Organizations Books

I ordered my book and received excellent service. Got it in perfect time as well! Thank you Amazon ~ keep up the good work!

It was required for a class, but it turns out it very good.

The Pocket Guide is an excellent, affordable resource for all administrators as well as teachers. It is easy to use and offers guidelines to stay out legal difficulties. The price is right and content parallels his textbook "School Law and the Public Schools".

Nathan Essex has written a succinct, easy-to-understand guide that all teachers need to read to become "legalese savvy" in today's litigious educational climate. From understanding the procedures required for a legal search and seizure to knowing teachers' rights, "A Teacher's Pocket Guide to School Law" is a must read for educators at all grade levels. The book is exceptionally readable and covers the areas of school law that teachers find themselves mired in most. After reading Essex's book, I know that being apprised of the legal ramifications of what I do in the classroom is critical for my own safety as well as the safety of my students.

As others have said, this is an excellent book. I picked it as a quick reference/study guide for my Education Law class. Law has always been interesting for me, but I don't get much use out of books that say things like 'X decision rendered in (year) was a landmark, upholding X principle (insert legal jargon). A couple of my roommates in college were were law students, and I understand that junk, because I helped them study sometimes, and we talked about interesting cases they were studying, etc.
BUT, when I sit down to read about it, that's not what I want to know. I want to know what the court fight was about, what the court decision was, what it means, and how it affects my school and the classroom. That's exactly what Essex does in this book.
The chapters are mostly 10-15 pages long, cover approximately 5 essential concepts or factors, including all the major cases or a description of the key ideas, identify which law is relevant (usually state or federal, though district or school board policies often come into play), a summary of the key players, roles, principles, or components of the concept being discussed. If an actual court case is discussed, it ends with a summary of the argument, the courts' decisions, and the final result. And each 1-3 pages section finishes with a section called 'Guides' which provides a list of important things to consider, when addressing the policy or issue covered (Essex is usually very conservative with his recommendations, but at least you have an idea what needs to be considered).
It also includes handy things like a good index, a separate list of all the court cases discussed, appendices that include relevant sections of the Constitution, selected federal statutes, and descriptions of major organizations and how they can impact a teacher.
And finally, Essex is a good writer who makes the topics interesting by minimizing the jargon and focusing on why things are important. Several times, I've found myself reading for a while, after I looked something up, just because he makes stuff interesting.

Summary:

This book is mainly about how to switch on the employees and customers become inspired, passionate and alive, so that the organization could earn profits. Thus a question would be raised, how to create such a passion in an organization?

The answer would be regulating employees and customers by the leader in the organization. There are both the internal side and external side.

Internally, a leader should guide the values system, promote leadership in all levels, renew them regularly and care everyone in the organization. In an organization, a strong foundation should be built and a goal should be set. Also, it should simplify the structure of organization and make use of technology to measure and enhance the efficiency of process, so that the organization could run smoothly. The organization should also need to nurture their employees to build a winning team, the head and heart should be hired by the organization, thus the organization should provide resources for them to learn and compensate their contribution. Moreover, the organization should try to make everyone feel special, so that the workforce would able to work hard and loyal to the organization.

Externally, it¡¦s not easy for the organization to tackle with the customers as each customer has their unique emotion, needs and desired. Thus the organization should employ a new rules, present the choices for customer to choose, provide customerized service and develop personal relationship with them.

Comment:

I think this book is really great as it¡¦s easy to understand and I get many feelings after reading the book.

For the leader part, I agree that it¡¦s really a hard job to be a leader as the leader should be a person who is able to energize the team members, able to be divided the job equally according to their strength and wants. There is no ¡§perfect¡¨ person in the world, so a leader should contain both competent, able to deal with personal relationship that include dealing with the conflicts between the team members.

Also, a leader needs to energize the others. Just as Horst Schulze in Ritz-Carlton said, ¡§he said a leader is hardly to find someone to energize himself.¡¨ Thus a leader should energize by renew themselves.

In real life, I have tutorial with a 7 years-old girl and I¡¦m just like a leader whereas she is just like an employee. It¡¦s not easy to control her as she thinks that learning is a difficult and hard job for her. If she finishes two works today, she needs to work three in the other days. Thus, she would not like to finish the work and shows a very slow speed, lack of passionate attitude to me. It¡¦s really annoying to me as I do not know how to deal with her.

Thus, after watching this book, I learn something. I try to let her know that homework is her responsibility as a student. She plays happily in school with her friends and so she also needs to do her homework, happy and homework is together. No matter how difficult, she needs to finish all for everyday. Of course, it is not an easy to let her understand as she is just 7 years-old girl. So I use many examples to illustrate, e.g. I tell her what¡¦s the responsibility for me, her parents, etc. Also, her friends are able to do her homework without the others¡¦ help, so she is lucky that there is somebody helping or accompanying to do the homework. Moreover, I try to increase her interest to do the homework by giving her stickers. I design a table to make record. I hope that these all tools could help me to solve the problem.

One of the most important things in life or business is a sense of optimism and possibility. This book helped me renew mine in a big way. I recommend it highly.

One of the most important things in life or business is a sense of optimism and possibility. This book helped me renew mine in a big way. I recommend it highly.

This is one of the most inspirational, motivating, and empowering management books available. After reading just a few pages, you find yourself picking up other copies to give to coworkers, clients, and friends.

Dow and Cook have found the ingredients to successfully attract, excite, and retain employees focused on customer-centric goals. Having read their insights, I now know why companies such as Marriott and Schwab are so successful. An excellent, must-read.

A great book with stories that exemplify the main ideas contained in the book. Contains an "Insight to Action" after each chapter which helps you apply the concepts. If anyone is interested in finding ways to provide extaordinary service to customers, or become a better leader, read this book.

If you are looking to lead a sales driven organization, company or team and are more effective in selling when you have a deep understanding of what you are doing and why it makes sense, you will not find a better, more grounded or more solid book than Don McNamara's "Visionary Sales Leadership."

- Mark Goulston
"Leading Edge"
FAST COMPANY magazine
and author, Get Out of Your Own Way at Work... and Help Others Do the Same : Conquering Self-Defeating Behavior on the Job

It is an easy to read insightful book that should remain in your bookshelf for years to come."

He hits the nail on the head! Corporate leaders need to read this book so they can understand and manage their sales operation. The myths he exposes are widely held beliefs that are totally false. Highly recommended.

Don McNamara in Visionary Sales Leadership exposes traditional sales myths. In their place he provides an objective approach to evaluating your sales strategy. This is a book about building a sales leadership team based on integrity, product knowledge, and skilled salesmanship.

Consideration is given to compensation based performance, top-down sales forecasting. The author asks hard questions, such as, what are the consequences of in-house promotions? What safeguards must be taken when hiring from the competition. Who sets the standards for the team leader? What are the by-products of proactive learning?

Two unique features of the book are "The Bottom Line" and the "Observations and Notes" pages. The bottom line sums up the material covered in the chapter in a succinct paragraph. This is followed with a page for the reader to record personal notes and action steps for follow up.

McNamara is a true professional. He has developed innovative insights drawn from personal observations and experience gained from a successful career in sales, sales management, training, and consulting.

I highly recommend this book for company presidents, top line management, CEO's, and all those who make up a part of the team making final decisions relating to the sales organization.

This is a book to be read, reread and studied. The material can then be incorporated in staff training for both the management and sales leadership team members.

Superb!

A colleague afforded me the honor of reviewing his new book prior to publication. Don McNamara and I have gotten to known each other over the past four years through several professional organizations - The Association of Professional Consultants, the Institute of Management Consultants, The Professional Speakers Association, and our own Mastermind Group. My own background includes extensive periods of time in sales leadership positions in some of the world's largest semiconductor companies. Based on my experiences in sales as well as other functions within these organizations, I can heartily endorse the work McNamara has done in this new book.

The subtitle for this book is "How Senior Executives Erase Status Quo Myths and Build Superior Sales Organizations." McNamara then goes on to present ten typical myths surrounding the sales functions in many (if not all) organizations. These myths, if you buy into them, will indeed manage to hold back your organization's growth and evolution. McNamara explains in a clear, straight-from-the-shoulder style exactly how each Myth manifests itself in an organization, what business processes aid and abet the Myth, and how to break out of the destructive pattern.

This book is not a "how to sell" book. Bookstore shelves are filled to overflowing with many such books. Instead, McNamara points to the critical issue of how the sales function is viewed by and integrated into a healthy company. Properly aligning the sales function (or Demand Generation as some companies refer to the sales function) is critical to our success in the new global economy, and this book will provide a good starting point for a comprehensive program of change initiation and management.
It is likely that your company, as a whole, does not suffer from ALL ten of these Myths; yet I am willing to wager that all ten are represented by individual leaders within your company. And some of these Myths are known to many sales leaders who have simply not figured out how to change the status quo. Reading and understanding the ten sales Myths and implementing remedial actions found in Visionary Sales Leadership will better position your company for the hyper-competitive ever changing global market of the new world.

This book caused me great dissatisfaction with the way our church was going. It was the start of our continuing journey from a program based church to a cell church that is Christ centered and peoople oriented. Have you ever read one of those books that had timeless messages? Well like His book the Shepherds guidebool this is the grand daddy of them all.
If you don't want to be pushed from you comfort zone and believe God for greater things don't, please don't read this book. If you must buy one then amazon is the place to do it.

This is an exciting apologetic for cell churches as opposed to the PBC (program based church) approach. Neighbor powerfully argues against models of the church that leave members sitting and soaking, and in favor of real community and ministry for all Christians.

Neighbor is very taken with the Yonggi Cho model, which I am not committed to, but the main point of the book is the need to get back to every member ministry. Unless the church in America makes a conscious committment to restore this central New Testament imperative, we are doomed to ongoing anemia, and self-centered Christianity.
-Dennis McCallum, author Organic Disciplemaking: How to promote Christian leadership development through personal relationships, biblical discipleship, mentoring, and Christian community

Great book that gave me a lot of insight to what the cell group church is doing around the globe. It shared with me some of the differences between a traditional church and a church of cell groups. Having a church with small (cell) groups to being a church of small groups is totally different and Ralph Neighbor helped explain the differences between these two mindsets in his book Where Do We Go From Here? I have a clearer picture of where I need to go from here but God help me in this. It is a drastically different church than what I see around me but I do believe that the church will need to change to be more effective in the future.

Where Do We Go From Here has been an answer to prayer and a confirmation of the vision God has given to me for my ministry. Below are just some of the insights that I have received from this book. You really owe it to yourself to read this book.

I consider this book to be one of my greatest tools in my ministry. I am starting my own Church and this is the model I plan to use. Please email me and let me know if my review has inspired your to purchase the book. CliffEOTC@netscape.net

What are the benefits of a Cell Group Church over that of a Traditional Style Church?

1. Cell Group Churches are more efficient than traditional churches. In the traditional church, only 10% to 15% of the membership are engaged in the tasks required to make the Church function. After the teachers, administrators, musicians, etc., have been pulled out of the total membership, the rest are expected to be faithful members. If an automobile engine were rated at 15% efficiency, it would never see the light of day. The contrast between this misuse of Christians and the New Testament church, where 100% were involved, is scandalous. In the Cell Group Church, everyone is involved ministry, even the children.

2. Cell Group Churches are based on the Scriptural concept of community. The essence of community is a sense of belonging. There is a powerful Christian comaraderie established when people belong to each other in a cell group. This cannot be equaled in a church which assembles people in large groups. People look after one another, and they share the ministry of reachingthe unconverted as a community task.

3. Cell Group Churches focus on the importance of prayer for their ministries. Half nights of prayer are commonplace among cell groups. As much as one third to one half of the time spent in their gatherings is devoted to prayer. Because of this focus on prayer, it is common for many to find Spiritual, Emotional, and Physical healing as a result of a cell group who has a deep commitment to prayer.

4. Cell Group Churches are not limited by the size of a church building. It is obvious that most traditional churches are limited by the size of their buildings. For some, the original building is used for generations. For others, a spurt of growth requires a massive building fund drive and a small addition of space. The success of a church is often measured by how packed the auditorium is, rather than by the number of people who are brought to personal faith. When cell group churches do construct space, it is clearly created for the purpose of equipping, and not for attracting, members.

5. Cell Group Churches are focused on evangelism that includes the powerful witness of Christ working within His body, beyond the traditional presentation of the "plan of salvation." The "ungifted" and the "unbelievers" of 1 Corinthians 14:24-26 are once again, as in the early church, exposed to the amazing power of they body of Christ, where all are involved in the process of edification. Once again it has become commonplace for these seekers to fall on their faces and say, "Surely God is among you!" The form of evangelism that takes place in a Cell Group Church is as old as the book of Acts!

6. Another benefit of a Cell Group Church is that the gospel is offered by non-professional hands, the hands of friends or neighbors, not outsiders. With this being the case, suspicion of the Christian clergy is not present when people in the community are the bearers of the gospel. It is not uncommon for cell groups to see conversions on a weekly basis.

7. Because cell groups are battlefields where people are set free from strongholds, it is commonplace for a cell group meeting to focus on a Biblical teaching related to a life problem. While the Traditional Church will focus on these issues in a sermon, the cell group calls each member to be accountable. Many times a cell group leader will ask, "What is the state of your life concerning this issue?"

There are many more benefits of a Cell Group Church over that of a Traditional Style Church. Please understand that I am not saying that the Traditional Church is completely ineffective. It is just that E.O.T.C. believes that the Cell Group style of ministry is a better means of reaching out to the growing number of people who are lost and need to find eternal life in Jesus Christ.

It has never been, nor will it ever be our desire to take people from other churches to build the size of our Church. While we will never turn down someone who wants to join our church, our primary goal and focus is to reach out to the unchurched, unsaved population with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are not in competition with anyone other church wether it be a cell group based or traditional. There is a place for both styles of churches in our culture and it is our suggestion that each believer find a Church where they will be encouraged to grow in the faith and where they will be taught the Word of God and given a place to worship from the heart. For some that may be a different church than E.O.T.C., but the truth is that we are all ONE CHURCH!!!

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? With updated information on new cell church models, new information on equipping and harvest events and practical teaching on how to begin a transition to a Cell Church. This book will continue to stir hearts to dream about what the church can be! You will find hope for your church in the UK and North America as you read this book and discover new things that Dr. Neighbour has learned over the last 10 years. Share this vision with your pastor or friend . . . buy 2 copies!

Troen and Boles give a grim outlook for the state of public education in the United States, but they offer hope and some real solutions for improving education. They believe strongly in professionalizing teachers and they should be listened to. I highly recommend this book!

The malaise of education seems pretty obvious to many people and the first half of their short book provides a summary of that common harangue in clear, solid, soundbite-proof language. The authors identify what they call a Trilemma Dysfuntion in schools that has a crippling effect on reform strategies. First, since there are "not enough academically academically able students...being drawn to teaching," the pool of talent and ambition has diminished. Second, "teacher preparation programs need substantial improvement," since their certification and renewal procedures have historically been much less than rigorous. Third, "the professional life of teachers is on the whole unacceptable," that is, professional development and growth opportunities remain stagnant. These three dysfunctions feed into and maintain a malformed culture in schools. What is worse, teachers have operated for so long under this cultural dysfuntion that they regulate themselves with their own myopic, bureaucratic chains (cf. Foucault's Panopticon).

What really made this book a wonderful reading and learning experience for me, though, remains in their providing hope, that is, a plan. Since teacher improvement lies at the heart of any educational reform strategy, the authors declare that empowering teachers to do their job well must be the premise and promise of the profession. Their blueprint for school reform contains the Millennium School, an attempt to revive the profession of teaching, re-organize the roles of educational personnel, and improve educational leadership. The bedrock principles that comprise the Millennium School consist of four tenets: first, "multi-tiered career paths for teachers," next, "teaching in teams instead of in isolation," then, "performance-based accountability," and finally, "ongoing professional development for all teachers and principals" (p. 185).

I suppose that I am a little jealous of the authors. They have written the book that I have always wanted to write. This is my way of giving it very high praise because it resonated with me in a profound manner. If I were to criticize it, it would be that for all its fine writing, eloquent arguments, and scholarly support, the authors do not provide a Millennium School model at the High School level (my arena), only at the Elementary School level. (Wait. Maybe there is still time to consider writing that book after all. Better go now--)

Do you have children in school? For anyone interested in education - whether they're a parent, teacher, policymaker, legislator - this book explains why education reforms fail. It's an inside look into the classroom, the culture of teaching, the reasons why teachers are so poorly prepared for the realities of classroom life, about the culture of schools, and mainly why there's a critical shortage of over 2 million teachers. Do you believe that classroom instruction is getting worse? Do you think that teachers of today are less capable than the teachers of 20 years aago? Do you think your children are getting teachers who are not as smart as the teachers you had when you were in school? Well, you're right, and this book tells you why. It's the truth, and yet it's so well written, it reads like fiction. The authors reveal the history behind how classroom teaching got to be the way it is, and then they tell you how it could all be better. How teaching could be a respected profession, like medicine or law, and what it would take. They describe the "perfect" school, and how to construct it. We spend, as a society, billions of dollars on schools and terribly much of it is wasted. This book tells us how we could make our money better spent, and how we could get the teachers our children deserve.

With all the talk about "Leaving No Child Behind," it's refreshing to read a book that explains clearly and credibly how the entire teaching profession has been left behind. While the state of teaching in the United States is truly disheartening, Ms. Troen and Ms. Boles give us hope that it can, in fact, be resurrected. One can only hope that enough people heed their sage advice.

Everyone's talking about the need for great teachers in every classroom. Almost nobody is encouraging their own smart, well-educated, creative son or daughter to consider teaching as a CAREER. This book explains the disconnect and what we need to do about it. How to make teaching an attractive career for well-educated young people who can write, who enjoy mathematics, who like being with children -- that is the key issue that no one else is talking about. This book gets real. - a former classroom teacher

This book shows the life of what the sisters of charity do and it is excellent. I say the pictures here touch your heart. Seeing all these pictures of the lives of the Sisters of Charity and Mother Theresa are great. Looking at what they do is more touching that just hearing it.

This is an assemblege of photography of Mother Teresa and her nuns doing their work in various locations around the world. Picture speak a thousand words, and this book gives a true sense of the daily works they do.

Collopy's volume on Mother Teresa is a spiritual journey even for the atheist. The compassion, humility and love that was Mother Teresa and lives on in the work of her Sisters is caringly portrayed in Michael Collopy's book. You see a rare side of Mother Teresa whose warm smile could light up a room. Collopy adds a tremendous dimension with his own recollections of speciifc instances noted in his photogrpahs. His own spiritual depth and the impact that Mother Teresa had on his life is apparent.

I am a photography major at Purdue University. I have the book and believe that Michael Collopy is a brilliant photographer. If there is anyone out there who knows how I can get in touch with him, please let me know. I want to do a report on him for one of my classes.

Collopy's volume on Mother Teresa is a spiritual journey even for the atheist. The compassion, humility and love that was Mother Teresa and lives on in the work of her Sisters is caringly portrayed in Michael Collopy's book. You see a rare side of Mother Teresa whose warm smile could light up a room. Collopy adds a tremendous dimension with his own recollections of speciifc instances noted in his photogrpahs. His own spiritual depth and the impact that Mother Teresa had on his life is apparent.

Introduction

What is worship? If worship in our daily lives means a consecrated lifestyle that aims to glorify God, how then should our corporate gatherings look like? And further, what makes our corporate gatherings any more worship than glorifying God in the other six days of the week? Worship by the Book is a compilation of essays that seeks to respond to such issues that concern today's church. By looking back into the past to see how previous generations have done corporate worship aright, the authors look forward into the future to what biblical corporate worship should look like.

Edited by D. A. Carson (research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School), this book incorporates a biblical theology of worship in the opening chapter by the editor, which is then followed by three application chapters written by pastors from differing denominational backgrounds who set out to show how they have applied the principles of such a theology of worship in the practices of their local church. In unveiling the varying practices of different church traditions, what arises from the pages is a portrait of what worship by the Book looks like.

Summary

Chapter 1, "Worship Under The Word," D. A. Carson attempts to provide a theology of worship, despite the fact that there are many challenges in doing so. The author admits that worship has caused much heated debate in the contemporary church (11), that there are many diverse theologies of worship available (13), and that even though the word worship itself is found in Scripture (14), it is still hard to construct a theology of worship when biblical theology and systematic theology may give us different definitions. Be that as it may, Carson endeavors to examine the English word worship (18), as well as the underlying Greek and Hebrew words (19) and then follows with a brief examination of recent scholarship that show the challenges of writing a theology of worship (19). He gives respect to the work of Andrew E. Hill, and most adamantly confesses that the work of David Peterson's Engaging with God is the "volume that most urgently calls for thoughtful evaluation" (23).

Sympathetic to and borrowing from much of Peterson's biblical theology of worship, Carson then goes on to finally defining worship, and the rest of the chapter is a full explanation his definition. His attempt at a definition is a long paragraph whose opening sentence is the precursor for its expansion: "Worship is the proper response of all moral, sentient beings to God, ascribing all honor and worth to their Creator-God precisely because he is worthy, delightfully so" (26). Carson's citing of Edmund Clowney's list of corporate worship elements from the New Testament shows that he advocates for certain distinctive elements in corporate worship, though there is no biblical mandate for any particular ordering of these elements (48-52). The author concludes his chapter with some practical implications(58-63): the importance of avoiding misconceptions and hindrances of worship, authenticity for the sake of evangelism, the fact that we cannot incorporate all worship elements into one corporate gathering, and the danger of denominational hindrances to faithful worship.

Chapter 2, "Following in Cranmer's Footsteps," Mark Ashton (vicar of the Round Church at St. Andrew the Great in England) provides an overview of the Church of England's effort to remain biblical in all of its corporate worship gatherings, and yet faithful to the tradition that has been handed down through Archbishop Thomas Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer. While this central liturgy book of the Anglicanism has kept the church biblical since the mid-sixteenth century, Ashton confesses that there is no longer just one common Prayer Book in the Anglican Church. "There is an abundance of new liturgy, but no doctrinal consensus at its heart. This has created an identity crisis for Anglicanism" (66). In showing that Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer achieved a rare combination of being biblical, accessible and balanced (70-75), the author consequently calls for a renewal of such legacy and for the church to take responsibility to bring the Bible back to the center of corporate worship. Employing the standard that flowed from Cranmer's work, Ashton exhorts readers to examine if their worship services to see if it they are biblical, accessible, and balanced (80-88). He follows this analysis by looking at various aspects of Anglican worship services (88-103): variety of services, service structure, music, prayers, drama and testimony, leading the service, notices, size of congregation, length of service, and church building, furnishings, clothing, movement, as well as the church year. Ashton then concludes with a brief overview of particular services in Anglicanism, and the need to retain faithful worship in all of them (104-107).

Chapter 3, "Free Church Worship: The Challenge of Freedom," R. Kent Hughes (Senior Pastor Emeritus of College Church in Wheaton, Illinois) shows the reader how he came to his Reformed convictions without any denominational ties. He argues for worship that is more than just Sunday - "day-in-day-out living for Christ, the knees and heart perpetually bent in devotion and service" (140) - and how a life of worship enables Christians to worship freely and authentically in the gathered setting. After providing a brief look at the seven distinctives of worship in the Free Church tradition (preaching, Scripture, prayer, singing, sacraments, simplicity, and vestments; 142-46), Ashton then argues for six distinctive aspects of Christian worship that would foster mutual edification: worship is God-centered, Christ-centered, Word-centered, is consecration, is wholehearted, and is reverent (149-166). The author concludes his chapter with a brief how-to about corporate worship music, advocating six important factors: music serves preaching, develops maturity, is everyone's responsibility, that musical selection is important, that musicians must be prepared, and that the congregation is the chief instrument (166-172).

Chapter 4, "Reformed Worship in the Global City," by Timothy J. Keller (Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City) takes a detailed look at the worship wars that are plaguing much of evangelicalism today. Keller provides definitions of the two main sides at war, "Contemporary Worship" (194) and "Historic Worship" (195), and then posits that "we forge our corporate best when we consult all three--the Bible, the cultural context of our community, and the historic tradition of our church" (197). This three-pronged approach to worship provides the foundation for Keller's overview of worship in the Reformed tradition, favoring John Calvin's theology and liturgy of worship over and against the large variety of Reformed worship perspectives (199-208). The further author traces Reformed worship to its historical roots: simplicity as its voice, transcendence as its goal, and gospel reenactment as its order (208-217). Keller's three tests of Reformed corporate worship (doxological evangelism, community building, and character of service; 217-221) aim at determining if a corporate worship gathering is well-balanced in being both contemporary and Reformed (221). He also deals with the attitude and heart of those leading corporate worship (223), weekly preparation and planning that is involved (226), and the significance of having a guideline for choosing music for worship services (236).

Critical Evaluation

Engaging With God is a unique book on Christian worship in that it presents a well-organized analysis of how three different church traditions have sought to put the principles of a biblical worship theology into practice. Each of the three extensive chapters that follows Carson's chapter on worship theology include appendices that give the reader a behind-the-scenes look at how the author's church has planned their corporate worship services, as well as additional articles that are incorporated within the corporate worship gathering. This allows the reader to not only see theology in practice, but it gives worship leaders and music ministers examples of biblically faithful worship liturgies to incorporate into their own church setting.

For example, Keller includes liturgies within his chapter that his church has used in the past, ones for classical and contemporary worship services, ones that are more Calvinian in manner and ones that are less; his appendices include a full worship service outline (240-248) and prayers his church has used for leading those not taking the Lord's Supper (249). Hughes' appendices should also be very helpful to readers, as they not only include his Free Church's liturgy and worship service outlines from morning and evening services, but also detailed commentary for each, and three helpful articles on the wonders of worship (189), reading the Word (190-191), and the danger of equating music to worship (192). Mark Ashton's appendices similarly provide extensive commentary to the worship service outlines that he includes (109-135), but from the Anglican church he oversees.

While these appendices are the muscles that allow this book to stand out from amongst the plethora of books on worship available today, it would have been more helpful to see a wider range of church traditions represented, like churches from the Baptist tradition, the flourishing Reformed Charismatic family of churches from Sovereign Grace Ministries, or the third-wave Pentecostal Hillsong Church from Australia. Such may extend the length of the book to be too long for one volume, but it would be greatly beneficial to see Carson's theology of worship at work in other diverse church traditions.

Of a minor note, Mark Ashton's chapter employed some archaic vocabulary that may be unknown to non-Anglican or lay readers, and British idioms that would be unfamiliar to an American audience. For example: hobby-horses (84), interlopers (86), emendation (91), vetted (94), vestry (96). It would have been beneficial to see those terms edited out or explained, especially Anglican Church terms like "collects" and "notices" which are termed differently in North America.

Conclusion

In spite of these minor faux pas, Worship by the Book is both convicting and uplifting. It is a book that will convict senior pastors, music ministers, and worship leaders alike to evaluate and re-examine their corporate worship services for their biblical faithfulness, evangelistic effectiveness and mutually edifying abilities. By providing a theological framework of worship and practical examples of churches that worship by the Book, it uplifts the reader to find hope in and through corporate worship gatherings that center around the Word that became flesh, Jesus Christ. Churches in need of worship recovery, as well as those simply looking to refresh their service liturgies, will find plenty of biblical insight here to sustain them into the twenty-first century.

I appreciate the comparison and contrast found within this book of the various worhip styles and the philosophy behind each one. Such exposure only makes it obvious where our commonalities lie, and what is at the heart of true worship. Each contributor does a fine job in this regard, but such an approach has its drawbacks. The temptation to become syncretic is always here with us as we search for a way to worship- we might succomb to pick and choose what appeals to us, rather than what would please God. We often do this without any realization of the "why" of what is being done, and thus lose our way, so to speak. These authors are deeply steeped in their traditions, and are less likely to fall into such a trap, but those who are reading such brief, though well written overviews, suffer from a lack of background that is important for such wanderings.

Too often, when Christians discuss worship, they go little further than arguments about styles of music. The "worship wars" that have plagued the modern church are a prime example of this. Many churches have fallen apart and many Christians have been deeply hurt over styles of music. Churches that have sought to be progressive and contemporary have often done away with hymns, throwing away hundreds of years of Christian tradition in the process. Other churches have refused to sing any song written in modern times, indicating an irrational bias towards days gone by. In the process worship has come to be nearly synonymous with music. Church services are often structured around a time of worship, led by a worship pastor, and this is followed by a time of apparently non-worshipful teaching led by a teaching pastor.

These worship wars are a terrible distraction, for as believers who have access to the New Testament we know that worship extends far beyond music. Worship is to encompass all of life rather than only select parts. Worship by the Book is an attempt by four men, D.A Carson, Mark Ashton, Kent Hughes and Timothy Keller, to unravel the meaning of worship as well as to suggest ways that corporate worship, done as the church gathers together, can be most meaningful and most faithful to Scripture.

The book begins with an essay by Carson entitled "Worship Under the Word" in which he builds a framework around which each of the other authors will write. The heart of the essay is a lengthy definition of worship and a twelve-point examination of this definition. It is an unusually long and detailed definition of worship, yet one that for precisely those reasons is exceedingly useful.

Following Carson's introduction, each of the three co-authors is given one chapter to provide insight about worship within their tradition. The first of these is Mark Ashton, who is vicar of the Round Church at St. Andrew the Great in Cambridge, England. His essay is entitled "Following in Cramner's Footsteps" and he proposes that the Anglican Church recover the principles Cramner used to draft the Book of Common Prayer. He suggests each aspect of a worship service needs to meet three criteria: is it biblical, is it accessible and is it balanced? Despite coming from a tradition that seems far removed from mainline evangelicalism, I suspect the bulk of believers with agree with most of what he writes, at least until the final paragraphs where he writes about infant baptism and presumptive regeneration. I was a little bit concerned about a vague, underlying spirit of pragmatism that seemed to lie under the surface of some of what he wrote. Within the sample services, for example, is an outline of a guest service in which they have dumbed-down their Bible translation, opting for the Good News Bible in place of the New International Version. Despite this, there was much within his essay that was of practical value.

The second essay was written by Kent Hughes, pastor of the College Church in Wheaton, Illinois. At the heart of Hughes' essay, "Free Church Worship," were his six distinctives of Christian worship: it is God-centered, Christ-centered, Word-centered, consecration, whole-hearted and reverent. I especially appreciated his emphasis on reverence, as this is sorely-lacking in many contemporary churches. He closed with some useful thoughts on music in corporate worship.

The final essay was written by Timothy Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church (PCA) in New York City. Keller is seen as a trend-setter within the Presbyterian Church of America, so I looked forward to his essay which was entitled "Reformed Worship in the Global City." Keller contrasted and compared contemporary worship and historical worship and proposed a middle-ground, but not one as simple as an even distribution of elements from each. His essay was built around an examination and defense of the Reformed worship tradition. He examined its variety, sources, balance, core, traits and tests. I particularly enjoyed his explanation of the service structure at their church and the cycles of praise, renewal and commitment.

While it was generally a strong essay, it seemed to come apart a little at the end. The author wrote about the importance of including unbelieving musicians in the worship team as a way to evangelize them, arguing that God's common grace given to musicians brings as much glory to Him as do believers using their talents in His service. I much preferred Kent Hughes' take on this same issue. In the previous chapter he wrote "Musicians must see themselves as fellow laborers in the Word and must lead with understanding and an engaged heart. Those who minister in worship services must be healthy Christians who have confessed their sins and by God's grace are living their lives consistently with the music they lead. The sobering fact is that over time the congregation tends to become like those who lead." I was also a bit disappointed by the content of the bulletin inserts of Redeemer Church that were included within this essay as they seemed to favorably quote Mother Teresa, writing that the most important need of the poor is to be wanted.

Despite a few small missteps, I found this book fascinating and convicting. I would encourage any pastor or worship leader to buy this book and to read it through at least a couple of times. It will provide valuable insight into planning worship services that will lead believers into a time of worship that goes far beyond the music. Worship like these men describe is becoming increasingly rare. I hope this volume can help many churches recover worship that is done by the Book.

This book is worth buying for the insightful introductory article by Don Carson. He argues that there is a place for corporate worship and that church is more than sitting in a holy building and having my own little quiet time with God, or only meeting for teaching or encouraging others. In his theology of worship, he guards against some of the extremes we find in evangelical churches today. The reflection on David Peterson's "Engaging with God" is stimulating. Some have used Peterson's book to argue that in the New Testament meetings were not for the purpose of worshipping God. Carson points out that though the book shows that worship in the New Testament is meant to be a whole of life thing, and not just something Christians do on Sundays, Peterson still "wants to talk about ... corporate worship in the regular 'services' of the church."
The main sections of the book are written from a variety of perspectives, from formal to fairly free, from liturgical to extemporary.

Interestingly, the article by the minister from the more liturgical background, Mark Ashton, argues from his knowledge of Cranmer [the creator of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer] that churches should have more flexibility and freedom. And the articles by those from a less structured eccesiology argue for the use of some liturgy!

And Carson suggests we should be using the best of the ways of worship from our brothers and sisters around the world, without becoming self-consciously Multicultural for the sake of it.

Highly recommended.

"Sooner or later Christians tire of public meetings that are profoundly inauthentic, regardless of how well (or poorly) arranged, directed, performed. We long to meet, corporately, with the living and majestic God and to offer him the praise that is his due." (D.A. Carson)

OK, my knee-jerk reaction to this book was, "Finally, some THOUGHTFUL words on worship!" But let's face it, books on evangelical worship are a dime-a-dozen these days with little new being said and a lack of thoughtfulness (not sincerity). As for books on worship and the theology of worship: the standard has been significatly raised.

Not so with this book! Dr. Carson's introductory essay alone is worth this book. But, there is a lot more that it offers: following some insightful remarks by the editor (Carson) there are three theoretical/applicable studies written by Mark Ashton (Anglican -- Cranmer), R. Kent Hughes (Free Church), and Timothy J. Keller (Reformed).

Each writes from their own tradition (as a pastor), providing a semi-apologetic and a passion for the approach. Further, each writer includes sample services to help show what each tradition "looks like" in practice.

I recommend this to:
1)those tired of reading the same old stuff on worship
2)those unfamiliar with the theology of worship (this is a good intro)
3)those unfamiliar with different doctrinal/denominational traditions
4)church elders and leaders who plan worship
5)those desiring more...

I am going into my 2nd year of teaching and have found this book to be immensely helpful. I taught a split grade my first year and struggled with organizing all of the curriculum information and keeping my plan book organized in a way that helped keep me on track for the year.

This book by Shoshana Wolfe is awesome for getting organized. She shares her own story of these strategies helping her as she had to move her class multiple times after 9/11. From setting up a year-long curriculum goal sheet for each subject area, to planning monthly calendars to serve as the foundation for all planning and teaching, to the artifact binders and homework notebooks, this book is packed with refreshing ideas that new and veteran teachers alike can benefit from.

I am so glad I purchased this book. I will definitely be using a lot of these strategies this year with my new class.

Your Best Year Yet offers great suggestions on how all teachers can make the most of what they have, no matter what their situation. It teaches that children are viable resources for creating and sustaining an organized classroom community. It is extremely well-written with great models, templates, photographs, sample student and teacher work, and, most enjoyably, first-hand accounts of the author's own experiences as a school teacher. As a teacher in an integrated classroom, I have found this guide to be very helpful!

I wish I'd had this book before I started my first year as a teacher! It provides incredibly useful ways to organize and keep track of classroom activity - from the big picture of planning (and changing) curriculum throughout the year, to the minutia of how to arrange the steats or what to do with all that paper that accumulates. I've been teaching for 7 years, and recently borrowed this book from a colleague, and learned many new tricks, like how to re-think my classroom setup and how to keep an eye on long-term goals, while maintaining order in the day-to-day workings of my classroom.

I particularly love how the author stresses the value of students' sense of responsibility in the classroom - this has been my experience too. The more students invest in their work environment, the better they will take care of it, and if we make it an easy space in which children can learn and use materials independently, they will certainly do this! It makes everyone's job easier to work in an organized space.

This book takes all the great ideas for teaching kids to be independent in the classroom and puts them together in one place. After teaching middle school for 7 years, there are things in here that I have done, and things I wish I'd thought about sooner. It gives you plenty to think about and many ways to enter into the process of streamlining the routines in your classroom making it a better place for both student and teacher.

As teachers we are always searching for ways to make our classrooms more efficient & effective. I love the ideas in this book. My favorite part is the way the author creates systems that teach kids to be independent and active learners & organizers! This book is great for new teachers but also provides a new twist for those of us who have been teaching for many years.

So you've been a director for 20 years and you think you've read it all. Think again. As he opens "21st Century Board," Ralph Ward sets the stage for adventure. "In editing a national magazine for the past six years, I've had a ringside seat for the wildest era of corporate governance change since the New Deal," Ward begins...and proceeds to bring the era to life in 350+ comprehensive pages. It's all here--the issues, the players, the research, the war stories, the trends--from Archer Daniels Midland to Westinghouse--in a tome so comprehensive that any reader is guaranteed to find something new (even this reviewer, who has spent nearly two decades covering the governance scene). But beyond information, this book offers unbiased, well-reasoned, and fair-minded opinions on the most important governance controversies of our day. Readers joining Ward will soon find that their companion is no mere ticket-holder, but a narrative ringmaster who can put even the "wildest" things in their proper place.

Ralph Ward grabs the reader from page one with a Barbarians at the Gate style tale of the board revolution at General Motors. For the first six chapters I kept wondering if I could somehow buy into the movie rights. By chapter 7, however, he is shifting gears into a history of boards of directors and their function. The likelihood of a movie faded but the book never looses its lively pace through 60 informative chapters with headings like "How to Launch a Board Revolt," "Q: Why is Board Education like Sex Education," and "Take Me to Your Lead Director."

Ward tells the familiar tale, chronicled by Berle and Means and updated by Mark Roe, of how owners were usurped by managers. The recent era of corporate raiders and rubber stamp boards is fading into history as shareholders and their board representatives gain an equal footing with CEOs. Ward draws on his years of experience as editor of The Corporate Board to inform the reader of current trends and to speculate on the future.

For example, Ward tells us that new boards are looking for skills in telecommunications and technology, marketing, international markets, finance, restructuring, entrepreneurial skills, and service industries, as well as for demographic diversity. Ward devotes several chapters to describing the work of audit, compensation, and nominating committees. He also looks examines emerging committees in corporate governance and compliance as well as more specialized committees. He sees the likelihood that small board secretariats will strengthen the board's hand in working with management by helping them dig through the data.

Looking at the chair/CEO controversy, Ward concludes that in most cases the independent outside chair "would not have enough muscle yet to make a difference." "This does not mean we should give up on the idea of a separate chair, but rather that supporters may have been too early with the idea for it yet to be effective." Ward sees lead directors as a "fallback" position that is likely to take hold sooner but on a less formal basis.

Most readers will find that Ward takes a balanced and reasoned approach to SEC regulations, director liability, stakeholder influence, and the dozens of other issues which he covers in brief but informative discussions. Perhaps most controversial is his contention is that we may soon be seriously considering proposals for federal the chartering of corporations. Ward breezes through past proposals by James Madison, William Jennings Bryan, T. Roosevelt, Wilson, Taft, William O. Douglas, Ralph Nader, and more recent efforts. He points out that "the very Congress that gained power in 1994 by proclaiming a return of power to the states passed the Private Securities Litigation and Reform Act of 1995" which preempts state powers in shareholder suits and adds federal disclosure requirements.

Ward argues that several federal laws have defused the radical call for federal chartering while bringing us closer to a de facto federal system. "While federal chartering waves of the past century were stirred by politicians, jurists, and consumer advocates, a renewed effort would likely be led by shareholders." "If federal corporate certification could supersede state lawsuits, coordinate often contradictory federal regulations, and set clear standards for board behavior, it might well draw new fans from the business sector." I find his arguements compelling. If shareholders and businesses united around such a proposal now, we might avoid populist based demands, with confusing stakeholder provisions for constituent based boards, which are likely to resurface in an economic downturn.

http://www.corpgov.net

...

How to Build Better Boards

"The Family Circus", Bil Keane's winsome cartoon strip, focuses on the daily ups and downs of life in the often chaotic home of a young family.

Regular readers of the strip have learned that in addition to mother, father, four young children, and three pets, there are two other residents in the household who make regular, if furtive, appearances. Whenever the mother finds a broken dish, a piece missing from a birthday cake, or muddy footprints tracked through the house, we know that the ghostly characters "Ida Know" and "Not Me" are lurking nearby. All the mother has to do whenever she finds something broken, missing, or in disarray is confront her youngsters with the question, "Who is responsible for this?" to elicit the collective response, "Ida Know!" or "Not Me!"

These two troublemakers have apparently expanded their families and sent their children off to inhabit the most senior executive offices of many of the world's best known corporations. Their names are on the tongues of virtually every executive who has had to explain why his or her corporation has collapsed. Listen to the CEOs of Enron, Polaroid, Global Crossing, Warnaco, or Arthur Andersen, for example. The top executives of each of these companies have assured us that they themselves had nothing to do with the collapse of their companies, putting the blame squarely on "Ida Know" and "Not Me" in virtually every case.

Exasperated shareholders wonder whom ultimately to hold responsible for the collapse of these companies and their investments. Ever so slowly, the glare of the lights is shifting to the boards of directors, as questions are raised about board accountability and responsibility. The boards of these companies all seemed to have been napping as they waited for their options to vest.

For all the time, energy, and resources organizations put into training executives, it appears that they put considerably less into training directors and helping them to understand their responsibilities. Type the words "board of directors" or "corporate governance" into the search engine at Amazon.com and you will see a fraction of the number of books that you would find had you typed the word "leadership."

Among the books that stand out are two by Ralph D. Ward: The 21st Century Corporate Board and its follow-up, Improving Corporate Boards. Ward, the editor of Corporate Board magazine, has filled the pair with well-written and insightful case studies, along with specific recommendations for changes in practices and procedures. Together they make an excellent handbook both for companies and for individual directors. In fact, "required reading" is the term that best describes them.

The 21st Century Corporate Board focuses on the turbulent era of the early 1990s, which saw a series of sackings of CEOs at corporate giants GM, Kodak, IBM, and American Express, among others. The frenzied era of hostile takeovers and leverage buyouts in the 1980s was still fresh in the minds of corporate boards. If a CEO failed to keep his company's stock price high enough to ward off potential raiders, boards were not hesitant to send CEOs packing.

Ward divides the book into two sections - an examination of how things got so bad as boards grew increasingly somnolent, and then a prescriptive section, with specific recommendations for changes. Among his most powerful suggestions is that the board have its own office and staff within the organization. Typically most boards rely on assistance from the CEO's or corporate counsel's office. The board needs more independence and autonomy, especially as the prospect of increased government oversight grows.

His more recent book, Improving Corporate Boards, provides more detailed and specific recommendations for improving each branch of a board's function. The audit committee of Enron's board might have spared themselves and the rest of the company more than a little trouble had they read Ward's pithy chapter entitled, "Smarter Audit Committees." Two suggestions seem especially on point: "Make sure the company is looking at the real numbers" and "Learn where right and wrong really are for the company's financials."

Polaroid CEO Gary DiCamillo managed to work the stock price of his company consistently down over his six-year tenure: from a high of ... per share to its recent value of pennies following the company's bankruptcy. Amazingly, near the end of DiCamillo's initial three-year contract, with the stock price at half of what it had been when he first took over as CEO, Polaroid's board paid him a ... cash bonus, extended his contract, and affirmed their support for him. DiCamillo banked the bonus and bankrupted the company. He is still CEO. We can only surmise what might have happened had Polaroid's board members read through Ward's two books and then acted on even a small number of Ward's sound suggestions. As it is, the board has no doubt provided Ward with an unfortunate but instructive case study for a future edition of either of these two solid handbooks. ...

Now that the capitalist/communist divide in eastern Europe has fallen, perhaps the greatest remaining human barrier is between those who have served as directors of public corporations and those who have not. From the inside, boards look like groups of honest, smart, hard-working earnest people trying to do a very difficult job with inadequate tools. From the outside, people automatically use words like "entrenched," "greedy," "co-opted" and "lazy." When the stock is going up, no one thinks of the board. When it goes down, everyone is disgruntled and everyone blames the board. Ralph Ward has bridged that gap with a book that brings the outsider into the boardroom, to see real day-to-day board operations. At the same time the book will show the insider the view from the stands. The author is neither a cheerleader for nor an enemy of boards. He shows how a board can add real value to a public company, but he does not hesitate to criticize bad practice. Any board member can use this book to improve their board. Any investor can use it to understand boards, and to encourage improvement. On top of that, it's actually fun to read.

As I read through this book, I highlighted the pages that were of most interest to me. Now, I have ~50 ways that I personally will try to change the world. I was so impressed with this book, I ordered 12 copies to give to friends! Hopefully, they will highlight the pages that are most pressing for them and begin to take action. My only stipulation when giving the books away was that if they didn't plan to read the book and get active, they must pass the book on to someone else.

This is a lovely book - a great book to keep on your coffee table or bedside, open it up and read a few pages. It offers insightful information and effective strategies for making a positive impact in/on the world. It's perfect for those who are overwhelmed and feel paralyzed to make any type of dent ..........

This book changed my life. Such simple suggestions that are easy to achieve, but add them up and suddenly you are living a different kind of life and thinking in a different way. If everyone on planet earth read this book and followed just one suggestion what a wonderful world it would be.

This is a book that is useful in the best way. You help the world a little and you become more aware of what you can do to help. It's a great book.