Skip to main content

Christ-Centered Leadership


Some books grab you by the cover. This is despite the common knowledge that we should not judge a book so.

Some books grab you by the title. It's sharp, witty or currently relevant.

Some books grab you by the author, because you are familiar with something they've written before.

But some books grab you by content. Such is the case with Christ-Centered Leadership: The Incarnational Difference by David L. McKenna. I was handed this book by my conference superintendent and instantly wondered if this would be a book I would have to read. (No one tell my superintendent I said that.)

Though I always have a stack of books waiting to be read, I felt an urge to move this up to the top. Convenient, since I was given the book the day after I had just completed a couple of others I had been reading.

McKenna is from the same corner of the Church that I am, so I had heard his name before, though this is hist first book I have read. He has served as president at three different colleges. Now retired, he writes about Christian leadership with a breadth of experience and wisdom. But he understand, right from the beginning, that Christian leadership must have something different to offer.

"If Christian leadership development separates itself from secular theory at any point, it is at the cross of Christ."

He then uses Philippians 2:5-11 as the standard for which all leaders must strive. 'You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.' Using that as a starting point, we journey through those 7 verses to discover what Jesus modeled for all of us.

Using his own journey as an example, McKenna leads us deep into the mind of Christ, sharing both positive and negative examples. He concludes by discussing the incarnate model of Christ and how difficult it is to live out.

Discussing our calling, I liked that he did not mince words but provided a set of very difficult questions that every leader should be asking and asked. He gets very personal when talking about how connected our calling is to our passion. In fact, it is vital to the success of our mission.

Some leadership books can cause weariness just by reading the title. This one will give you a sense that you're with David in person, just relaxing and sharing stories. That makes this a book I would recommend.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Studies on the Go...Genesis

To be honest, I had not heard of Studies On The Go before being offered a review copy by my god friends at Youth Worker. But since I’m always looking out for study ideas, I said yes to this opportunity. Studies On The Go by Laurie Polich-Short has 30 studies. This particular edition is on the book of Genesis. Any book of the Bible can be daunting when you’re trying to interest and impact teenagers. But Genesis increases that difficulty due to the many questions that arise on the topic of creation. On top of that, you have the many stories of questionable characters that we often call heroes of the faith. Each study comes with great questions, not mindless Sunday School questions where every answer is Jesus. They also come with an optional activity to take the lesson a step further and create true impact. Add to that a weekly plan for students to go deeper and you have a winner of a study in one little book. If all the book studies are as well done as this one, I’d ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What Are You Capable Of?

I fancy myself to be just like Batman...without the money, the cave, the vendetta, the car and the cool belt. Other than that, we're pretty much the same guy. Does it help my case that I have a boy wonder? It's my son, but I'd take him over a dude in green tights any day. I've also imagined myself to be similar to Superman...you know, but without the super strength, speed, or that thing he can do with his eyes. Oh, and I'm also not from another planet. But he was a reporter and I like to write, though that hasn't been proven much by my blog. At least, not compared to what I used to write. The first time I write this post, it sounded like an apology. But that's not really the message I want to convey. Yes, I wish I were posting more. I also wish I had super strength or a cool utility belt, but those things aren't happening right now either. Maybe some day . The truth is I have been keeping busy. I'm not sitting back, sipping lemonade. I've never c...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Facebook Maybe

Granted, I'm a pastor. I have Type-A tendencies. Ok, my tendencies border on freakish OCD behavior patterns, but... Few things bother me more than the Facebook 'maybe'. I suppose I could go on and on about the grey areas of our society and the refusal of people to accept absolute standards. I could discuss the great need of people to accept that what is wrong for one person is likely wrong for everyone. I should certainly be concerned about mentioning that someone might have sin in their life. But I don't believe the Facebook 'maybe' is quite sin. Perhaps if I were coming up with new sins, I would add this to the list. But alas... Some might think the Facebook 'maybe' did not exist prior to the Internet, but they would be wrong. When I was in high school and asked a girl out on a date, I would normally be told that if they had no other plans, if nobody else called them, if there was nothing good on television and their hair did not need washing, then per...
5 comments
Read more