Destination – Intention – Direction – Determines: four words that are used often in our normal conversations. Andy Stanley takes these four words, with a connection, arranges them and creates a powerful statement that can help us start and keep moving with positive purpose.
In the book The Principle of the Path, Stanley takes us on a journey from ideals to reality Continue Reading…
A leader in any organization should always be on the lookout for positive examples of leadership. It is from these examples that leaders find wisdom and knowledge for the decisions they must make. Author and speaker John Maxwell has made a career of extracting leadership examples from life situations and sharing them in his books. In A Leader’s Heart Maxwell uses examples from the greatest book ever written to create a 365 day devotional. On the title page for the month of January Maxwell writes: “The call to leadership is a consistent pattern in the Bible.” As a student of the Bible I have always found the best leadership examples in its pages.
With great insight Maxwell helps the reader of A Leader’s Heart journey through these examples in a short daily scripture reading with comments about leadership on each section. I was apprehensive to begin this book thinking it would be another light gift book. I was pleasantly surprised at its content. Granted most of the passages that Maxwell writes are taken from his other books.
When reading this book I noticed that much of its content was credited from another resource “The Maxwell Leadership Bible.” I have since purchased this book also and found another publication from Thomas Nelson Publishers; a New King James edition of the Bible with more detail comments on leadership.
I would recommend both of these books for anyone who is looking for great examples of leadership and leadership characteristics.
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This post is my participation in the book review series “Booksneeze.” Thomas Nelson Publishers provided the book.
Out Live Your Life is the newest book by Max Lucado. In its pages he challenges the readers to the fact that each of us is made to make a difference in the days we live but also leave a legacy for future generations. The challenge goes beyond being a good person but the call to be authentic Christ-followers, whose legacy invests in future generations by sharing the glory and grace of God.
Throughout the pages of the book we are challenged to think what living a life as a Christian should look like and then we are asked to be realistic and describe what Christians do look like. Lucado states that to be a real Christ follower takes courage and boldness. He does not leave us with this statement without giving us insight into how we can find boldness. On pages 81 and 82 of this book, Lucado shows us that we can find the strength to be bold by examining the life of Christ and making it a priority to be with Him daily through a personal, intimate relationship. These pages finish with these words:
“Would you be bold tomorrow? Then be with Jesus today. Be in His Word. Be with his people. Be in His presence. And when persecution comes (and it will), be strong. Who knows? People may realize that you, like the disciples, have been with Christ.”
The take away for me from this book is that our lives will out-live our life. However the question still remains: what will that legacy look like? I hope that my family and friends will be able to say that I was a Christ-follower who lived out that decision with boldness. I believe that is Max Lucado’s reason for writing this book.
This book review is my participation in BookSneeze by Thomas Nelson. For my participation in this blog carnival I was given a copy of the book to review.
In “Patton, The Pursuit of Destiny” by Agostino Von Hassell and Ed Breslin we find a brief biography of General George S. Patton Jr. The authors reveal to us the man Patton which cannot be separated from the General. From stories of his childhood, family history, military training and service to our country we find a man whose passion was to be a great military leader.
In the examination of Patton we are given insights to leadership, not just military leadership, which can be a reminder of how to lead people and teams to meet goals and overcome challenges. We also see in the examination of Patton a man, like all other men, who had flaws, which when left uncontrolled caused him not to be able to be a the leader he desired.
I feel that the authors of this book on Patton did an adequate job in relaying details of his life and career to help us see the person and his passion. There were times, during the chapters that focused on WWII, that I felt a little lost in the details of the war. There were pages of military detail that recounted how Patton’s decisions affected his subordinates. I do not know if this detail was necessary to support the thesis of the book.
I am glad I read this book and have filled a few pages in my notebook of the positive leadership lessons that were re-enforced through the study of George S. Patton Jr.
This book review is a part of my participation in the blogger book review service Booksneeze, through Thomas Nelson Publishers. As a part of my participation in Booksneeze I was given a copy of the book to review.
The Jesus You Can’t Ignore is written by John MacArthur a pastor from California, well known theologian and speaker. The central theme of the book is that message communicated by Jesus Christ while here on earth was a bold message, one that was not toned down for anyone or anything. MacArthur goes on to state that we should continue to communicate the same message with the same boldness.
Throughout the book MacArthur unpacks the dialog and events found in the gospels to support the theme of the book…Jesus message never changed and his communication of the message was bold, never softened for the circumstance or audience.
The second part of the book’s theme is the challenge by MacArthur, to Christ followers today to stand boldly in their faith, the gospel…the message of the cross and not water it down. MacArthur makes some bold statements about and against some of the trends of churches today where the norm has become to preach thematic feel good sermons in the guise of ‘relevancy.’ He believes these churches are doing harm to the body of Christ by this type of proclamation of the gospel…really a portion of the gospel.
Never in Jesus’ time on earth did He communicate that following Him and His teachings would be easy, in fact just the opposite. Jesus’ challenge was to give up everything for the cause.
I believe that MacArthur is right on track with the theme of “The Jesus You Can’t Ignore,” however I wish he had written a more concise form. I became frustrated reading the book when on almost every page we seem to chase secondary themes or restate the same thought over and over again. Through thorough editing I am sure that this book could have been cut in half and still communicated the same message.
Jesus’ message never changed and He never softened it to please the crowds, in fact just the opposite. The challenge from the author is true and today more than ever needs to be repeated and lived out: speak the message of Christ boldly, make disciples of men…not just good people who believe in a God.
This post is my contribution to the blog carnival Booksneeze by Thomas Nelson publishers. The copy of the book I read was provided by Thomas Nelson publishers.
