ARE WE A PEOPLE AT HALF TIME? - Leadership Network

The Organization of the Future
Frances Hesselbein, Marshall Goldsmith,
Richard Beckhard, editors
Jossey-Bass, Inc.
1-800-956-7739
$25.00
With an opening by Peter Drucker and a
close by Charles Handy, this book sets
high standards for the middle content and
the collection of practitioner authors from the worlds of government,
business and community does not disappoint. They address
where, when, and how organizations and their leaders must evolve
in the coming years. This is an outstanding companion book to the
earlier Leader of the Future, also produced by the Drucker
Foundation.
The Interventionist
by Lyle Schaller
Abingdon
1-800-672-1789
$14.95 paperback
In many ways, Lyle Schaller's newest
book, The Interventionist, is his pinnacle
achievement. Longer than most of his
books, this one lays out his conceptual
framework for analyzing and helping churches plan for their
future. The book is actually a series of questions that Schaller uses
to understand each congregation as an unique body and how they
can best be helped. While written for church interventionists,
pastors and denominational workers will discover tools to help see
a church’s systems and find leverage points and process for
improvement. Leadership Network is hosting a forum with Lyle
Schaller based on this book June 22.
The Fourth Turning
by William Strauss and Neil Howe
Broadway Books
1-800-323-9872
$27.50
This book comes on the heels of the
authors’ successful volume, Generations,
and continues their belief in, and understanding
of, the cyclical nature of
American history. According to Strauss and Howe, each cycle has
four turnings, the last being a Crisis, and they locate America
roughly ten years away from a crisis that equals the Revolution, the
Civil War, and World War II. The companion web site,
http://www.fourthturning.com, is worth exploring. In addition to
audio and text excerpts, it includes a discussion group on
religion and the fourth turning.
Five Challenges for the Once
and Future Church
by Loren Mead
The Alban Institute
1-800-486-1318
$12.25
This third offering in Alban’s “Once and
Future” series takes a look at five
challenges facing the church. According
to author Loren Mead, they include transferring the ownership
of the church, discovering new structures and a passionate
spirituality, making the church a new community and source of
community and becoming an apostolic people. While the book can
easily be read in one sitting, you will think about its contents
for days.
Reality Isn’t What It Used To Be
by Walter Truett Anderson
HarperCollins/San Francisco
1-800-331-3761
$13.00
Billed as “a dazzling excursion through
the postmodern world—from deconstruction
and punk rock to Ronald
Reagan and the New Age religion,” this
book examines the major facets of the postmodern world. Church
leaders will find this book useful as Anderson talks about new
world philosophies, beliefs about beliefs, faith and freedom,
culture wars, postmodern literature and what all this means for
democracy in the twenty-first century. Virtually no aspect of the
postmodern scene is left untouched as Anderson looks at our first
lurches into the global era. This is a sometimes disturbing, but
insightful, book.
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