[OWNER TO SUPPLY: two or three sentences in first person. What you write about and why. Keep it short.]
A practical guide for fathers and mentors to recognize the warrior already inside themselves and the boys they are developing, name each type's Shine and Shadow, and turn growth into meaningful quests.
Explore The Ten Sons of the WarriorsHave you ever noticed that the person who frustrates you most can also be the person you would have the hardest time replacing?
Have you ever had two people describe the same person to you and walked away wondering whether they were talking about the same man? Neither one was lying. Neither one was exaggerating. Both of them were describing something they actually saw.
Have you ever wondered why the same conversation, with the same person, tends to end the same way, no matter how carefully you prepare for it?
Have you ever been told something about yourself, by somebody with no reason to lie, that you did not quite recognize?
There is one idea underneath all four of those questions. It is small enough to say in a sentence, and it is easier to agree with than it is to use.
Most of what you know about the people you lead arrived the same way: one report at a time, from one direction, already sounding like a fact. This book helps you slow down long enough to see the whole person: the strength that can produce good and the shadow that can cause harm.
Nothing in this book lowers a standard or asks you to excuse anyone. It gives you a better way to hold people accountable, understand the pattern beneath the problem, and direct a person’s strength before its shadow does damage.
Edward T. Welch
Most of what looks like a systems problem in a church is a leader who cannot hold a boundary because he is afraid of disappointing someone. No org chart fixes that.
Patrick Lencioni
Elder boards and church staffs fail in a predictable order, and it usually starts with people being too polite to say the true thing in the room.
Carey Nieuwhof
Written by somebody who knows what a pastor's week actually contains. The argument is about energy rather than time, which is the correction most tired leaders need.
Jim Collins
The chapter on getting the right people in the right seats is worth the book. Most churches try to fix a role problem with a process.
Tim Challies
Short, practical, and Christian without being precious about it. A good first book to hand somebody who has never thought about their own systems.
