The New York Times recently had an article on rising burnout among clergy entitled "Taking a Break from the Lord's Work." The article was followed by a thoughtful op-ed entitled "Congregations Gone Wild."
Pastors today need courage to speak truth to their congregations. They also need trusted advisors whom they respect to pray with and talk though these issues. I also encourage pastors to read Eric Metaxas' biography Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy -- A Righteous Gentile Versus the Third Reich to gain perspective and courage.
Mac Pier, president of the New York City Leadership Center, has written a superb book that describes spiritual leadership in the New York City region. Pier is a strategic thinker and a relational connector. He is a hub in the greater New York City network of pastors. This combination, along with a love for his adopted city, makes Mac Pier uniquely situated to see the top-down, 30,000-foot, strategic opportunities and challenges of the Church in NYC, while also knowing what is happening bottom-up, from being on the ground in churches throughout the region.
"Spiritual Leadership in the Global City," includes inspiring stories of many churches in the region and the courageous pastors who founded and their successors who lead them today. It describes the diverse challenges facing pastors whether they serve immigrant populations who struggle with financial poverty in locations such as the Bronx or Brooklyn, or the affluent classes in Greenwich, Connecticut who struggle with time poverty.
In this outstanding new book entitled "After You Believe," NT Wright makes the case that once you have chosen to follow Christ, God wants you to become Christlike by developing Christian character. This is an act of co-creation requiring the work of the Holy Spirit and effort on each Christian's part. The character values Wright points to are the Christian virtues of hope, faith and love which are expressed another way in Galations 5:22-23 as the nine fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.
Chris Dorobek, the well-respected talk show host of Federal News Radio in Washington, D.C, recently interviewed Jason Pankau and me about employee engagement and strategic alignment based on an article Jason and I wrote for the award-winning Leader to Leader Journal entitled "To Boost Performance, Connect with the Core." You can listen to the unedited radio interview at this link.
Even though we’ve lost a great coach and teacher with John Wooden’s death, he left a legacy that that is especially relevant today: his virtuous leadership style.
What really set Wooden apart, was that his players and people who met him could tell that he cared for them as human beings. Wooden once said he became closer to some of his players who weren’t starters because he wanted them to know he valued them. Feeling connected to their coach helped keep the non-starters fired up.
Jason and I just wrote an article that was published in the Leader to Leader Journal founded by Pater Drucker. The article features the stories of two Christians who are leaders but in very different contexts: the US Navy and the rock band U2. Admiral Vern Clark was chief of the US NAvy from 2000-2005. Bono is the leader of the U2. The Leader to Leader Institute posted the article on its website. You can read it at this link.
Posted by: Michael Stallard
in Michael Stallard on Jul 13, 2010
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This weekend, my wife and I went for a rare weekend getaway to Boston, about a three hour drive from our home in Connecticut. Â Our primary interest was to see the home of John and Abigail Adams and their son John Quincy Adams. Â Katie and I much admire the Adams's for their character, their faith and the positive impact they had America.
As it turned out, Sunday was the birthday of John Quincy Adams. Â When we visited the tombs of the Adams's we saw a wreath on John Quincy Adam's tomb sent from President Obama.
The highlight of the trip for me was seeing the Mendi Bible that was given by the Mendi men to John Quincy Adams in thanks for representing them in their successful case to win their freedom, a case that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Â The Mendi Bible is kept in a safe except on the weekend of Adams's birthday when it is on display in the Adams library adjacent to the Adams's home in Quincy, Massachusetts.
Jason Pankau and I were recently guests on LeaderLab's podcast interviews available online or at iTunes. LeaderLab's podcasts are hosted by David Burkus. David's past guests on LeaderLab's podcasts have included Marshall Goldsmith, Daniel Pink and Steve Farber. Check it out.
Book Review: Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy – A Righteous Gentile Versus the Third Reich by Eric Metaxas
Eric Metaxas has done for Dietrich Bonhoeffer what David McCullough did for John Adams. This book is enthralling, inspiring and illuminating, and it provides the context to better understand Bonhoeffer and his views. I started reading Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy -- A Righteous Gentile Versus the Third Reich this week and have not been able to put it down.
