I recently finished reading Seven Lessons for Leading in Crisis by Bill George. This is a short book that explains basic leadership lessons as described in the names of each chapter:
- Face Reality, Starting with Yourself
- Don’t Be Atlas; Get the World Off Your Shoulders
- Dig Deep for the Root Cause
- Get Ready for the Long Haul
- Never Waste a Good Crisis
- You’re in the Spotlight: Follow True North
- Go on Offense, Focus on Winning Now
I found the first three chapters to be particularly helpful. I have a tendency to try to take all the responsibility for getting things to turn around if I am part of a team that is facing a crisis. It was helpful to be reminded to be honest with myself, share responsibility and look for the root of the problem. While the focus of this book is on business leaders, I found solid parallels with leadership in the church. The guidance is illustrated well by narrative examples of leaders who have performed well or poorly in crisis. I found this to be a helpful technique.
I recommend this book to people looking for an easy read that provides pithy guidance on leadership.
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book free of charge from the publisher.
I just finished reading 
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by Ron Martoia to be an excellent book that reaffirms the importance of telling the whole story in scripture when having spiritual conversations with non or nominally religious people. Martoia asserts that a focus on the brokenness of people without telling of the creation of humanity in God’s image is inadequate. Martoia addresses the various aspects of a spiritual conversation including: context, biblical text and human text. He suggests that structuring spiritual conversations based on these three texts will prove more fruitful than focusing on just one of these aspects.
I received Only Nuns Change Habits Overnight, by Karen Saclf Linamen with a slight hesitancy. I thought that this book would be only for women and I would struggle moving through it from beginning to end. I was wrong.
by Matthew Peters is a book unlike any other that I have experienced before. Through a series of questions on many topics the author guides the reader through a discernment process. It is designed to be used in any order, at one time, or across a period of time.
The Greatest Words Ever Spoken: Everything Jesus Said About You, Your LIfe, and Everything Else (
Most if not all difficult conversations have similar patterns from which lessons can be learned to better engage in them. This is the basic assertion of the authors of 
I enjoy listening to good music and the new self-titled album from 
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