Leadership Library Spotlight, pt. 1
by on Oct 2nd, 2009 at 11:01 am
A former percussion instructor once told me, “You are only as good as the music you study.” If I wanted to expand my repertoire as a musician, I needed to listen to various artists and their styles of musicianship. If I wanted to understand the tiniest nuances that accompany good drumming, I had to hear many different skilled percussionists work with those nuances.
Growing in wisdom and leadership is much the same as becoming a skilled musician. We are only as competent as the material we study. When we read, we learn how people think, we discover new ideas, and we develop a better sense of what makes a good argument and what makes for a good fire-starter.
As Christians, it should go without saying that our principle source of reading should be Scripture. God promises us in His Word that Scripture provides all that we need to be properly equipped for good works (2 Timothy 3:17). Yet, at the same time, we can also benefit from reading ideas and propositions from human authors. Such reading is not meant to replace God’s truth, but it sharpens our understanding of God’s perfect truth when we hold it up against man’s imperfect ideas. Much is being said in the world, and if we are to address the world with the Gospel, we should know both what is said and how we can effectively speak to those who need to hear from God.
Therefore, a significant element of The Making of Men ministries will involve helping men develop a substantive, powerful, and useful library of reading material. Over time, this Leadership Library will grow to a healthy size, but we do not want you to be overwhelmed by the amount of books that will eventually be listed in those links. Our hope is that you will try one book at a time at a steady pace, and in good time you will have a strong literary toolbox for training your own mind and perhaps even the minds of your family.
Each Friday, we will either highlight one book that is already in the library or make a new addition. Our goal is not to offer a critique of the book from a literary or academic perspective. There are professional authors and theologians who could be much more effective at those roles. What we will do is share, briefly, what the author(s) is trying to convey, explain why this resource can be helpful to the development of your manhood, and maybe we will expose a few of the controversial points that are raised in the book so that you can do your own heavy lifting and study those issues in the future.
We will not tell you what to think. Men think for themselves after doing their own due diligence. However, we will try to provide books that will challenge you to think carefully about what it means to be a man of God. Please feel free to take a look at some of the sources that are already provided, and expect many more to be added to this library.
One final note should be made concerning the Leadership Library: you may already be in possession of biblically-solid resources that address one or more of the twelve main issues that we address at this site. If so, we want you to know that we will work at creating a channel of communication in which you can potentially write a review for that resource. For now, hold on to your resources until we can create a format for you to utilize. However, in the future, your contributions will be welcome!