2-Minute Encouragers for Teachers by Craig Jutila

Good to Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great by Jim Collins

Jim Collins' thoughts are intriguing on how the "Good to Great" principles apply to not-for-profits. Too many times church leaders want their organizations to be "run as good as businesses."  But Collins states correctly that "many widely-practiced business norms turn out to correlate with mediocrity, not greatness." One more quote: "True leadership only exits if people follow when they have the freedom not to." This helpful distinction reminds us that volunteers and not-for-profits actually need a higher level of leadership than do other types of organizations. 

Lateral Thinking  by Edward deBono

deBono posits that there are two types of thought processes--"vertical thinking," which describes math and logic, where every step must be correct to arrive at a "correct" answer, and "lateral thinking," where one must be willing to make a lot of mistakes, spending what seems to be inefficient time, in order to get to unexpected results.

"Rightness is what matters in vertical thinking. Richness is what matters in lateral thinking. Vertical thinking selects a pathway by excluding other pathways. Lateral thinking does not select but seeks to open up other pathways. With vertical thinking, one selects the most promising approach to a problem, the best way of looking at a situation. With lateral thinking one generates as many alternative approaches as one can. With vertical thinking one may look for different approaches until one finds a promising one. With lateral thinking one goes on generating as many approaches as one can even after one has found a promising one. With vertical thinking one is trying to select the best approach but with lateral thinking one is generating different approaches for the sake of generating them." p. 39. 

Transformation: How Gocal Churches Transform Lives and the World by Bob Roberts

This book describes how the author's church approaches ministry -- as personal transformation, engaging the local and global community, and mobilizing the entire congregation to minister locally and globally--all simultaneously! It includes info on church planting, and engaging the entire church body in local and global ministry. 

Revolution by George Barna

This book is about a new type of revolutionary Christians--people more interested in being the Church than going to church. 

Unmasking the Face: A Guide to Recognizing Emotions from Facial Expressions by Paul Ekman and Wallace V. Friesen

Only 7% of interpersonal communication is verbal. Fifty-five percent of what is heard is body language. This is a guide on how to become more adept at reading people's facial clues.