By: Andrea Lathrop on September 19, 2019
Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people or gifted people but for deep people.[1] This is one of my favorite all-time quotes. I read this from Richard Foster at just the right…
By: Digby Wilkinson on September 19, 2019
Cal Newports, Deep Work (1) , reminded me that being comfortable in my own ministry skin is a pleasant place to be after years of self observation through eyes of everyone else. It means I read leadership books or theology material with a degree of detachment because I’m not looking for the idea, concept or…
By: Jenn Burnett on September 19, 2019
A deep yearning for depth is arising. Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga gifted us the haunting tale of the exhaustion of living in the shallow places. Busyness has replaced meaning. Constant access to increasingly alarming headlines (hello click bait) are nurturing societal anxiety while entertainment addiction leaves us decreasingly socially active. Cal Newport draws out…
By: Rhonda Davis on September 19, 2019
Cal Newport, Computer Science professor at Georgetown, is perhaps more widely known for the imprint of his writing on the world of productivity. I enjoyed his book, Digital Minimalism, and am fascinated by his disciplined work and full life. Though there is much to digest in Deep Work, I gleaned two particular things from the…
By: Nancy Blackman on September 18, 2019
My goodness! This book offered many answers to my professional, academic, ministry, and personal life. PROFESSIONAL: As a co-owner of a business, many light bulbs went on! This helps me understand and have grace, a bit better, for people who communicate, decide, trust, and disagree differently than myself. On the flip side, I…
By: Rev Jacob Bolton on September 18, 2019
Cal Newport is an Ivy League trained, associate professor at Georgetown University. In America, this usually means you are a pretty big deal, and Cal Newport certainly is. Not because of his computer science research, which is the field he teaches at Georgetown, but because of his incredibly popular, mass media, self-help books. His collected…
By: Greg Reich on September 18, 2019
In the animated fictitious movie “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” the tiny Island of Swallow Falls’ entire culture and economy is based on sardines. The son of the local bait shop Flint Lockwood a wanna be inventor wanting to give the community more of a variety of food, so he designs a machine that…
By: Darcy Hansen on September 17, 2019
Muzungu. This is one of the first words I heard come out of the mouths of children running down dusty, bumpy roads as I traveled to home visits for my sponsored children when visiting Rwanda the first time. Extracting exactly what it meant depended on whom I spoke with. Some mentioned it meant a person…
By: Steve Wingate on September 16, 2019
I am an advocate for not going alone. Entrepreneurs that I have met, typically, hold their paths to success close to the vest. It’s a shame because the output from two kindred entrepreneurial spirits working together can be incredible. That goes for entrepreneurial-minded congregational leaders. Trust is an experience that creates powerful momentum compounding other…
By: Jer Swigart on September 16, 2019
A woman shaped by intentional decisions for international displacement, Erin Meyer not only allowed herself to become a culturally savvy leader, she narrated the dynamics of leadership that span cultural boundaries and borders in The Culture Map: Decoding How People Think Lead, and Get Things Done Across Cultures. From the onset of the book, Meyer…
By: Shawn Cramer on September 16, 2019
With my working title defining me as “Team Leader for International Missions Innovation,” Erin Meyer’s The Culture Map provides applicable insight. My R&D team exists “to innovate and expand opportunities to further God’s Kingdom around the world.” Working with people from differing cultures along Meyer’s eight continuums of cultural differences is a large part of…
By: John Muhanji on September 15, 2019
A culture of discipline is not a principle of business; it is a principle of greatness. This reminds me of King Solomon’s words of wisdom, “A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.” (Proverbs 22:1) I come from a culture that was raised on a…
By: Joe Castillo on September 15, 2019
Meyer, The Culture Map The Culture Map is a very precise book that I have ever read on culture. Even though it’s base on an anthropological approach to the business world, the book has many applicable insides that are very helpful for those working on a multicultural environment. First of all, when I was…
By: Harry Fritzenschaft on September 14, 2019
I had never read Good to Great and have always felt a bit like I missed out on digesting the principles of this oft-cited alleged inspirational leadership cult classic. Probably I should have covered this work within my MBA studies except that I completed my degree in 1982, and this source came out in 2001.…
By: Chris Pollock on September 14, 2019
School pride, Oxford has it. Perhaps school pride does not affect every school the way it does just a little for Oxford, the second oldest university in the world. The school can be a way in which students identify themselves. School colors are worn with pride; stories of founding and history are shared with reverence.…
By: Digby Wilkinson on September 14, 2019
Allow me to apologise. What follows is hastily put together. It lacks references, bibliography and may be slightly incoherent. I am leaving the country in a matter of hours and I am so excited I’m currently performing La Macarena while typing. It is not a visual symphony. I, however, do not care. In the beginning.…
By: Wallace Kamau on September 14, 2019
“Humble yourselves before God and you’ll be exalted[1]” is a cardinal rule for the success of the godly, coupled with diligence and could not have been a clearer advice to a wise and discerning leader than it is in Jim Collins (2017) book[2]. The title Good to great at the onset might suggest otherwise, especially…
By: Mary Mims on September 13, 2019
Children’s ministry is sometimes the stepchild of the church. Observations from a Facebook group on resources for children’s ministry show complaints of low budgets, scarce resources of all kinds, including lack of volunteers, and lack of dedicated spaces in buildings. Of course, this is not true for all churches. Many of the large churches make…
By: Rhonda Davis on September 13, 2019
There are many helpful lessons in Jim Collins’ research and writing. Good to Great offers practical help to those who are looking for ways to distinguish their organizations as thriving rather than simply surviving. However, more insight is gained when this book is paired with Collins’ companion work, How the Mighty Fall. These two books…
By: Nancy VanderRoest on September 13, 2019
I recently read a short story about leadership that intrigued me. It was thought-provoking and powerful in many ways because it helps put our role as ‘leaders’ into perspective. Judas Iscariot had… The best pastor The best leader The best advisor The best counselor …
