Customer Reviews

Courageous Leadership

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have lived an hour south of Willow Creek most of my life. My father, a pastor, goes there almost weekly to get refreshed and then drives the hour home with new ideas from the Holy Spirit. We are both saddened by the vast numbers of people who criticize Hybels and Willow Creek without knowing their heartbeat or, suprisingly, even stepping foot on the churches main campus.

Courageous Leadership is a book that will act as a portrait of the heartbeat of Pastor Hybels and what makes him tick. It is also a book that acts as a tremendous source for church leaders of all shades and descripitions, even if you are not a pastor.

Covered in this 252 page book are the following....

* Finding leaders who have chemistry and who fit with your current team.

* Establishing clear goals for everyone, and making them tangible.

* Excellence in church is a must. He discusses how people will use excellence in their worldly jobs, but have a hard time using those same critical methods for the kingdom of God.

* The vitality of vision and recasting that vision.

* The importance of celebration and giving honor to church workers, especially volunteers. Hybels tells of a story on page 175 in which all the volunteers were honored in a quasi-parade in which they all marched onto the stage as the church cheered them on. One of Willow's pastors, John Ortberg and drama leader Nancy Beach, acted the parts of Regis and Kathy Lee as they described each ministry group as they marched by.

* Praying to become like Biblical warriors and adopting the best attributes of people like Esther, Joshua, and David.

* Emulating the tenacity of Christ and the Apostle Paul.

* The importance of saying no to certain things and ideas in order to use your energy on what God really wants in your life.

* The importance of staying focused and cleaning up our own secret, inner problems first and foremost.

* The crucial importance of finding a team that is big on character, competence, and chemistry.

I found it interesting that nowhere in this book does Hybels ask leaders to emulate Willow Creek's worship style or vision methodology. He does, however, ask leaders to emulate his own dependence on the living God through different forms of prayer and team-building, accountability, as well as seeking out what our own gifts are while utilizing them where we're at.

Hybels also discusses the importance of getting away from the church at times to be alone with his family and the Lord. I thought this part of the book was probably the best because he talks about how it has revolutionized his own life and turned his children, instead of turning on the faith, into dynamic lovers of the Lord. The summer break, as he calls it, is something that all leaders need in some form or another.

All-in-all, Courageous Leadership is a great book for Christian leaders of any sort, not just pastors.

After reading two other book for a class on leadership, the last thing I wanted to do was read another book on leadership. It is not that I believe I have learned all that I can. I am tired of reading and rereading the same thing. It does not help that during this semester I was also enrolled in Airman Leadership School (ALS) for the Air Force, and reviewed for the final examination while reading Hybels' book. I expected to be reminded more than taught in his book. Unfortunately, Courageous Leadership met my expectations, at least the first four chapters. It took me as long to read the first 93 pages as it did to read the last 128. The first four chapters are similar to what Stanley wrote in The Next Generation Leader. A majority of the course material for ALS dealt with building, maintaining, and leading teams. The last eight chapters, however, were a refreshing surprise.

Although the book provided ample information for a young leader to chew on, the chapter on self-leadership was incredibly challenging and edifying. Hybels pigeon-holed me exactly in his generalization about leaders; when I think about leadership I think about the people I supervise or for whom I am responsible. As I continued to read the chapter I felt pretty good about making the value changes necessary to be a 360° leader. Then, out of nowhere, the author hits me with the necessity of leading myself.

That was a great set up. The whole concept slapped me in the face. I am not effectively leading myself. I am so busy leading the ministry in which I serve and wearing all the pretty hats that I have, I have not spent a lot of time thinking about the needs I am required to provide for myself. The chapter offers ten diagnostic questions to determine how effectively the reader is self-leading. Although I need to reread that chapter much more carefully to fully internalize the lessons, I am confident that the diagnosis is bad. As I took the brief seconds I had to reflect, I realized that I have to find a lot more time to reflect on how I should be leading myself. There are major change is need to make in me to become the leader God has designed me to be. I just need to find out what they are.

There is wide range of information provided in Courageous Leadership, too much to absorb in one reading. It would be, however, a vital addition to the library of any pastor. I am not convinced that the Willow model or any other model will work in every congregation. Cookie cutter churches only work for cookie cutter people. The lessons Hybels offers will cause pastors to rethink how they lead and how they could lead more effectively. The biggest benefit the church will receive is a leader living life with their eyes open. If pastors will read and apply Hybels' thoughts, they will look at their churches differently, their teams differently and themselves differently. As they take the time to see things differently they will learn to lead more effectively.

Many younger and older pastors alike have stood in awe at the way God has used Bill Hybels at the Willow Creek Community Church outside of Chicago. Willow is currently the largest church in North America. Hybels is a dynamic speaker and author, in addition to being an extremely successful pastor. Now, he has gathered his leadership thoughts together in this volume, which is sure to be a great help to all Christian leaders.

Throughout this book, Hybels emphasizes the importance of possessing a Divine vision for God's people, then pursuing that vision relentlessly and casting it consistently. The author offers various thoughts and insights into what makes a great leader. Many of these lessons he has learned through his own "school of hard knocks" at Willow.

I recommend this book very highly to all pastors, regardless of church size or denomination. I always enjoy Hybels' writings, and this volume is undoubtedly one of his best. Don't pass on this one!

Bill Hybels is a Christian leader who has known the elation of leadership success while also having experienced the agony of near fatal leadership disasters. He writes "Courageous Leadership" with conviction, passion, and empathy that could only be gained through his own leadership journey. This book is vintage Hybels, as his words paint compelling images of what effective Christian leadership looks like. He examines such subjects as vision, raising resources, developing the leaders around you, developing your own leadership style, decision-making, self-leadership, endurance, and the "God-factors" in leadership.

If you have been a student of Bill Hybels, you won't find too much new material but rather a collection of his best leadership teachings. The two chapters on vision are easily worth the price of the book. If you've never read or heard Hybels you owe it to yourself to listen to what this proven leader has to say about this subject. I highly recommend "Courageous Leadership."

This book appears to be written to provide direction to church leaders. Although I do not play a role of a pastor or leader within my own church, I learned soooo much from this book! It helps you identify how different personalities build their own spirituality. It gave me great insight to some of my brothers and sisters in the church and why they respond differently to new ideas. Bill also addresses several areas that are not often taught in the church but need to be and are completely scriptural. I found the book to be very inspiring and motivating and a must read for all church leaders!!

IF you want make a difference... then read this book!

Bill Hybels is a mentor of mentors. He has and is paying his dues. The thousands of lives who have been eternally changed because of his commitment to the Body of Christ is reason enough to give him your undivided attention. But Hybels has also written other books to recommend his expertise in building into the lives of others.

Hybels does not sugar coat anything. If you are looking for an easy job as a leader, especially as a church leader then Courageous Leadership might not be what you are looking for in a book on leadership. If on the other hand you are willing to think outside of the box, gladly give of yourself, not care who you empower to see success in a common goal then you will want this book in your personal library!

This is an excellent book for anyone who is a leader in a church. The author has written the book in an easy to understand format. He gives excellent practical advice for leaders.

Bill Hybels continues to show up the myth of academic craze. Do not get me wrong. Academic pursuits are great, but they must not become an end in themselves.

In this work, Hybels shares the fruit of his labors in the research and experience of leadership for over two decades. I find this book to be worth the price. I especially like the his interaction with his ministry. A pastor will appreciate that greatly.

Of course Hybels is an outstanding leader. He can also write. This book incorporates not only his personal insights but ideas he has gleaned from mainstream leadership thinking, contextualized for ministers. My students enjoyed this as a text for an intro to leadership class.

This book is best described as a commentary on leadership proverbs. These are good rule of thumb ideas that can be very helpful for a new leader or even a seasoned veteran. And just like proverbs there are some things in this book that ring especially true, while there are other things that we could leave or just may not be as relevant to us right now. There are a lot good little nuggets of information that stem from years of leadership experience in some pretty extreme circumstances. All of these packed together make for an enjoyable read and another perspective on Christian leadership in a church.

The book begins where most leadership books do and that is with vision. Creating, casting, and communicating vision are critical for a leader to be able to do effectively. Hybels' also defines what he considers the three main attributes of a leader as well. These are character, competence and chemistry. His biggest emphasis is upon character.

The next major portion of the book stems from a lot of history of Willow Creek. These are things that he has learned along the way. These leadership lessons cover a broad spectrum of areas. They include team building, financial issues, and building into upcoming leaders. All of these areas are practical and necessary for leadership in the church, and yet there are few books that deal with them as plainly as Hybels does in this book. He is very practical and tells it like it is.

The last portion of the book deals much more personally. This is where issues such as developing your own leadership abilities are discussed. Hybels discusses the great need for people to be intentional in their relationship with God, and also how to remain on fire while being a leader over many years.

I really enjoyed this book, and found it very interesting. I can't say that I was critically reading for small details, I'll leave that for someone else. As I said at first, I read it more as a book of rule of thumb ideas as it relates to leadership in the church. I think that reading into anything to much could force words that were never written nor intended. This is a good book for those in church leadership to read, so that they can get an idea of what is going on, or needs to be going on in the big picture of things.