Great by Choice was a great choice for my first business book of the year. I really have enjoyed Jim Collins books, the perennial best seller Good to Great and Built to Last have influenced much of my thinking in regards to leadership and business. If you are planning on leading others there is much food for thought in Great by Choice.

One of their findings that meshed with Good to Great was the other side of a Level 5 leader. The Level five leader is someone who blends extreme personal humility with intense professional will. In Great by Choice they highlighted the idea of intense professional will, that they had the discipline to stick to what was working and the paranoia to change if they needed to. At the same time they did not change without empirical data to tell that that was the right thing to do.

The study was done of companies that beat the average in their market by 10X earnings based on stock market prices.

Fanatic discipline: 10Xers display extreme consistency of action-consistency with values, goals, performance standards, and methods. They are utterly relentless, monomaniacal, unbending in their focus on their quests.

he signature of mediocrity is not an unwillingness to change; the signature of mediocrity is chronic inconsistency

Some of their more intriguing findings are that the very best companies actually take less risks than their average counterparts. They take calculated risks based on empirical data and are not swayed by others.

The old adage says it is better to be lucky than good. Collins and his team have found that while that may be true it is far better to be great than lucky. When you are great you are able to take the good and bad events and turn them into positive things for your company.

Leaders are often expected to meet huge challenges and our heroes are often people that are able to bring about positive change, I think F. Scott Fitzgerald would agree.

One should…be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise.” -F. Scott Fitzgerald

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pg 29 So this is a book of stories. The things that transform us, especially us “postmoderns,” are people and experiences. Political ideologies and religious doctrines just aren’t very compelling, even if they’re true. And stories disarm us. They make us laugh and cry. It’s hard to disagree with a story, much less split a church or kill people over one. And certainly no hurts others with the passion of those who it in the name of God, and it’s usually over ideologies and doctrines, not stories. Besides, people seem to loosen up after a good story. I think that’s why Jesus told so many stories.–stories about ordinary first-century Mediterranean life, stories of widows and orphans, debts and wages, workers and landlords, courts and banquets.

pg 63 At the beginning of their living with the homeless in Philly:

Later that same week another group of folks brought donations by St. Ed’s — the mafia. With he media jumping on the story, the mafia cam by and gave bikes to each of the kids, turkeys to each of family, and thousands of dollars to the organization. I thought to myself, I guess God can use the mafia, but I would like God to use the church.

Many younger writers share of hating the church they grew up in. Part of it is personality, but I don’t like negative talk. Partially it’s because it’s hard to hear people demean the bride of Christ knowing that a collection of imperfect people is going to be an imperfect gathering. Shane begins there but doesn’t dwell on it. In fact he says this: pg 64

At that moment we decided to stop complaining about the church we saw, and we set our hearts on becoming the church we dreamed of.

I have had the same thought in Cambodia. There are many Christians at work there but there are many more who are not motivated by the love of Christ who are just there to help. I know that God can use anyone I just wish the presence of his body was greater in a place like Cambodia where the need is so great.

pg 71

The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament. ~ Soren Kierkegaard.

One of the intriguing aspects of the book was Shane’s experience with Mother Teresa. He wrote her while in college asking if he could come for a summer. He didn’t receive a response so he continue to hound all the nuns he knew and that they knew until he was given her personal number and she invited him to come over. I often want to do great things. One of the quotes from Mother Teresa was,

“We can do no great things, just small things with great love. it is not how much you do, but how much love you put into doing it.”

pg 167 “The best things to do with the best things in life is to give them away.”

pg 254. Whenever someone tells me they have rejected God, I say, “Tell me about the God you’ve rejected.” And as they describe a God of condemnation, of laws and lightening bolts, of frowning grey-haired people and boring meetings, I usually confess, “I too have rejected that God.”

Over all I really enjoyed the book. There were moments when I was glad I was alone in the cafe I was reading the book as I was moved to tears by the accounts of love that he got to be a part of. I was nervous reading a book with an endorsement by Rob Bell but really enjoyed it and was left with some questions to think about and dialogue with others over.

Is capitalism bad?
He often rails against capitalism to me that’s kind of like railing against sex because some people rape kids. In a sinful world there are going to be people who misuse the gifts God gives us. I do want to wrestle with my thoughts on capitalism though.

Other questions:
Is there value in pursuing renewable energy on a personal level?
Does capital punishment teach that some are beyond redemption?
Should we always be against war?
Shane is a pacifist and why we all agree that war is hell on earth and is often used for evil my thought is if we were all pacifists the Axis powers would still be ruling the world and we’d all live under dictators. Still we probably should fight harder for peace then we do. Not sure what to do with this one.

Great stories, Great thoughts, Great Questions. Light on doctrine, heavy on trying to live out an authentic Christian life.

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Multnomah sent me this book because I ordered 150+ copies of Radical. I was a little bit cynical, so I didn’t read it for a while thinking that it was perhaps just a rehash of Radical. It was definitely my loss.

Radical Together is a great read for anyone whether you have read Radical or not, though I highly recommend Radical. Whereas Radical focuses more on the individual Radical Together talks about how the church can be unleashed to live out the gospel around the world for the Glory of God. Often after a good movie I will have the feeling of wanting to live my life in a way that makes a difference for all of eternity and not get bogged down in the day to day activities of life that can keep us from the most important things in life. I felt the same as I finished this book.

David Platt keeps going back to the sufficiency of Scripture and the need for the church to effectively make disciples. I have often thought that I wanted to do Church on the Side. As I was reading this book I had the thought, “I have have always wanted to do church on the side. Not to make it a smaller part of my life but a bigger part.” May Radical Together encourage you to make making disciples a larger part of your life God the sake of God’s Glory and his purposes being fulfilled in the world.

The clip below will give you richer taste of what the book is about.

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Wow! What a poor choice for the first book of the year. Not because the book is poor but because it is disturbing.

Daniel Walker is a Kiwi who spent 4 years of his life in undercover work to fight human trafficking with 3 different human rights organizations. He deals with some of the realities of fighting slavery in a blunt manner and does not sugar coat much. I do think there are some things that he left out and I wish that he had not had to change the names of locations but I am sure to most that won’t affect the impact of the book.

There is much to learn for those that are interested in being involved in bringing the love of Christ to the least and the last. I think it is a good read for those that do not want to directly get involved so that they can more effectively pray for those who are involved. Though I do not go out on investigations myself I work with those who do and feel the heaviness as they learn the stories of young girls and ladies on a weekly basis. I guess even the reason writing this is so difficult is because the fight is difficult and there are many casualties including Daniel Walker himself, in some ways.

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Having just visited Bastogne with my wife a few months ago I was keen to read a book regarding one of the central figures of WWII.

I really enjoyed the book as it combines a number of my favorite subjects, Business, Biography, Military and History. The ten leadership lessons that Geoff loftus pulls out were:
1. Determine Your Mission
2. Plan for Success
3. Stay Focused
4. Prioritize
5. Plan to Implement
6. Communicate
7. Motivate your People
8. Manage Your People
9. Avoid Project Creep
10. Be Honest

Not earth shaking leadership theory but great reminders as one seeks to lead. There were times when I felt the comparisons to business were a bit of a stretch for a military leader. One subject that the author belabored was how awful General Montgomery was and what a pain in the butt he was to lead. Probably the low point of Ike’s leadership was the he continued to put up with Monty long after Monty should have been sacked. I do agree with the author’s perspective but he said it so frequently it became annoying.

Overall I enjoyed the book and was impressed with Ike’s dedication to the military, his preparedness and his quick ascension to the highest rank in the army. He rose from Colonel to 5 star general in 3 1/2 years.

A bonus side note is that Camp David was so named after Ike’s grandson.

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As I read Humility:  True Greatness by C. J. Mahaney I thought it would be good for you. 

Striking Thoughts as I read the book:  I will try and mark all the page numbers in future posts but I was reading this book at a friend’s house and didn’t think to write them down as I was taking notes.

*pg 63.  here’s  a scary thought.  It’s possible to admire humility while remaining proud ourselves.

*In every step of our Christian growth and maturity, and throughout every aspect of our Christian obedience and service, our greatest foe is pride and our greatest ally is humility.

*The average peson speaks 25000 words a day.  Are yours more characterized by giving grace or corrupt speech?

*If you would be humble you must invite and purse correction.

*Application Suggestions offered by C. J. Mahaney for pursuing,not achieving, humility.

*How to Weaken Pride and Cultivate Humility

A list of suggestions

Always:

1. Reflect on the wonder of the cross of Christ.

As Each Day begins

2.  Begin your day by acknowledging your dependence upon God and your need for God.

3.  Begin your day expressing gratefulness to God.

4.  Practice the spiritual disciplines – prayer, study of God’s Word, worship.  Do this consistently each day and at the day’s outset, if possible.

5.  Seize your commute time to memorize and meditate on Scripture.

6.  Cast your cares upon Him, for he cares for you.

As Each Day Ends:

7.  At the end of the day, transfer the glory to God.

8.  Before going to sleep, reeve this gift of sleep from God and acknowledge His purposes for sleep.

For special purpose.

9.  Study the attributes of God

10.  Study the doctrines of Grace

11.  Study the doctrine of sin

12.  Play golf as much as possible.

13.  Laugh often and laugh often at yourself.

Throughout Your days and weeks:

14.  Identify evidences of grace in others

15.  Encourage and serve others each and every day

16.  Invite and purse correction

17.  Respond humbly to trails.

My book reviews are going to be more like book notes and potential applications.

I would give it 4 stars but definitely a good read if you are battling pride and striving to pursue humility.

I must admit that I also know that applying Mahaney’s principles for pursuing humility would be truly great for me as well.

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I have definitely not been reading enough novels and I thoroughly enjoyed this one.  I read this book on my first day of our vacation to Tokyo and Sapporo.  At one point I was actually lost in the book and forgot that I was on a crowded Tokyo Subway until my wife’s calls from across the Train brought me back to reality.

Mark said it well.  A little gruesome and gory but a fun read, nonetheless.

****

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I have held off writing a review of this book.

I wholeheartedly agreed with 90% of what T David Gordon says.  In fact, it challenged me as I would prepare messages after reading it.  Today as I popped in on a Super Bowl Party I saw about a third of the people on their laptops or iphones instead of watching the game and sharing with others.  Our intake of media is definitely shaping us and our relationships and I do not think it has been in a positive direction.

My main critique of the book is that if the sermons that we see in Scripture were put to the test by Gordon very few would get a passing grade from him.  I got the distinct feeling that he would be more at home with the Pharisees than the Disciples.

***

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Sometimes I feel as though modern books are larger than they need to be.  Authors will often fill them with fluff, filler and frivolous fiction.  Winfield Bevins can not be accused of this crime.  Rarely have I felt a book was too concise, though this may be one case in which that is true.

He begins by stating the problem with discipleship is that we have tried to automate and assembly line the process instead of letting it be organic and natural as it was intended.  His solutions are centering discipleship on the gospel, missional living of the church, planting new churches, and investing in men who will themselves be able to teach other men.  He also has a great challenge for men to be the leaders in their home and focused on discipling their families.

Over all a great read though I would have enjoyed some descriptions of what the process looks like in his context.

*** out of five.

By the way, as of Superbowl Sunday you can still download the book for free at http://www.plantboxx.com/winfield-bevins/e-book

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