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Title: Spiritual Leadership: Moving People to God's Agenda by Richard Blackaby, Henry T. Blackaby ISBN: 0-8054-1845-8 Publisher: Broadman & Holman Publishers Pub. Date: June, 2001 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.88 (8 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Must Reading for Novice Preachers
Comment: I am a big fan of Blackabys Experiencing God and was looking forward to reading his book on Spiritual Leadership. It was not what I expected. It is an excellent book on leadership, but it is more of a primer novice for leaders than a book for experienced leaders who want to sharpen their leadership skills and character.
But as a primer, it is excellent. Blackaby leads the reader though a list of topics to equip pastors to be spiritual leaders. It runs the gauntlet from The Leaders Challenge to The Leader's Pitfalls and just about everything in between. Like Experiencing God, the Blackabys intersperse their personal experiences with Spiritual Leadership as application.
What makes this book unique is Blackabys emphasis on the spiritual part of leadership. They reject the influence of business models of leadership, specially Collins and Porras advice in Built to Last (BEHAGs - Big Hairy Audacious Goals) and urge the reader to recognize the work of God in the world and to join God in his work.
The authors discussion on vision gives the reader an example of how the Blackabys view spiritual leadership. They criticize leaders who try to get people to buy into their vision. Spiritual leaders should not sell vision, they say; rather, they share what God has revealed to them and trust that the Holy Spirit will confirm that same vision in the hearts of their people. So the job of the leader is to bring the people face to face with God so they can hear from God directly and not through the leader. The Blackabys, however, fail to adequately inform the pastor how to do this. The obvious consequence of this kind of vision casting is that pastors with weak leadership skills would observe where God is at work, ineffectively communicate that vision to their congregations, meet internal resistance, and then conclude that this must not be where God is leading them.
For instance, the Blackabys are Baptist. The averaged Baptist pastor stays in his church for only about 2.5 years. There is a reason for this. Although most Baptist churches are board led, they are for all intents and purposes congregational in their polity. Thus, in many churches, even the most inane proposal must be but through a relentless series of committees and votes. This kind of governance does not tolerate strong leadership very well. If the pastor has a vision from God, he must communicate that vision and trust that the Holy Spirit will confirm it in the hearts of a committee system. This assumes that everyone on all those board and committees is listening to God and is seeking God. In reality, the pastor gets something else; he gets an agenda that is set by the least spiritual, most obstinate member of the congregation.
There is an ethereal quality about leadership that many good leaders do not understand. They have it and they assume that the rest of us, if we just do what they do, will have it. But leadership is much more difficult than this. In this regard, John Maxwell, Oswald Sanders and Bill Hull do a much better job equipping pastors to be leaders. It is a good book, but my fear is that weak, timid leaders will use it as an excuse to do nothing.
Rating: 5
Summary: Free your soul
Comment: This is a great book that will open your eyes and move you towards God. Not only will you be inspired to see all the beauty around you but your soul will transform and embrace the beauty within you. Two other spiritual books that will have the same effect on you are The Butterfly by Jay Singh and The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo. Free your soul.
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent source for the spiritual leader!
Comment: Having read several leadership books as an Air Force Officer and seminary student, I can honestly say that this is the best book on the subject I have ever read! Blackabay's fluent writing style is consistent with his other titles, notably "Experiencing God" and "The Power of the Call". At the very beginning Blackaby differentiates between worldly leadership and spiritual leadership.
Throughout the book Blackaby describes his own leadership experiences and includes interesting stories of famous leaders (Truman, Reagan, Churchill, Thatcher, Napoleon, and Iacocca). As a minister, Blackaby also draws upon several examples from the Bible (Moses, Abraham, Joshua, David, Paul, etc.) and how they prospered and struggled in their God-called responsibilities.
Particularly compelling were the descriptions of: the 3 types of worthy and misguided goals, how a leader influences, time wasters, pitfalls of leadership, having God's affirmation, God's ways are different from the world's ways, improving decision-making, taking time for rest, and relying on the Holy Spirit/prayer/God's Word/wise counsel to make and stick with hard decisions.
Whenever I read a book I like to list on the inside front covers the page number and synopsis of a particularly interesting point or thought for easy reference. When I finished reading this gem the entire inside front cover was chock full of notes! Needless to say, this text will be referred to several times in the future.
Everyone will greatly benefit from this book: the Christian believer will gain great encouragement to lead from a biblical viewpoint while the non-Christian will be encouraged to consider life from the Christian point-of-view. With the failures the world has recently seen in religious and secular leadership, Blackaby's text is a timely arrival. His book is a welcomed relief from the rah-rah-rah motivational hype of other "leadership" books.
I recommend anyone in a leadership role (and everyone is a leader in some way) to buy the book, get a pen/pencil to take notes with, and learn how to become a better leader!!!!!
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Title: Spiritual Leadership: Principles of Excellence for Every Believer (Commitment to Spiritual Growth) by J. Oswald Sanders ISBN: 0802467997 Publisher: Moody Publishers Pub. Date: March, 1994 List Price(USD): $12.99 |
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Title: Courageous Leadership by Bill Hybels ISBN: 031024823X Publisher: Zondervan Pub. Date: 01 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.99 |
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Title: Hearing God's Voice by Richard Blackaby, Henry T. Blackaby ISBN: 0805424938 Publisher: Broadman & Holman Publishers Pub. Date: September, 2002 List Price(USD): $17.99 |
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Title: The Making of a Leader by J. Robert Clinton ISBN: 0891091920 Publisher: Navpress Pub. Date: October, 1988 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Experiencing God : Knowing and Doing His Will - Workbook by Henry T. Blackaby, Claude V. King ISBN: 0805499547 Publisher: Lifeway Christian Resources Pub. Date: November, 1993 List Price(USD): $21.00 |
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