This book helps readers match who they are--their unique spiritual gifts, passions, temperament, talents, and leadership style--with the ministry area for which God designed them. A practical guide, it takes dedicated Christians step by step through the process of reaching their full potential for Christ's kingdom. This new edition of Maximizing Your Effectiveness puts multiple tools, inventories, and worksheets in the hands of readers to empower them to minister according to God's unique design and purpose for their lives.

    Every ministry leader wants to hear these words when they meet their Lord. But what does successful ministry look like?There are many books on leadership strategies and church structures, but this one looks at what matters most: the character and attitude of church leaders. It recognizes that the spiritual health of the church leaders in large part determines the spiritual health of the congregation and therefore the success of the ministry.In this short, punchy, challenging and at times surprising book, Rico Tice draws on decades of experience in church leadership to call fellow pastors and others with oversight of areas of church ministry to define success biblically, fight their sin, lead themselves and serve their churches.A must-read on pastoral leadership for pastors, elders, worship leaders, youth leaders and anyone else with a leadership role in church ministry.

    Great falls from ministry don't just happen either. A complex mix of factors both internal and external test the limits of your ability to minister wholeheartedly over the long haul. Senior pastor Brad Hoffmann and licensed professional counselor Michael Todd Wilson work with pastors removed from their place of service. The common experiences of these pastors revealed patterns that consistently contributed to burnout, ineffectiveness and moral failure. If such patterns can be predicted, the authors reasoned, can they be prevented?Preventing Ministry Failure is a personal guidebook for pastors and other caregivers to prepare them to withstand common pressures and to flourish in the ministry God has called them to. Work through the exercises and reflections individually or in conversation with your peers, and you'll find yourself better equipped for the challenges of vocational ministry, and more conscious of the presence of God leading you on and restoring your soul.

    Thus inspired, Coffin, former university chaplain at Yale, imagined a similar volume of letters.

    When they arrive for basic training they are soft, unfit and mentally weak. The recruit will have no idea what real discipline means. Up to that point, he has lived a life of weakness. He has given into all his natural impulses and has feasted on junk food, surfed the internet and generally lived far under his potential.Very soon he will be thrown into a cauldron of discipline. He will experience for the very first time a life of control and power. When he comes out on the other side he will be a new man. People who know these men will see a transformed person. This is the power of self -discipline.In this book, you will learn lessons in self-discipline from the masters of self-discipline.The Spartans and the Special Operations community is the heart and soul of discipline. The Spartans dont exist anymore but they left a legacy that still lives on today. The warrior tradition of the Spartans is built on a foundation of immense self-discipline.The Modern Special Operations Units carry on similar traditions of extreme self-discipline. Today you can use these lessons in your life to carve out any future you want. This book will guide you through the most important principles of self-discipline.It will show you how to take your life and transform yourself into a powerful individual if you choose to do so and take action.Let's take a look at what you will learn inside this book: The Science and Psychology of Self-DisciplineHow To Develop Self DisciplineSelf-Discipline and FreedomImproving Focus and ConcentrationForming Good Habits and Breaking Bad HabitsHow To Build Mental ToughnessDaily Self-DisciplineAnd Much much more...

     Most leaders agree. That’s one reason for a shift in the way many churches are discipling their kids and teenagers. Think of it this way: connecting kids and teens to a consistent leader who believes in God and believes in them is something the church can do that nothing else in culture does. CREATING A LEAD SMALL CULTURE, by Reggie Joiner, Kristen Ivy, and Elle Campbell, is for every leader of small group leaders. Strategy, best practices, training tips, and real-life stories from over 20 ministry leaders across the US and Canada—this book has what you need to create an effective small group culture in your church. _________________________________ “I’m fortunate to be surrounded by a staff who makes small groups for kids and teenagers a priority. That’s why the principles discussed in CREATING A LEAD SMALL CULTURE resonate so deeply with our church. This is a timely work that provides a much needed blueprint for churches everywhere who believe kids and teenagers should be a priority in their ministry.” —Mark Batterson, New York Times bestselling author and lead pastor, National Community Church “After 14 years as a lead pastor, I’m convinced more than ever that a healthy church is built around making small groups a priority. If you don’t connect kids and teenagers relationally with great leaders, you will sabotage the future and faith of a generation. That’s why CREATING A LEAD SMALL CULTURE is such an important book for your team. It’s a one-of-a kind manual to help every church create environments where kids can find a place to belong and someone who believes in the potential of their faith to change the world.” —Perry Noble, senior pastor, Newspring Church “CREATING A LEAD SMALL CULTURE gives you more than just random ideas to help you do small groups better. It promotes proven strategies that actually work. If you are serious about discipleship and want to build a team of adults who invest weekly in teenagers, you need this book. So read it carefully, and get ready to rethink how you do student ministry. I learned a lot!” —Doug Fields, author, speaker, co-founder of DownloadYouthMinistry.com “My wife, Wendy, and I have seen the benefits of small groups up close. Our daughter, Jesse, and our son, Cole, have been greatly influenced through small group leaders who share our values and yet speak to our kids from a different perspective. This has been a huge blessing to us as parents. As a pastor, I highly recommend CREATING A LEAD SMALL CULTURE to anyone who works with kids and teenagers. This is a smart, sustainable strategy with enormous generational impact.” —Jeff Henderson, lead pastor, Gwinnett Church “As a parent, leader, and researcher, my goal is that all kids will be surrounded by adults who lovingly help them be changed by Christ to change the world around them. This wise book gives your church the practical tools you need to make that goal a reality.” —Kara Powell, PhD, executive director of Fuller Youth Institute (FYI) “It’s one thing to see the potential in small groups; it’s another to create a church culture in which small groups thrive. CREATING A LEAD SMALL CULTURE is a must read for every senior leader and leadership team. In a masterful and engaging way, Reggie, Kristen, and Elle explain the behaviors every team can incorporate into their culture to see kids, teens, and families flourish through the ministry of the local church.” —Carey Nieuwhof, lead pastor, Connexus Community Church

    

    Kent Edwards recalls a story that late pastor J. Vernon McGee told about seeing children in South Africa playing a game of marbles in the dust with real diamonds. The precious stones were being handled with no regard for their true worth. Edwards fears the same thing happens today when preachers offer Scriptural truth to listeners without being completely overwhelmed by its greatness themselves in the process.Deep Preaching is his call to "rethink" preaching. Edwards helps preachers learn to preach the word in ways that will powerfully change the lives of hearers. He contends that sermons "need not settle comfortably on the lives of the listeners like dust on a coffee table." He encourages preachers to join him in casting off the lines that moor their ministries to the status-quo and make every effort to steer their preaching out of the "comfortable shallows." He urges them to preach deep sermons rather than superficial ones, moving "beyond the yawn-inspiring to the awe-inspiring, from the trite to the transforming."

    The personal restlessness and the continuous search of why the Lord chose twelve men to disciple revealed to Pastor Cesar Castellanos the model of the Government of twelve, which in this book is explained in detail. Also, this publication will be of great help in breaking schemes and will place your church, the leadership and all its ministry in a new dimension of power.

    God can save your church.Thom Rainer reveals seven findings of revived churches. Through new research, he figuratively dissects hundreds of churches that were on the path toward death. But they turned around. They revived. They did so in the face of facts and naysayers who told them it could not be done.Get ready to walk with us through the anatomy of churches that were revived because they chose to live. The choice is as simple as it is profound. Change or die. And now, in God's power, the choice is yours.

    We continue to watch consistent church attendance shrink, and our desire to reach the lost is infected with a need for self-validation by growing our numbers at any cost. If we believe that God wants his church to grow, where do we go from here? What is the future of the church?Drawing from his 20 years and 15,000 hours of consulting, author Will Mancini shares with pastors and ministry leaders the single most important insight he has learned about church growth. With plenty of salient stories and based solidly on the disciple-making methods found in Scripture, Future Church exposes the church's greatest challenge today, and offers 7 transforming laws of real church growth so that we can faithfully and joyfully fulfill Jesus's Great Commission.

    Although almost every leader has heard of these works, very few have read them in depth and applied the lessons they contain to their own life. This is a huge oversight. Both books contain wisdom and advice which is applicable to almost any situation a leader finds they are in. Both books have a reputation for being dense and difficult to understand. This is due to the fact that both were written in other languages and for other time periods. It can be difficult to know exactly what Sun Tzu and Machiavelli intended to convey with their words - and even less how to take action on the ideas. This has all changed.For the first time ever, the ideas of The Prince and The Art of War have been combined, updated and presented in a way which is easy to understand in our modern era. Previously hard to interpret concepts have been clarified and shown to be as useful in our own era as they were in the one for which they were originally written. By reading and taking action on this book entitled Sun Tzu & Machiavelli Leadership Secrets by author Anthony D. Jensen, you give yourself the chance to become the most effective leader you can be. You will learn how to use timeless principles of leadership, psychology and power to achieve everything you set out to do. Both your private and professional lives will benefit immensely from understanding and applying the leadership secrets of Sun Tzu and Machiavelli.

    We know that with Jesus life becomes richer."-Pope Francis, The Joy of the GospelIn her first book, Forming Intentional Disciples: The Path to Knowing and Following Jesus, Sherry Weddell, cofounder of the Catherine of Siena Institute, captured the attention of Catholics across the globe as she uncovered the life-changing power that accompanies the conscious decision to follow Jesus as his disciple.Now, in the groundbreaking Becoming a Parish of Intentional Disciples, she has gathered together experienced leaders and collaborators whose exceptional field-tested wisdom and enthusiasm for transforming Catholic parishes into centers of discipleship and apostolic outreach is both inspiring and practical.The authors consider: The role of intercessory prayer in parish transformation How "fireside chats" can help a pastor connect with his parishioners and call them to personal discipleship and mission The co-responsibility of lay people andpastors in the work of making disciples The revolutionary impact of a discipleship approach to youth ministry How one parish successfully fostered a culture of intentional discipleship, and much more As Sherry asks in her own chapter, "Are we willing to answer the call and pay the price necessary to become a new generation of saints through which God can do extraordinary things in our time?"

    A new expression of the church has been quietly growing. It's something of an experiment, but over the last ten years the church has been validating its ideas with sustained and growing results. At The Underground, being the church is not focused around a weekly gathering or church programs. It's about empowering individuals to respond to God's call to ministry and mission, especially to the poor and disadvantaged in our midst.While many churches talk about discerning calling and engaging in mission, very few are structured to make this their ministry focus. Underground Church is a new vision for the church rooted in its biblical mission to share the love of God and serve the poor. Sanders explores how to make structural changes, how to think about leadership, how to fund ministries, and how to truly engage people in God's mission. Filled with creative insights, he explains what it means to center the mission of the church around the callings of individuals to outward ministry - whether that involves leading Bible studies in the workplace, feeding the homeless, or working to free women and children from sex trafficking.This book will both tell the inspiring story of a church that is rethinking what church looks like while also outlining and uncovering the principles that transfer for every church and Christian community that hopes for more. It's the true story of a 10-year experiment that unpacks the possibilities of a church structured and streamlined for mission.

    Is it growing? Is it diminishing? Is it somewhere in between? Acclaimed church leader, blogger, and founder and chief strategic officer of The Unstuck Group, Tony Morgan has identified the seven stages of a church's lifecycle that range from the hopeful and optimistic days of launch, to the stagnating last stages of life support.Regardless of the stage in which you find your church, it carries with it the world's greatest mission—to "go and make disciples of all the nations . . ." With eternity at stake the Church should be doing most everything within its power to see lives changed forever. The Church should strive for the pinnacle of the lifecycle, where they are continually making new disciples and experiencing what Morgan refers to as "sustained health."In The Unstuck Church, Morgan unpacks each phase of the church lifecycle, and offers specific and strategic next steps the church leader can take to find it's way to sustained health . . . and finally become unstuck.The Unstuck Church is a call for honest an assessment of where your church sits on the lifecycle, and a challenge to move beyond it.