Thursday, March 27, 2008

Leadership Books (as promised)

As promised in John's seminar at Equipped for Mission, entitled "Increasing Leadership Capacity", here are several of his recommended books on leadership:

"A Work of Heart: Understanding How God Shapes Spiritual Leaders"
by Reggie McNeal

"Being Leaders: The Nature of Authentic Christian Leadership"
by Aubrey Malphurs

"Breaking the Missional Code"
by Ed Stetzer and David Putman

"Building Leaders: Blueprints for Developing Leadership at Every Level of Your Church"
by Aubrey Malphurs and Will Mancini

"Courageous Leadership"
by Bill Hybels

"Spiritual Leadership"
by Henry T. Blackaby and Richard Blackaby

"The Leadership Baton"
by Rowland Forman, Jeff Jones, and Bruce Miller

"The Multiplying Church: The New Math for Starting New Churches "
by Bob Roberts Jr.

"Transformation"
by Bob Roberts Jr.

Summary of Recent Travels - from John

"Our leadership conference 'Equipping For Mission' hosted in St. Louis was absolutely outstanding. Over three hundred leaders from across the US were present. The worship was marvelous with the amazing presence of God evident. The main sessions were well received as Terry Virgo, Sam Poe and I shared. The seminars were so timely and helpful. I encourage you to go to the Newfrontiers-USA website and download the relevant teaching at this year's conference. Many healings were testified to, as well as some wonderful encounters with God. It was a joy to introduce the new Newfrontiers website as well as our entry into the publishing business at this conference. We have recently published four books, which can be found on Amazon as you type in the word 'Newfrontiers' in the Amazon search window. I encourage you, if you have read and enjoyed some of the books we have published, to write a review on Amazon’s site.

"Following the US leadership conference, I again journeyed to the UK for the 'International Apostolic Forum' in Bournemouth, UK. It was a great joy to be present, where I again had the privilege of being with leaders representing several continents as we enjoyed times of wonderful prayer, prophecy and even a few casual moments of catching up. In addition it is a time of sharing the events that are taking place around the nations.

"We gave ourselves to much prayer for the events taking place in Kenya with our dear friend Edward Buria and the 100+ churches he leads in that nation. We were thrilled to learn that Edward is now a part of a significant group of leaders whom the government has appointed to bring reconciliation to Kenya. Edward’s stature in the nation is of great consequence. He wrote to me yesterday with this news: 'The Kenyan Crisis - quite a lot of good political ground has been achieved since the signing of the all-important deal on the 28th February 2008 that has resulted in some sustained peace. All the same, the challenges arising from the almost two months of the violence remain enormous and very complex. Our budget is geared towards assisting those we are targeting, but it has become almost impossible due to escalating inflation that continues to very badly hurt our economy. Prices of all essentials go up almost every-other day. On this, we covet much prayer. Give our love to the brothers and sisters in the US.'

"Upon returning from the UK I found it a great joy to participate in the launching of another Jubilee Church location in the greater St. Louis metro area. We had our first preview meeting in west St. Charles county, in the town of Wentzville. Although it was spring break and many people were enjoying the holiday, as well as there being a snow-storm, we still were pleased to see 109 people at this first preview meeting. Rick Hein, my dear friend and fellow laborer, did an excellent job in the morning preaching. I was overjoyed at the great teams from Jubilee Church that made this opening Sunday a day to remember. I encourage you to take a look at the Jubilee Church Wentzville website for additional photos of this great day. Between the two locations, Jubilee welcomed nearly 100 guests on Sunday, with several people committing to Christ.







"I travel this coming weekend to Kansas City for a meeting with leaders at Grace Church as well as preaching the Sunday, as they will prepare for a great day of financial giving for additions they need to make to the building. It will be a joy to be with Tommy and Stephanie Stanley and to enjoy time together in their home. We are pleased that Seth and Shannon Hein will join us on this trip. Shannon is a great help to me, as she functions as my personal assistant, and Seth is a great joy as his desire to learn and grow in his leadership is very evident. Please be in prayer for this important weekend."

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Back to Bournemouth

After speaking at Equipped for Mission in St. Louis, John has again taken off for the UK. He will be taking part in meetings with the others on the international apostolic team in Bournemouth, England, from Tuesday through Friday, March 11-14.

Please do keep praying for him and the other men as they pray, plan and discuss. Ask God to give them wisdom, discernment and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit as they seek to lead us further into what He has for us in the future.