"Waiting patiently in expectation is the foundation of the spiritual life."
Simon Weil"Most of us think of waiting as something very passive, a hopeless state determined by events totally out of our hands. The bus is late? You cannot do anything about it, so you have to sit there and just wait. It is not difficult to understand the irritation people fell when somebody says, 'Just wait.' Words like that seem to push us into passivity. "But there is none of that passivity in scripture. Those who are waiting are waiting very actively...Active waiting means to be present fully to the moment in the conviction that something is happening where you are and that you want to be present to it. A waiting person is someone who is present to the moment, who believes that this moment is the moment."
Henri Nouwen (from Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas, p. 31)
Books I have written
Tod Bolsinger: It Takes a Church to Raise a Christian: How the Community of God Transforms Lives
Selected for an Award of Merit by the Christianity Today Book Awards in the Church/Pastoral Leadership category.Tod Bolsinger: Show Time: Living Down Hypocrisy By Living Out The Faith
This books is from start to finish a book for “everyday believers” living out their faith in the real world.John Mark Reynolds, Roger Overton, eds.: The New Media Frontier: Blogging, Vlogging, and Podcasting for Christ
I contributed a chapter to this discussion of how New Media helps--and hinders--communicating the old, good news.
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Leadership Bookshelf
Kevin G. Ford: Transforming Church: Bringing Out the Good to Get to Great
This is the best overall book on church leadership that I have read.Danny Meyer: Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business
Danny Meyer makes money selling what the church is supposed to be giving away for free.Jim Herrington: The Leader's Journey: Accepting the Call to Personal and Congregational Transformation
Pastor: Stop. Read this. now.Ori Brafman: The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations
This may be the best organizing principle for the church.Laurence Gonzales: Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why
How your brain works under stress and how to learn to survive and thrive. Much of what is here is refreshingly counter-intuitive.James P. Osterhaus: Thriving through Ministry Conflict: By Understanding Your Red and Blue Zones
This little book is a must-read for every pastor or church leader who wants to learn how to make good decisions in the complex church system.Peter Block: Community: The Structure of Belonging
"Leadership is convening." Great insights in community and change by a provocative thinker.Edwin H. Friedman: A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix
Douglas Stone: Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most
Jeffrey Miller: The Anxious Organization, 2nd Edition: Why Smart Companies Do Dumb Things
Henri Nouwen: The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society
A classic.Mark Lau Branson: Memories, Hopes, and Conversations: Appreciative Inquiry and Congregational Change
A helpful process for equipping communities to build on their strengths for future challenges.Jack Uldrich: Into the Unknown: Leadership Lessons from Lewis & Clark's Daring Westward Expedition
Jim Collins: Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't
This is the book that started me on the transformational leadership journey. I re-read it all the time and have most of the big concepts committed to memory.Jim Collins: Good to Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great
Applies the insights of Good to Great to non-profit organizations. Every senior leader should buy a copy for every board and staff member.
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