More Summer Reading

Last week I spent at the beach and while I am not a beach person, I did find some time to read. A few reviews to pass along:

The Temptation to Do Good was one of Peter Drucker’s novels! Of course Drucker is known more for his business writings and social commentary but he did write a few novels. Through this medium he was able to illustrate some of his concepts in story form.

The Temptation to Do Good is the story of the key players in a controversy involving a Catholic University. Everyone is trying to “do good” by their own standards and find the right solutions to issues.

Many times we only view a crisis from our own point of view and feel if everyone would buy into our solution the crisis will pass. This novel shows that while there are some flakes in a crisis, leaders tend to act according to their own gifts and perfect solutions don’t happen. It all becomes a series of compromises carried out by well intentioned and good leaders.

This book is currently out of print but is available used.

11 Innovations in the Local Church: How Today’s Leaders Can Learn, Discern and Move into the Future is the new book coauthored by Warren Bird, Leadership Network’s Director of Reseach and Ed Stetzer and Elmer Towns. First, what a powerhouse author line up! The book actually covers 12 types of churches that illustrate new ways to share the gospel. Some of the types are whole church emphases and philosophical where some are more programmatic.

It is a good, quick read with examples of each type. I enjoyed reading some of Dr. Towns’ reflection of history in some of the innovations and how the current practices grew out of some previous century innovations. 

Dr. Towns is still teaching at Liberty University. Warren Bird regularly posts to this space. Ed Stetzer, who has a number of new books out right now, has recently moved to Lifeway Christian Resources and is pumping out new research every week. You can find him here.

The Ultimate Gift by Jim Stovall is a parable about a young man that is promised a large inheritance from a rich uncle. The condition to receiving the inheritance is to undergo a year of learning what life is about. The story moves along and has some good life lessons. This book began as a self published venture and has been passed around among wealthy families and their advisors in recent years. Earlier this year there was a movie based on the book. It is worth the 90 minutes to enjoy the lessons.