Top 8 Books OF 2008 FOR CHURCH LEADERS
2008 was a great year with regard to incredible books for church leaders. We've seen proven additions from Warren Buffett, Brian Tracy and John Maxwell, among others. As the old saying goes, all leaders are readers, and that's especially true of growing leaders. With that in mind, here’s the Top 8 Books of 2008 for Church Leaders:
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#8: The Snowball: Warren Buffett and The Business of Life In this startlingly frank account of Buffett's life, Schroeder, a former managing director at Morgan Stanley-and hand picked by Buffett to be his biographer-strips away the mystery that has long cloaked the world's richest man to reveal a life and fortune erected around lucid and inspired business vision and unimaginable personal complexity.
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#7: Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions Irrational behavior is a part of human nature, but as MIT professor Ariely has discovered in 20 years of researching behavioral economics, people tend to behave irrationally in a predictable fashion. Ariely's intelligent, exuberant style and thought-provoking arguments make for a fascinating, eye-opening read.
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#6: Speak to Win The ability to speak with confidence and deliver winning presentations can accelerate your career, earn people's great respect, and enable you to achieve your greatest goals. But what many people don't realize is that anyone can learn to be a great speaker, just as easily as they can learn to drive a car or ride a bike! Now, personal success expert Brian Tracy helps readers master the art of the winning speech- and use it to improve every aspect of their lives.
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#5: Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive Goldstein, Martin and Cialdini meld social psychology, pop culture and field research to demonstrate how the subtle addition, subtraction or substitution of a word, phrase, symbol or gesture can significantly influence consumer behavior. While written primarily for a marketing audience, this amusing book has equal value and appeal for executives, salespeople-even parents trying to persuade their kids to do homework.
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#4: The Complete Book of Discipleship: On Being and Making Followers of Christ The first book in The Navigator Reference Library, The Complete Book of Discipleship is the definitive A to Z resource on discipleship and disciple making for every Christian. Well-organized and fully indexed, you'll find included such topics as spiritual growth, transformation, spiritual disciplines, and discipleship in the local church. You'll find The Complete Book of Discipleship a trusted resource.
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#3: Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging and Outmarketing Your Competition In Silicon Valley slang, a "bozo explosion" is what causes a lean, mean, fighting machine of a company to slide into mediocrity. As Guy Kawasaki puts it, "If the two most popular words in your company are partner and strategic, and partnerstrategic is used to describe decisions and activities that don't make sense"...it's time for a reality check. Now, Kawasaki has compiled his best wit, wisdom, and contrarian opinions in handy book form. From competition to customer service, innovation to marketing, he shows readers how to ignore fads and foolishness while sticking to commonsense practices.
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#2: Leadership Gold: Lessons Learned from a Lifetime of Leading Maxwell shares 26 nuggets of wisdom based on his nearly 40 years of leadership. A practical guide, complete with exercises and "mentoring moments," this collection offers a blend of advice, professional wisdom and personal recollection. A solid addition to a crowded field, this book will be of value to seasoned leaders as well as those just starting out.
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#1: Axiom: Powerful Leadership Proverbs Winning leaders have winning points of view-succinct, practical, portable leadership proverbs that help them arbitrate decisions and rouse troops to action. In Axiom: The Language of Leadership, Bill Hybels reveals eighty God-given, from-the-gut truths that continue to raise his game and his vision, thirty-plus years into his local-church leadership experience.
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What books would you recommend? Email me your suggestions at Nelson@ChurchLeaderinsights.com.
Nelson Searcy is the Founding and Lead Pastor of The Journey Church in New York City. Since 2002, The Journey Church has grown from one family to over 1,100 in weekend attendance, over 500 baptisms and 1,300 in small groups! This groundbreaking church sees the majority of its growth coming from new believers and currently meets in six services in Manhattan, Jersey City and Brooklyn. Nelson is the author of the books Launch: Starting a New Church From Scratch, Fusion: Integrating Newcomers into the Life of Your Church and Activate: A Completely New Approach to Small Groups. Nelson is an experienced church planter, coach and church growth strategist. Before moving to New York, he served as the Director of the Purpose Driven Community at Saddleback Church. He is also the founder of www.ChurchLeaderInsights.com, the Church Leadership Training ministry of Nelson Searcy and The Journey Church of the City.
© 2008 Nelson Searcy
Church Leader Insights is a bi-weekly publication sent via email that focuses on effective leadership, church growth, church planting evangelism and much more.