The Confident Leader: Getting a Good Start As a Christian Minister

By aRlo Grenz

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805460616
• ISBN13: 9780805460612
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: B & H Pub Group
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.0" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Great Help for Young Pastors

This book is promoted as the text book that reads like a novel. It certainly is an interesting format for a text book. It is specially designed to help young pastors just out of seminary get off to a good start. The book follows the first year of ministry of the fictional Jim Stafford as an associate pastor in a mid-sized church. The Confident Leader covers a wise range of areas from goal planning to sermon preparation as well as the personal dangers of overwork and emotional attachments to the opposite sex.Genz presents a massive amount of material in a few hundred pages. As I began to read this book it seemed as if the author was only going to give us simplistic, sugar coated advice. I kept saying to myself, Sure, that will only work out in dream land! As the plot thickened complications set in and the story took a turn towards reality. It is extraordinary well organized and easy to understand. Two of the strongest sections were his discussions on goal setting and motivation. Getnz increased the difficult of his work by setting his text book in novel form. There are some inconsistencies in the story. For instance, the poor fellow cannot order new brochures without the board's permission; yet, he is empowered to make the final decision on the computer purchase. On the story side of the book, where did Jim get all his money? Right out of seminary and he is spending money like a sailor on a three-day leave- taking all those men out to lunch is expensive. The chapters on leadership and preaching are very weak. The advice given on leadership seems to urge the reader to accept the statue quo and work within it, and the advice on sermon preparation was right out of Homiletics 101. The most serious criticism is the sheer volume of lists. Do not get me wrong,. There is a lot of valuable information in there; but the author had list overkill. In the first 100 pages there was over 300 points and I estimate that he must have had an overwhelming 1000 separate points listed.The last chapter on success on a failure spoke to my heart. He warned us that success often carries within itself the seeds of failure, and that we are only as good as the last victory. This point was made over and over again by Collins and Porras in Built to Last. It's a good book for undergraduate study, but for professional enhancement and graduate work, there are better works out there.

Quality Novel/Textbook on Church Administration

The Confident Leader by Arlo Grenz is a practical, helpful and enjoyable book. It could serve as a textbook on church administration but it reads like a novel. The book is ideal for a novice Christian Education Director but is a good refresher for any administrator. It is full of textbook type lists but the story line keeps your interest. Grenz examines planning, goal setting, decision-making, team building, motivation, conflict management, time management, delegation and communication. The information is basic, practical and applicable.

Best Minister instructional book ever written!

This book not only will help a beginning Minister get started in the exciting world of Ministry, but also helps anyone that wants become a leader, or more confident in their daily lives. This book is also revolutionary in the fact that it is a text-book, but reads like a novel. I bought this book three years ago and it changed my life. After I read this book it was my sole purpose in life to stop drinking and become a Minister. After 19 and a half months of hard work I finally achieved my goal. I now live in Fremont, CA and got married 6 months ago and I'm happier then I have ever been in my life. I can honestly say that it was because of Mr. Grenz and his magnificent book that my life went the direction it did. I hope that anyone that wants to do great things in their life will buy this book because it can change you life, it certainly changed mine.