Customer Reviews

The Minister's MBA: Essential Business Tools for Maximum Ministry Success

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Erwin McManus said, "There comes a time when you have to stop being full of potential and be potent."

In my experience (I'm pretty young - 38) but I've noticed that stuff just doesn't happen. Annointing, you must have. Submission to his leading - what else? Prayer - much prayer - without a doubt. But pencil to paper. A lot of talking with your voluntter staff. Dreaming. Critical thinking. Arguing. Sacrificing and driving for a mission. Living for people beyond your generation ...

The Minister's MBA has been an awesome catalyst for spiritual growth of a different kind for me.

IF you are more vision than manager; IF you are great in ideas, but short on practicality; IF you need a "legend" for the map ... get this book.

I was skeptical of this book at first. I have always been concerned about movements that try to make church too business-like. But the reality is that organizational principles used by a church, a para-church, a non-profit, or a corporation are not "secular" principles, but wisdom principles hardwired into the creation by an intelligent, caring and purposeful Creator. I rarely write in books, because I don't like ruining it for subsequent readers. However from the first page or two of this book, I realized that this was going to be a great deal of helpful information, and I took my highlighter out and let fly! I believe more that more seminaries and Bible schools could use this book to reflect a balenced approach to ministry that integrates clear biblical principles with wise techniques that are utilized by many business and organizations as well. I look forward to going through this book again and implimenting its principles through prayer, God's grace, and the Spirit's leading.

Drs. Babbes and Zigarelli's text is a wonderful read and an excellent source of information for strategists. It was written for ministers but the content is useful for any organization be it profit, non-profit, military, or education. The language is understandable and easy to follow. Yet, the information is substantial for any person seeking to make their organization a strategically better one. Each "semester" build on the other so the reader can master the strategic points all the way to "graduation." This is truly a worthwhile read.

Most of my colleagues are long past the so-called divide between sacred and secular (which is not biblical), especially as it relates to ensuring effectiveness in ministry. Should churches use "Madison Avenue" techniques to "market" to their communities? The book quotes A.W. Tozer, "It is not what a man does that determines whether his work is sacred or secular, it is why he does it. The motive is everything."

The Minister's MBA is long overdue. The book features 12 "courses" (chapters) including: your mission, creating a high performance DNA, retaining great people, leading with shrewd stewardship, and how to use the balanced scorecard for measuring strategy.

The "Strategy Map" chapter is excellent and every pastor, staff member and key church volunteer must read it. You'll learn how to get beyond lagging indicators (past performance) and onto leading indicators like member satisfaction (where you're headed).

After reading this, I have a suggestion for pastors. Every Sunday afternoon, email 100 church members (a different group each week) and ask them to complete an anonymous three-minute online feedback survey about the service, the sermon and their faith journey. SurveyMonkey.com is an easy and excellent online survey tool to use for this.