LEADER EQUIPPING

A New & Right Spirit

In a postmodern culture shaped by consumerism, it’s little wonder that there is confusion about what the church is supposed to be in the 21st century. In A New and Right Spirit, Rick Barger argues passionately for congregations to reexamine what it means to be an "authentic church" in a culture where authenticity is hard to come by.

To Fool The Rain

Real and inspiring stories from the Central Plateau of Haiti of courageous women rising out of dehumanizing poverty to a path to a better life.  As the communications director for Chemen Lavi Miyò, Steve Werlin has walked with the women whose stories are in this book.  They are some of the most compelling underdog-to-victor stories on our planet and a testimony that the world’s worst poverty can be eradicated with thoughtful and intentional grassroots accompaniment.  Be careful.  After reading this book you may find yourself in Haiti.  

Renew Your Life

A real, raw, and incredibly hopeful book by one of our church’s finest pastors.  Renew Your Life speaks to the depleted, fed-up, and ready-to-throw-in-the-towel-and-give-up child of God who has been overwhelmed by the demands of life in a digital never-turn-off world and in a career or family that asks too much.  This book has spoken deeply to me and to others whom I love too much to not share this book with them.

The Philadelphia Chromosome

What is a book on leukemia doing on a list of leadership resources?  The Wall Street Journal named this work as one of the ten best books of the year when published, not because of the story it told but because of the character and insistence of the key players, who over four decades are responsible for the development and bringing to market a drug that turned one of the deadliest cancers into something that is treatable.  For those who want to believe that there are people out there who are willing to do whatever it takes and leave no path untrodden or stone unturned to find a cure for cancer, this book will inspire you.  Though the breakthrough drug this book chronicles is not a cure, for many it is almost as good as a cure.   

I’m Still Here

A book for these times, Austin Channing Brown weaves her autobiography as a Black woman in America with theological and sociological chops. Powerful, raw, and authentic to the core, this book is a necessary read for my white brothers and sisters, especially those in the church. If you have been fortunate enough to have been stirred from your core by seeing and hearing Austin Channing Brown speak, this book will get you up out of your seat and into the movement for restorative justice.

I Can Do No Other

“Death is real, but life is realer” is the mantra that has defined Anna Madsen since doing the hard work of integrating her theological formation with profound grief flowing from a tragic accident. One year after receiving her PhD in German, the accident took the life of her husband and inflicted a life-altering brain injury to her son. Reckoning with human suffering, systemic injustice in America and its related sociological issues, as well as the global climate change, Dr. Madsen posits today in America as another time of status confessionis. She speaks to it prophetically and hopefully using Luther, the Reformation, and eschatological hope. Raw, authentic, and delivered by someone with theological savvy and precision, this book is a must read for any leader or theology student seeking to frame the realities of today and the role of faith in envisioning a redemptive tomorrow.  

Caste - The Origins of Our Dicontents

Isabel Wilkerson is the first woman of African American heritage to win the Pulitzer Prize in journalism. In this groundbreaking book, Wilkerson argues that racism is insufficient for defining the systemic oppression and unspeakable horrors experienced by black persons in America. Extremely well-researched and undergirded by rich story-telling, Wilkerson makes all the linkage from the white person’s claim as the “dominant caste” to the evils of slavery. Connecting the American story with Nazi Germany and the social systems of India, the book is a very difficult read, not because of the way it is written. It is actually a page turner, but its difficulty is in the shock of its content and how it exposes and lays bare the phenomenon known as whiteness. If the Black Lives Matter Movement and the culture wars in America over race have sent you looking for resources, Caste should be at the top of your list.

Search Institute

 Simply the best research-grounded model for raising up healthy and hopeful young people who will be successful.  www.search-institute.org

Trinity Lutheran Seminary at Capital University

Named as one of ten “exemplary seminaries” by the prestigious Carnegie Foundation (Stanford University), Trinity is among those schools listed a “Seminaries that Change the World.”  www.tlsohio.edu

The Haitian Timoun Foundation  

Creating life-giving impact to Haiti’s poor, HTF is committed to being, thinking, and acting as the most highly effective grassroots movement we can be. www.htflive.org