Book Reviews: Leadership/Pastoring

This is the second in my series of blog posts on books I've read so far in 2014. My review system, as well as my reviews of the fiction books I've read (mostly for my boys, now that I look at it) can be found here. Here are my thoughts on the leadership/pastoring books I've read so far this year.

Leading Up by Joel Mayward: This is a leadership fable (or parable) in the style of Patrick Lencioni's stories. However, though the principles could be used in a secular position, it's primarily written for (and about) a church situation. The point of the story is teaching the principles of how to influence leadership over you in a humble, Godly way, what the author calls, "leading up." He lists five needs, and one strong recommendation for the person who wants to lead up. The story does a good job of showing the process and principles, though not quite to the excellence of Lencioni (in my opinion). Then the last third of the book has the explanation and break down of how it works. These principles (needs and recommendations) are excellent, and very well explained. I give this book a 4/5 stars for quality and for impact, as I continue to be challenged by the thoughts from the book. I would encourage the reader to follow this book with the podcasts by Andy Stanley called, "How To Lead When You're Not In Charge" from May and June of 2014.

Letters To A Young Pastor by Calvin Miller: This was a good book of just what it sounds like - letters from Calvin Miller to pastors on how to shepherd people well. He covers such topics as being culturally relevant while staying Biblically true, your personal walk with Jesus, writing a sermon, and simply how to work with/deal with/care for people in the congregation (easy and difficult). I loved his balance between dealing with real feelings of frustration, anger, and even fear, and allowing Christ's grace to flow through us anyway. His personal stories (and their were many) were encouraging and helped keep the book interesting, while also making his point. It also gave me, as a younger pastor, permission to make mistakes and survive rather than fear trying new things, or pursuing difficult things (like relationships). The one thing I continue to wrestle with is what does it look like to equip the saints while shepherding the sheep. I think he wrestles with this as well, but tends to lean strongly towards more about shepherding rather than equipping the saints to do his work... and His work. It's not a life changer in how I do ministry, but it was good. I'll give it a 3/5 stars.


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