Books @ Leadership Network

Balancing the Entrepreneur, Manager and Technician in Ministry

The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael Gerber

This is not the typical book that I read because I have never been that interested in business till now, and because I was always frustrated by business practices in the church setting.  They have a place, but sometimes you have to ask yourself the question if you are running a business or a church?  I was never quite sure how they might go hand in hand.  That being said, this book has really presented to me some innovative ideas as far as how to approach not only a business, but the role of pastors/ministers in the Church.

In this book Michael Gerber basically makes the case that every business owner needs to balance three roles within their business if they are going to succeed.

1. Entrepreneur
2. Manager
3. Technician

This may not seem very innovative to many of you, especially those of you already running your business.  But I have tried to apply it more to the church setting, especially in the specific role of a pastor.  I believe (a lot from my own experience) that many pastors are gifted in 1-2 of those areas, but it's hard to find a pastor gifted in all three.  Are there exceptions?  Certainly.  Can a pastor learn to be all three? I think so.

Let's think about it in the context of the church and in the role of the pastor.

1. Entrepreneur--I think a lot of pastors are gifted in the role of being enterpreneurs.  Many thrive on brainstorming, dreaming, collaborating, etc.  They like casting a vision for the ministry, often thinking about how it will be carried out.  If a pastor is to be an entrepreneur it's more than just casting vision, but it's seeing where the ministry needs to end up, and then beginning the ministry in such a way that it can get there.


2. Manager--I think this is the one area that most pastors struggle the most, which is why you see the important role of executive pastor in many churches.  Pastors dream and cast vision, but are often unsure of the day to day necessities of the church, often leaving the details to those who are more detail minded.  Obviously the size of the church plays an important function, often dictating what jobs the pastor will or will not do in his or her role.


3. Technician--This is what most pastors love doing.  This is the pastor who gets up and preaches, meets with people.  It's often what drove them into ministry in the first place...which is the love of people and working with them...the gift of sharing the gospel and playing a part in the transformation of people's lives. 

According to Gerber, these three roles must be performed if a business is going to succeed. 

And I'm wondering if the role of the pastor needs to function in these three areas.  A pastor may delegate certain responsibilities out to others, and they may often work in teams.  But I'm starting to believe that a pastor needs to understand and have a sense of all three roles, finding a balance of the three in their own lives and ministries.

I think the book has some very innovative principles for business (and obviously this isn't a new book), but I think a church and/or pastor can apply these same innovative principles as well.

What do you think? 

Have you read the book?  What did you think about it?

How do you see the 3 functions of a small business owner being applied to a pastor?
Rhett Smith

Tribes by Seth Godin

I know Seth Godin's Tribes was reviewed not too long ago here, but I just wrapped it up and thought it was phenomenal.

The premise to the book is simple enough, a Tribe is a group of people connected to each other, to a leader and to an idea.

It's odd that the church of Jesus Christ has the greatest leader, with the greatest ideas, with such a splintered and weak tribes people. 

One 'innovation' from the book is the idea of tightening the tribe.  I wonder if after centuries of focusing on mass evangelization and conversions we've ruined our own tribe.

"Ultimately, people are most easily led where they wanted to go all along."

So often it seems like the church at large tries to get people to go where they have no interest in going in the first place.

What would it look like if we were really trying to create and lead a distinct and peculiar tribe with our churches rather than maintain programs or grow numbers?

Godin created his own triiibes network (which I was a day late on getting in before the book came out). Even though he advertises for people to join in the book, you'll notice that it's closed for new comers, because his tribe voted to keep it 'tight'. 

Now I want in even more.  If only our churches were this appealing.

Lon Wong / http://solarcrash.com

Great Interview with Andy Crouch on Creating Culture

I continue to be fascinated with Andy Crouch's view that Christians need to be cultivators of culture and even creators of new culture. Previous entries in this string reviewed Andy's book Culture Making and then featured an interview with Andy. Now here's a Q&A session with Andy, posted 11/7/08, that I find very helpful as well. I especially like his line: "You haven't changed culture when you critique culture--you haven't changed it until you've created culture."

Warren Bird, Ph.D., is Research Director at Leadership Network, and co-author of 19 books on various aspects of church health and innovation.

"The Likeability Factor" by Tim Sanders

Tim Sanders' book The Likeability Factor: How to Boost Your L-Factor and Achieve Your Life’s Dreams

This book reminded me of Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People which highly incluenced me as I was writing Peppermint-Filled Pinatas as a guidebook to help people who follow Jesus overcome the negative Christian stereotype.

Here are some insights:

Likeable People:

• Bring out the best in others.
• Get recognized.
• Outperform.
• Overcome life’s challenges.
• Enjoy better health.

Studies have found that “organizations with positive employee relationships produce 15 to 25 percent more productivity.”

“The choices you make don’t shape your life as much as the choices other people make about you.”

Before making a choice, people listen, believe, and assess value. People listen, believe, and value likeable people.

The Four Elements of Likeablility:

• Friendliness – “expressing a liking for another person” or “communicating welcome”
• Relevance – the extent to which a person connects with another person’s interests, wants, or needs.
• Empathy – “an identification with and understanding of another’s situation, feelings, and motives”
• Realness – someone who is genuine, true, and authentic

If you would like the full book overview, send me an email to eric@mosaic.org with the subject "Likeability Factor."

Eric Bryant, Mosaic, Los Angeles

Reverse Mentoring

I enjoyed reading Earl Creps’ Off Road Disciplines, but I was enthralled by Reverse Mentoring. The book is packed with so many transparent personal experiences it is like an intimate look not only into the emerging world, but also into his private life. Through these extremely personal and detailed stories Creps gives the reader a window into the emerging world with all of it new language, technology, music, and quirkiness.

The purpose of the book is to show the importance of allowing younger voices to speak into your life so that you are not only wiser but also more effective in how you relate to the changing world. If you are feeling out-of-date because you are over 40, this book will not only bring you up to date it will also show you have to keep up to date in a world set on exponential speed and lightning fast change. The key – let those younger than you teach you about their world and how they view things.

It’s a great book!

-- Bill Easum, www.billeasum.com

Sticky Church

It’s hard to argue with a church that has experienced phenomenal growth and that has a sustained 80% rate of participation in small groups. If the senior pastor writes a book about how they’ve made small groups work, it’s worth noting. And that’s the case with Larry Osborne of North Coast Church and his new book, Sticky Church.

Osborne writes in a very readable, conversational style (with a good dose of humor and cynicism). He makes a compelling case for their philosophy of “sermon-based small groups” in the first half of the book. The second half is the nuts-and-bolts of how North Coast puts it into practice. He talks about what a “fly on the wall” would observe in a group meeting, how leaders are recruited and trained, how groups are formed, and more. I especially liked the chapter “Why Cho’s Model Didn’t Work in Your Church,” which helped me understand several things I’ve seen in churches that have struggled to make their groups work.

So what’s not to like? Two things bothered me as I read Sticky Church. I’m a detailed person, and even the practical second part of the book left some questions unanswered for me. I would have appreciated a little more “here’s how we deal with this obstacle” instruction, particularly if I were using this as a textbook for launching or retooling groups. More importantly, I kept thinking, “There must be something more than sermon-based small groups fueling North Coast’s success.” I suspect that culture, leadership, and the worship experience, among other things, are critical factors, but these are downplayed in the book. In his emphasis on small groups, Osborne creates the impression that a pastor with below average preaching and leadership skills can have a dynamic church using this playbook.

Despite this critique, Sticky Church reminded me of a lesson from another great leadership book. Jim Collins, in Good to Great, talks about the hedgehog and the flywheel. The hedgehog concept calls us to keep it simple and focus on one thing we can do extremely well. The flywheel principle argues against looking for a “miracle moment,” asserting that success comes from steadily and relentlessly pushing in a consistent direction. Ultimately, North Coast’s results are clear evidence of these two concepts coming to life. We would all do well to pay attention.

Mike Bonem
SecondChair.blogspot.com