Book summaries
Leader’s Edge summaries: the argument of a book in a few minutes. Page 12 of 21 · 485 in all.
The Wisdom Pyramid: Feeding Your Soul in a Post-Truth World
All of us deal with information overload. In an effort to help us consume a more balanced diet of information, Brett McCracken has created the “Wisdom Pyramid,” inspired by the food pyramid model.
Mission Drift: the Unspoken Crisis Facing Leaders, Charities, and Churches
This is a short book with a strong thesis and practical application. “Without careful attention, faith-based organizations will inevitably drift from their founding mission” (Kindle location 15).
Author Interview: Stephen M. Spaulding
The book argues that the Great Commission is “very individualistic as well as highly corporate and nation-focused and touches on all the social/communal elements in between these two poles: family, tribe, community, city and nation” (Kindle location 3705).
A Gentle Answer: Our ‘Secret Weapon’ in an Age of Us Against Them
We live in a defensive and divided era that is characterized by hatred, wrath, and antagonism.
Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership: Seeking God in the Crucible of Ministry
Ruth Haley Barton weaves together topics that her previous writings address with a focus on application for leaders.
Author Interview: Len Tang
This edited book—the eight contributors of which are church planters, seminary faculty, and network leaders—seeks to give church planters and their teams tools to be theologically reflective, spiritually grounded, and missionally agile.
The Generosity Secret: How to Get Out of Debt and Find Financial Freedom
Eventually our well runs dry. Perhaps we dug into the arid ground of perfectionism, anxiety, overwork, or self-promotion while doing ministry. Here’s a map to show where to dig deeply into the well-spring of God’s sustaining grace. With the help of Dallas Willard who personally mentored him, Bill Gaultiere has…
Author Interview: Thom S. Rainer
The book is written as a result of the author’s blogs, webinars, and church consultations with “tens of thousands of church leaders through the pandemic” (page 4), along with his coaching many leaders directly and speaking or writing to nearly a million others. It focuses on the following six challenges to the…
Ploductivity: A Practical Theology of Work & Wealth
Doug Wilson, a pastor, prolific blogger, and founder of numerous institutions, has written a book about productivity.
Treasure That Lasts: Trading Privilege, Pleasure, and Power for What Really Matters
In an age of chasing money and pleasure, we’ve created a culture of envy, emptiness, and depression. Youssef tells us that even the church has bought into worldly values of wealth and status, rather than shining the light of God’s glory on a dying world, and this is what impacts us in missions. Through the life of…
Author Interview: Lia McIntosh
The book is written by three generations of pastors, preachers, and leaders who seek to answers these questions: “Why are young adults, the most diverse in America, so difficult to reach by the traditional mainline church? What can be done about it? And how can we make ministry more effective?”
Uncharted: How to Navigate the Future
This book is broken into two parts. The first addresses why traditional predictive models fail while the second half attempts to address how we can understand what might be in the future.
Your Best Life In Jesus’ Easy Yoke: Rhythms of Grace to De-Stress and Live Empowered
Eventually our well runs dry. Perhaps we dug into the arid ground of perfectionism, anxiety, overwork, or self-promotion while doing ministry. Here’s a map to show where to dig deeply into the well-spring of God’s sustaining grace. With the help of Dallas Willard who personally mentored him, Bill Gaultiere has…
Rocket Fuel: The One Essential Combination That Will Get You More of What You Want from Your Business
This book put forth a simple thesis. The authors suggest that the best run organizations have a visionary leader and an integrator. The former is responsible for direction, ideas, and innovation.
Christian Martyrdom: A Brief History with Reflections for Today
In an age when we crave comfort, affluence, and freedom from pain, the larger story of global Christianity – from Christ, into the early church, and right up to the present – has been shaped by suffering and even martyrdom.
Author Interview: Dave Coles
This compiled and edited volume centers around Matthew 24:14, which serves as the basis for the title of the book.
Author Interview: Lauren Goldbeck and Lorajoy Tira-Dimangondayao
This edited volume sees Canada as a mosaic (“where, when intermingled, distinct individual pieces complete the whole”) and challenges the Canadian church to move beyond monocultural approaches to ministry, in light of the country’s migration and multicultural realities. It also seeks to inspire the church to embrace…
Your Life is Re-markable! Becoming the you that’s free to love
The author asks how do we become the person we were made to be? She points out that busy-ness, distraction, and lack of direction keep us from growth. If we don’t slow down and get some focus, we’ll stay as we are. We’ll miss out on who we were supposed to be.
Design Thinking for Training and Development: Creating Learning Journeys That Get Results
This is a practical how-to manual for applying design thinking to training programs. Design thinking, typically used in product development, is reworked to assist curriculum developers in creating and executing training programs.
Beyond Hospitality: Migration, Multiculturalism, and the Church
This edited volume sees Canada as a mosaic (“where, when intermingled, distinct individual pieces complete the whole”) and challenges the Canadian church to move beyond monocultural approaches to ministry, in light of the country’s migration and multicultural realities.
The Three-Box Solution: A Strategy for Leading Innovation
This is a simple strategy for creating innovation in an organization. The strategy is to focus on extending your current business model (Box 1), creating something entirely new (Box 3), and stopping activity no longer fruitful (Box 2). Each one has a significant impact on innovation.
Author Interview: Jim Mullins
The book uses the metaphor of symphony to understand and engage in mission. It focuses on three movements of this symphony; namely the stewardship movement, the service movement, and the spoken word movement. These movements of missional intentionality answer three big questions:
Pandemics, Plagues, and Natural Disasters: What is God Saying to Us?
Faced with mass suffering, such as the current COVID pandemic, plagues, and natural disasters, we may wonder whether God actually cares about all he has created, including us humans.
The Symphony of Mission: Playing Your Part in God’s Work in the World
The book uses the metaphor of symphony to understand and engage in mission. It focuses on three movements of this symphony; namely: the stewardship movement; the service movement; and the spoken word movement. These movements of missional intentionality answer three big questions: (1) “What is the church’s mission as…