Showing posts with label leadership. Show all posts
Showing posts with label leadership. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
The Next Christians: How a New Generation Is Restoring the Faith, by Gabe Lyons, describes the defining characteristics of the “new” type of Christian that is emerging among the paradigm shift occurring in American Christianity. As the Church in America begins to grapple with the shift culture as a whole has already embraced – mainly from modernity to post-modernity, and “Christian America” to post-“Christian America” – a different kind of believer emerges; one who quietly lives out their faith in a way that looks radically different than their father’s and grandfather’s generations. Throughout The Next Christians, Lyons presents those he has termed the “next Christians” through story while at the same time providing solid research to provide context to these stories. He spends the first part of the book thoroughly explaining what was once true, why a change occurred, and what is now true regarding Christianity and its place in American culture.
The stage he sets is overwhelmingly supported through both impersonal statistics and personal narratives. Lyons then spends the majority of the rest of the book giving an in-depth explanation of the six main characteristics of the next Christians: they are provoked, not offended; creators, not critics; called, not employed, grounded, not distracted, in community, not alone, and counter-cultural, not “relevant”.
Books that describe any kind of shift taking place among a large group of people, especially in the realm of religion, often have a negative tone towards one side, while glossing over the faults of the other. Lyons however, manages to give the old its due while acknowledging the downfalls and potential pitfalls of those he is describing. The Next Christians is one of the most hopeful books on the state of the Church in America that I have read. His ability to honestly tell it like it is without rancor, as well as maintain an objective viewpoint on those he describes while championing the faith as a whole gives that much more weight to the topic. Without reservation, I recommend The Next Christians to anyone who has a stake in, or is merely curious about those who make up the next generation of leaders of the Church in America.
I received this book free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group as part of their Blogging for Books book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Obstacles Welcome chronicles Ralph de la Vega's journey from Cuban immigrant to the president and CEO of AT&T Mobility. He uses six "pivotal points" from his career to share lessons he's learned about turning obstacles into advantages both in the business world and in life. De la Vega gives advice on important skills such as effective communication, how to be an effective leader, creating and maintaining a guiding vision, and learning from both obstacles and mistakes. His overall theme is that anyone can succeed in life, if only he/she maintains discipline, focus and a positive outlook.
Overall, I found Obstacles Welcome extremely hard to get through. I devour books, and this one took me over four months to finish because I just did not want to pick it up and trudge through it. The content was full of clichés and stated and restated way too many times. There was too much unneeded elaboration and not enough personal examples; the personal examples that were included were vague and did not provide the sense of reality to back up the principles given. There is good content in Obstacles Welcome; however, it just is not enough for a book. A pamphlet or a two hour lecture would be more than enough to cover the unique content in the book. The most positive thing I can say is that the "Takeaway Messages" at the end of each chapter were an effective part of the book.
I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255
Overall, I found Obstacles Welcome extremely hard to get through. I devour books, and this one took me over four months to finish because I just did not want to pick it up and trudge through it. The content was full of clichés and stated and restated way too many times. There was too much unneeded elaboration and not enough personal examples; the personal examples that were included were vague and did not provide the sense of reality to back up the principles given. There is good content in Obstacles Welcome; however, it just is not enough for a book. A pamphlet or a two hour lecture would be more than enough to cover the unique content in the book. The most positive thing I can say is that the "Takeaway Messages" at the end of each chapter were an effective part of the book.
I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255
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