I read this story by Mark Twain recently and it blessed me:

A man died and met Saint Peter at the gates of Heaven.

Recognizing the saint’s knowledge and wisdom, he wanted to ask him a question.

“Saint Peter,” he said, “I’ve been interested in military history for many years. Tell me, who was the greatest general of all time?”

Peter quickly responded, “O, that is a simple question. It’s that man right over there.”

The man looked where Peter was pointing and answered, “You must be mistaken. I knew that man on earth and he was just a common laborer.”

“That’s right,” Peter remarked, “But he would have been the greatest general of all time-if he had been a general.”

-Mark Twain

You don’t get to do life over again. You get one shot. Make sure you’re doing what you love, what you’re passionate about, and what you’re gifted at. Once you find what that is, be the best you can possibly be and watch what God will do in your life!

Who could you become if you follow your passion?

This book was given to me by a mentor – I loved it! I really enjoy reading Rick Renner’s books. While this book is titled “Promotion – Ten Guidelines to Help You Achieve Your Long-Awaited Promotion”, it also serves as a great tool for scouting, recruiting, and hiring potential leaders. This book is basically a picture of what a Godly leader’s life should look like. I’m going to use this book on a consistent basis to evaluate my life, my leadership, and in evaluating our leaders in our ministry.

If you want to go into ministry, excel in your workplace as a Christian, or if you oversee anyone in any capacity, I’d make this book a must read for you! I hope you enjoy it!

Final Grade: 9.5/10      Buy it Here!

Here are some highlights:

• Jesus said when choosing someone for leadership, we are to consider the fruit in his life.

• Nothing should be done better than the way a Christian does it

• Any person who does just the required minimum should never be considered for leadership.

• You may be able to preach a good message, but if you can’t effectively communicate with your followers, you’ll never be able to build a church or an organization.

• Public ministry begins in a person’s private life

• Your influence is only as strong as your personal life

• Nothing is more powerful than a message backed up by a life

• If I am to be a good leader, I have to realize that my decisions affect many other people’s lives.

• If a person interrupts you, argues, and wants to defend himself, it’s usually a sign that he has a difficult time submitting to authority.

• Time is a great revealer of who people really are

• One of the marks of an upcoming leader is that they have already made themselves essential to the organization

Pastor Nathan bought this book for our entire youth staff after he read it. It was recommended to him by our senior pastor. The title definitely grabbed my attention – I’m getting tired of reading leadership book after leadership book about the same things. The book did not disappoint!

This book focuses on how everyone is affected by the way we treat them. We often deceive ourselves into thinking everyone around us are causing problems, not working hard enough, have bad attitudes, etc., but we never recognize that it’s the way we treat people affects the way they work, how successful our business is, their attitude around us, and so much more. I’d would say this a must read – I definitely gained a lot of insight from it. Here are some of my favorite takeaways – hope they interest you:

• Self-Deception is the inability to see that one has a problem
• We can tell how other people feel about us, and it’s to that we respond

• No matter what we’re doing on the outside, people respond primarily to how we’re feeling about them on the inside

• Either I’m seeing others straightforwardly as they are – as people like me who have needs and desires as legitimate as my own – or I’m not

• When I blame others, I’m not doing it because they need to improve, I’m blaming them because their shortcomings justify my failure. . .  People who came together to help and org. succeed actually end up delighting in each others failures and resenting each others success.

• Are you seeing people as people or as objects?

• The  moment I see another as a person with needs, hopes, worries as real and legitimate as my own – I’m out of the box
• At work you can’t focus on results if your focused on yourself

• Success as a leader depends on being free of self-betrayal.

• Don’t worry whether others are helping you. Do worry whether you are helping others.

Final Grade: A    Buy it here