Books 4 U

Church Leadership Center This week a pastor wrote to one of our colleagues. He asked for recommendations of books to discuss with his church board (Consistory, Council, Elder Board). The email said, "Could you please recommend to me the 5 best books for consistories to read and discuss for the purpose of leadership development… " Several of us were asked to respond to the request. Here's a partial list of replies. You may find it helpful for personal reading or discussion with a leadership group of your own. Frost, Michael. Five Habits of Highly Missional People George, Carl and Logan, Robert. Leading and Managing Your Church Hestenes Roberta. Turning Committees into Communities Hunter III, George. The Apostolic Congregation Hybels, Bill. Courageous Leadership Keller, Tim. Center Church Ranier, Thom. Breakout Churches Ranier, Tom and Geiger, Eric. Simple Church Spry, Phil. Guerilla Evangelism Stanley, Andy. Deep and Wide Five Habits of Highly Missional People is a free e-book from the folks at Exponential. You can get to their free e-books by clicking here. This week I also had the privilege of spending time with church leaders in Kalamazoo, Michigan. We talked with a prospective candidate about becoming a Commissioned Pastor, developed a training plan for another, and created a leadership training sequence of courses for Centerpoint Church. Staff members of Centerpoint Church, who participated in a leadership development curriculum planning meeting, are pictured here. The group included lead pastor Jeff Port (center) and leadership development point person, Jason Olsen (center, right). Church Leadership Center has developed a model that includes a four-course core curriculum. It is already being used by Faith Church (Dyer, IN) and Fair Haven Church (Hudsonville, MI). The leadership development curriculum includes courses in spiritual formation, leadership, preaching, and church multiplication. For more information about adapting the CLC contextualized approach to leadership development within your congregation, simply reply to this email. While there are a variety of ways to raise up leaders, Church Leadership Center has a contextualized and mentored emphasis that works in partnership with pastors, churches, and other ministry groups to prepare congregational leaders for advanced levels of service. We do this by means of assessment interviews and reports; personalized training plans, classes, and certification so that participants are able to increase their effectiveness in all areas of church life. Click here for more information. To view videos about Commissioned Pastors and those who support them, click here. To read previous blogs, click here. Please forward this email to a lay leader or church staff member who may benefit from information about leadership development and Church Leadership Center. To contribute financially to CLC or to learn about options for leadership development in your church, reply to this email.