. After digging around it and lifting it out with all my might, I ran to show my mom the treasure. She told me it wasn’t real. Obviously, she was no prospector.

Christian leaders wield a shovel. We must become archaeologists seeking to uncover the precious gifts buried below the surface in those around us. Sometimes the ground is hard and requires a pickax to start to unearth the shimmer of something beautiful inside others. It can be hard, slow work, but it’s worth it. As church leaders, we often become so focused on dictating things to our people that we don’t take time to unearth and uncover their unique fingerprint and creative makeup. There is a space inside all of us where the image of the Creator rises to the surface. Sometimes we do things both naturally and skillfully, and it even blows us away.

One year a winsome couple went through a learning track I led. When we started the journey, they were considering leaving their church, joining a church start-up, or launching into global missions. The husband seemed antsy, ready to delve into a new avenue to serve God. After a few sessions, they began to invite people to their home for lunch. Many of our young single leaders were more than happy to consume their homemade cuisine. The group would spend hours in their home with their family, eating and talking about the ups and downs of life. One snowy Saturday my family joined the group for some hot soup next to a fire as we consumed their amazing hospitality. During their commissioning time, we all recounted stories of moments in their home. For the previous ten months they had cracked open their lives and invited us in.

God used this time to shift their trajectory from what they wanted to be doing toward what they were already doing effectively. We clearly communicated to them: this hospitality counts as ministry! You don’t have to do anything else. Just keep doing what you’re doing!

How many people around us are just like this couple? How many people are aspiring to find an area of greater impact while they are already making a big impact?
If you are a Christian leader, you need to function as a creative spy and a human archaeologist. We should constantly be following the trail of creativity in others and affirming what we find in them. The fourth chapter of Ephesians talks about some crucial but different wirings of Christian leaders. Apostolic, prophetic, evangelistic, shepherding, and teaching wirings are not just for the sake of infusing those in the church; they are also for recognizing and equipping others to function in these ways. We are “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.”

Liz Wiseman, author of Multipliers, said, “At the top of the intelligence hierarchy is not the genius but the genius-maker.” The true work of ministry is not found in developing our gifts but in developing the gifts of those around us. Multiplication cannot truly happen until we are recognizing, validating, and equipping others. A mature body of Christ will impact families, neighborhoods, cities, and the world. The church also cannot grow into maturity until we take responsibility for recognizing and equipping others.

Look for the genius in others.

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Ready to launch your big idea?

To celebrate the release of Everyone’s a Genius Thomas Nelson Publishers and Stay Forth Designs are partnering to give you the fuel you need to launch your genius idea. This bundle is worth over $1,000! Click here to apply now.

The post Everyone’s a Genius: Unleashing Creativity for the Sake of the World appeared first on Leadership Network.

Source: Everyone’s a Genius: Unleashing Creativity for the Sake of the World

The post Everyone’s a Genius: Unleashing Creativity for the Sake of the World appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By Warren Bird:

What’s on your summer reading list? Here are my recommendations for church leaders:

Bigger Faster Leadership by Samuel R. Chand

Renowned leadership consultant, Samuel R. Chand details the account of the construction of the Panama Canal, and draws parallels between it and successful leadership methodology.

An epiphany during a visit to the Panama Canal led  to bold new insights on the life cycles of business or church organizations.

Disruption: Repurposing the Church to Redeem the Community by Mark DeYmaz

Is it possible for a local church to become so influential in its community that it becomes a life-giving agent for believers and non-believers? A resource that becomes the catalyst whereby abandoned buildings are repurposed, small businesses attracted, jobs created, crime reduced, justice progressed, health improved, and ultimately, the kingdom of God advanced in such a way that it impacts every corner of the community?

In Disruption: Repurposing the Church to Redeem the Community, Dr. Mark DeYmaz explains why such an outlook it is not only possible but essential for the church to gain credibility and relevance in the community it seeks to influence. Genuine transformation never occurs through maintaining the status quo. A Disruption is often the missing ingredient that moves the church from ineffective to radically transformative.

The Unstuck Church by Tony Morgan

Acclaimed church leader, blogger, founder and chief strategic officer of The Unstuck Group, Tony Morgan unpacks the lifecycle of a typical church, identifies characteristics of each phase, and provides practical next steps a church can take to move towards sustained health. The Unstuck Church is a call for honest an assessment of where your church sits on the lifecycle, and a challenge to move beyond it.

Small Groups for the Rest of Us by Chris Surratt

Life transformation happens best within the context of community, so if a church is going to be intentional about discipleship they have to develop on-ramps to small groups that reach people on the fringes and beyond. If we continue to offer small groups to the normal church attenders, a majority of the people who show up to church are never reached. Pastors, church staff and small group leaders are trying to figure out how to make small groups work in their church and they don’t know how. Small Groups For The Rest Of Us gives them practical, proven strategies on moving people from the fringes into biblically based communities.

The High-Definition Leader by Derwin L. Gray

The High-Definition Leader is an invitation of grace for churches and their leaders to grasp the ancient call of the early New Testament Church that crossed ethnic and socioeconomic barriers to create heavenly colonies of love, reconciliation, and unity on earth. In it, you will learn the theology and practices that will help you build a mission-shaped, multi-ethnic church.

How to Break Growth Barriers by Carl F. George and Warren Bird

Some churches grow rapidly, only to hit a ceiling. Other churches have experienced declining or static attendance — many of them for decades. Frustrated pastors and church leaders want growth methods that work, but without adding to pastoral fatigue. How to Break Growth Barriers argues that growth comes when effective leadership and lay-empowerment skills work hand in hand. This requires a shift of focus from the shepherd as the primary caregiver to shepherd as developer and coach of many caregivers. The authors show pastors how to communicate a vision for the future and then how to lead the congregation into the paradigms necessary for potentially limitless growth. The strategies found in the book are not only tried and true, but also taken from a biblical perspective of a “harvest” vision. They’re also newly updated to reflect our changing culture, including helpful charts and checklists for self-evaluation.

Teams That Thrive by Ryan T. Hartwig and Warren Bird

In this 2015 Readers’ Choice Award Winner, researchers and practitioners Ryan Hartwig and Warren Bird have documented how churches of various sizes and traditions throughout the United States have learned to thrive under healthy team leadership. Using actual church examples, they present their discoveries here, culminating in five disciplines that, if implemented, can enable your team to thrive. The result? A coaching tool for senior leadership teams that enables struggling teams to thrive, and resources for teams doing well to do their work even better.

What about my own reading list? Here are three titles I’m taking on my next vacation:

Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church by Kara Powell, Jake Mulder, and Brad Griffin
Healing the Wounds of Trauma: How the Church Can Help by Harriet Hill, Margaret Hill, Dick Baggé, and Pat Miersma
Don’t Do This: Learning from the Screw-Ups of Youth Ministry Leaders by Len Kageler and Jonathan Hobbs

Leaders are readers because books stretch us to grow. Make time to read and learn, and let us know your thoughts about these books, plus your own book recommendations.

Source: Ideas for Your Summer Reading List

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