A passionately presented, faith-based guide to leading others.
Principles of leadership, as seen through a Christian lens.
Bourgond (Setting Your Course, 2014), a minister and founder of Shoreview, Minnesota–based Heart of a Warrior Ministries, takes a decidedly faith-based approach to leadership in this skillfully written book. The quirky title (and the subtitle, “Principles and Practices You Can Chew On”) refer to a variety of leadership strategies, techniques, and tips, compiled into brief chapters that one can fruitfully read randomly or in order. It’s a broad-brush, somewhat haphazard approach, but it’s neatly organized into three sections, dealing with thought, emotion, and implementation. In the first part, titled “Head,” Bourgond appropriately discusses such key leadership attributes as prioritizing, making good decisions, adjusting expectations to reality, and overcoming barriers. The second part, “Heart,” offers chapters on topics such as “Values,” “Integrity,” and “Centering,” which focus more on one’s character and approach to life. The longest, most process-oriented part, “Hand,” concludes the book and addresses typical leadership issues, including establishing goals and objectives; recruiting, interviewing, and developing other potential leaders; motivating individuals and mobilizing teams; and resolving conflicts. These are all covered diligently but lightly, without a lot of depth. This is standard fare for leadership books, but this work’s unabashedly religious overtone distinguishes it. Each chapter features a sprinkling of excerpts from or references to Scripture; throughout, the author weaves his deeply held Christian beliefs, driven by “five major ministry insights” that center on “godly leadership,” with more typical, secular content. For example, to describe a leader “from a biblical point of view,” Bourgond excerpts this definition by Dr. J. Robert Clinton, a leadership professor at California-based Fuller Theological Seminary: “A leader is a person with a God-given capacity and a God-given responsibility to influence a specific group of God’s people toward his purposes for the group.” As a result, this book will likely appeal most to religious leaders and other devout Christians.
A passionately presented, faith-based guide to leading others.Pub Date: May 23, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5320-4718-3
Page Count: 284
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: Aug. 6, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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