Free Church Leader ArticlesFree Church Leader Articles
By Nelson Searcy


Top 10 Books Of 2011 For Church Leaders

The year 2011 produced some powerful new reads from some of my favorite authors, including Jim Collins, Billy Graham and John Maxwell, plus a handful of new favorites.

You know what I say, "all leaders are readers."  And that's especially true of growing church leaders. With that in mind, here's the Top 10 Books of 2011 for Church Leaders:

Replenish: Leading from a Healthy Soul

#10:

Replenish: Leading from a Healthy Soul
by Lance Witt

Every leader functions on two stages--the front stage or public world, and the back stage or private world. One cannot lead successfully front stage when one is completely depleted back stage. In a time when pastors are leaving the ministry in record numbers due to cynicism, disillusionment, weariness, and personal scandals, there is an urgent need for soul care in the private lives of leaders.

Learn More!

What They Didn't Teach You in Seminary

#9:

What They Didn't Teach You in Seminary
by James Emery White

In churches today, there are ever fewer older pastors speaking into the lives of younger leaders, and fewer younger leaders feeling there is much to be learned from the experience of their elders. Street-smart wisdom is gone from training as there are many men and women preparing pastors who have never themselves pastored a church. Intriguingly, even older, more seasoned pastors yearn for insight into their task, as they remain "undiscipled" in the school of leadership.

In What They Didn't Teach You in Seminary, veteran pastor James Emery White provides the kind of mentoring young pastors desperately need but cannot get from academia or leadership books. These "from the trenches" insights will help them transform their relationships with staff and parishoners, develop healthy boundaries, deliver hard truths, avoid spiritual pitfalls, use their time effectively, and much more.

Learn More!

Move: What 1,000 Churches Reveal about Spiritual Growth

#8:

Move: What 1,000 Churches Reveal about Spiritual Growth
by Greg L. Hawkins

One of the church's primary responsibilities is to foster genuine spiritual growth in people's lives. Today's pastors bring tremendous effort and passion to this task, but they are often disappointed by people who sit in the pews for years, knowing about Jesus but never really knowing him. In 2004, Willow Creek Community Church in suburban Chicago undertook a three-year study to measure spiritual growth called the REVEAL Spiritual Life Survey. Over the next six years, additional data was collected from over a quarter million people in well over a thousand churches of every size, denomination, and geographic area. Move presents verifiable, fact-based, and somewhat startling findings from the latest REVEAL research, drawing on compelling stories from actual people---congregation members of varying spiritual maturity, as well as pastors who are equally candid as they share their disappointments and their successes. It provides a new lens through which church leaders can see and measure the evidence of spiritual growth. The local church is uniquely equipped to foster spiritual growth and challenge people to pursue a life of full devotion to Christ. Move helps pastors and church leaders inspire and direct that challenge with confidence as they lead their congregations to move closer to Christ.

Learn More!

How to Wow Your Church Guests: 101 Ways to Make a Meaningful First Impression

#7:

How to Wow Your Church Guests: 101 Ways to Make a Meaningful First Impression
by Mark Waltz

For every innocent man sent to prison, there is a guilty one left on the outside. He doesn't understand how the police and prosecutors got the wrong man, and he certainly doesn't care. He just can't believe his good luck. Time passes and he realizes that the mistake will not be corrected: the authorities believe in their case and are determined to get a conviction. He may even watch the trial of the person wrongly accused of his crime. He is relieved when the verdict is guilty. He laughs when the police and prosecutors congratulate themselves. He is content to allow an innocent person to go to prison, to serve hard time, even to be executed.

Learn More!

Outrageous Advertising

#6:

The Five Levels of Leadership
by John Maxwell

True leadership isn't a matter of having a certain job or title. In fact, being chosen for a position is only the first of the five levels every effective leader achieves. To become more than "the boss" people follow only because they are required to, you have to master the ability to invest in people and inspire them. To grow further in your role, you must achieve results and build a team that produces. You need to help people to develop their skills to become leaders in their own right. And if you have the skill and dedication, you can reach the pinnacle of leadership-where experience will allow you to extend your influence beyond your immediate reach and time for the benefit of others.

Learn More!

The Little Big Things: 163 Ways to Pursue EXCELLENCE

#5:

Change Anything – The New Science of Personal Success
by Kerry Patterson

A stunning new approach to how individuals can not only change their lives for the better in the workplace, but also their lives away from the office, including (but not limited to) finding ways to improve one's working relationship with others, one's overall health, outlook on life, and so on.

Learn More!

Everyone Communicates, Few Connect

#4:

Nearing Home: Life, Faith, and Finishing Well
by Billy Graham

In this moving narrative, Billy Graham once again takes up the pen not only to share his personal experience of growing older but also teach us some important lessons on how to view our time here on Earth. He says that the Bible makes it clear that God has a specific reason for keeping us here. So what is His purpose for these years, and how can we align our lives with it? How can we not only learn to cope with the fears and struggles and growing limitations we face but actually grow stronger inwardly in the midst of these difficulties?

Learn More!

Bod 4 God: The Four Keys to Weight Loss

#3:

The Mackay MBA of Selling in the Real World
by Harvey Mackay

The legendary Harvey Mackay is back with the sum total of decades of sales know-how-teaching go-getters how to make the sale and hit the numbers, day in and day out.

In his irrepressible and irreverent style, Mackay shares decades of solid-gold selling wisdom, with inspirational lessons such as:

• Big shots are just little shots who kept shooting
• Helping someone up won't pull you down-and could very easily pull them to your side
• Be like the turtle: If he didn't stick his neck out, he wouldn't get anywhere at all

Covering everything from how to find the right mentor to earning the loyalty of your customers to overcoming rejection, Mackay delivers road-tested, real-world selling advice that has stood the test of time.

Learn More!

Wrestling with Alligators, Prophets and Theologians

#2:

EntreLeadership: 20 Years of Practical Business Wisdom from the Trenches
by Dave Ramsey

Your company is only as strong as your leaders. These are the men and women doing battle daily beneath the banner that is your brand. Are they courageous or indecisive? Are they serving a motivated team or managing employees? Are they valued?

Your team will never grow beyond you, so here's another question to consider.  Are you growing? Whether you're sitting at the CEO's desk, the middle manager's cubicle, or a card table in your living-room-based startup, EntreLeadership provides the practical, step-by-step guidance to grow your business where you want it to go.

Learn More!

The Truth about Leadership: The No-fads, Heart-of-the-Matter Facts You Need to Know

#1:

Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck – Why Some Thrive Despite Them All
by Jim Collins

Ten years after the worldwide bestseller Good to Great, Jim Collins returns with another groundbreaking work, this time to ask: Why do some companies thrive in uncertainty, even chaos, and others do not? Based on nine years of research, buttressed by rigorous analysis and infused with engaging stories, Collins and his colleague, Morten Hansen, enumerate the principles for building a truly great enterprise in unpredictable, tumultuous, and fast-moving times.

Learn More!

What books would you recommend?
Email me your suggestions at Nelson@ChurchLeaderinsights.com.

More Free Stuff...


Downloaded Over 46,000 Times!

Get Nelson Searcy’s “Healthy Systems, Healthy Church” E-book FREE! This FREE E-book will help you determine the current health of your church's systems and give you practical help as you lead your church to greater health and effectiveness.

First Name:
Last Name:
Email:
Title:


Nelson Searcy BlogNelson Searcy

Grow Your Church This Summer Webinar – Your Special Code to Register for FREE

While most pastors assume Summer is a time of struggle and suffering, it IS possible to leverage the Summer months to grow your church. And I’d like to show you exactly how next week! BEAT THE SUMMER SLUMP AND GROW YOUR CHURCH My Grow Your Church this Summer Online Training is normally $49 to attend. But through this exclusive post, you have a special code that will allow you to ... Read More

The post Grow Your Church This Summer Webinar – Your Special Code to Register for FREE appeared first on Church Leader Insights.

Read More