Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders Order Instructions: Book Review; McNeal, Reggie. Practicing Greatness: 7 Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2006. ISBN: 9780787977535
Please use the following format in preparing 4-MAT Book Reviews:
1. ABSTRACT. Summarize what you have read, boiling the book down into 400 words (no more than 2 pages). Prove you comprehend the readings by writing a no-nonsense summary. The abstract is not a commentary or listing of topics but rather an objective summary from the reader’s viewpoint. Abstract equals “boiled down.” This section should include a minimum of 2 footnotes to the text being reviewed.
2. CONCRETE RESPONSE. Get vulnerable! In no less than 250 words and no more than 1 page, relate a personal life experience that this book triggered in your memory. Relate your story in first person, describing action, and quoting exact words you remember hearing or saying. In the teaching style of Jesus, this is a do-it-yourself parable, case study, confession. You will remember almost nothing you have read unless you make this critical, personal connection. What video memory began to roll? This is your chance to tell your story and make new ideas your own.
3. REFLECTION. This is the critical thinking part of the review (not critical in the sense of negative, but in the sense of questioning). In no less than 250 words and no more than 1 page, describe what questions pop up for you in response to what you have read. Keep a rough-note sheet at hand as you read. Outsmart the author by asking better questions than he/she raised in the book. Tell how the author could have made the book better or more appealing to those in your field of service. One way to begin this section is by stating what bothered you most about the book. This is not a place to provide an endorsement or affirmation of the book.
4. ACTION. So what are you going to do about it? In 400-600 words (no less than 1 page and no more than 2 pages) provide 2 actions that describe what changes you are going to make in your life, ministry, and/or work as a result of your reading. Actions should be measurable and reveal a commitment to specific time, specific people, and identified steps.
5. Please provide a Turabian style* title page, pagination, footnotes & Bibliography
Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders Sample Answer
Book Review
McNeal, Reggie. Practicing Greatness: 7 Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2006. ISBN: 9780787977535.
Summary
Spiritual leaders in most cases do not desire or aim for greatness because they fear that they would seem to be lacking humility. Even so, greatness in spiritual leadership is what all of us really need – in our businesses, churches, in the social sector and in all sectors of society. The crucial question is: in what way do good spiritual leaders become great spiritual leaders? Basing upon his broad experience as a mentor and coach to numerous spiritual leaders across an extensive range of ministry settings, McNeal in this text assists spiritual leaders to know that they would self-select out of or into greatness. The author illustrates the way that great spiritual leaders are deliberately and consciously dedicated to 7 key spiritual disciplines; that is, habits of mind and heart which shape their competence as well as character.
These 7 are (i) discipline of aloneness – the deliberate practice of soul-making seclusion and meditation. (ii) The discipline of belonging – fortitude and willpower to foster relationships and to live in community with other people, who include friends, mentors, and family. (iii) The discipline of decision-making – understanding the aspects of good decisions and learning from failures.[1] (iv) Discipline of mission – this entails enjoying the authorizations of sustaining the sense of God’s purpose for the spiritual leader’s life and leadership. (v) The discipline of self-development – an enduring, lifetime dedication to growing and learning, as well as building on one’s own strength. (vi) The discipline of self-management – this entails handling difficult temptations, expectations, emotions, physical well-being as well as mental vibrancy. (vii) The discipline of self-awareness – this is one very significant body of information that a spiritual leader has.[2] All in all, this text goes further than just simple clichés and inspirational thoughts to be an imperative resource for spiritual leaders who are aspiring to move from being merely good enough leaders to becoming great leaders who bless other people.
Concrete Response
This text has triggered a particular personal life experience in my memory. In this book, McNeal points out that spiritual leaders who are genuinely great actually do not whatever they do for themselves. They also never do what they do in order to gain recognition as great leaders. For spiritual leaders, their end game is about expanding God’s kingdom.[3] This paragraph in the book has triggered an experience in my mind that involved ministry work that I did roughly 14 months in which my goal was not to be recognized as a great leader, but rather to expand God’s kingdom. Expanding the kingdom of God basically entails bringing other people into the kingdom of God and with them their institutions, organizations and families.[4]
To me, expanding the kingdom of God included evangelism among other things. I developed kingdom life in the church, and exported it to the world through every Godly means possible. As a spiritual leader, I helped expand the kingdom of God by establishing relationships with people. I allowed the Holy Spirit to draw people to Christ through me. In essence, my life groups acted as a net for collecting the people who interacted with me. Furthermore, during that time, I utilized community activities, entertainment, educational programs and businesses in reaching individuals who did not yet follow Christ. Christians are generally part of the kingdom of God. The Lord wants us not just to represent his kingdom, but also to expand the borders of its kingdom. It is notable that the work of expanding the kingdom of God included representing God’s kingdom to members of the public.
Reflection
One of the 7 disciplines that Reggie McNeal has pointed out in the book is self-development, which entails a lasting devotion to learning and growing, as well as building on one’s own strength. However, the author has not specified how a good spiritual leader will learn, who to learn from, and what will the spiritual leader learn and grow in? McNeal could have made this book better and more appealing to those in my field of service by stating explicitly how spiritual leaders are learners and how they can learn instead of merely saying that self-development is a lasting devotion to learning and growing; he should have been more specific. The author could have pointed out various ways that spiritual leaders can learn for instance by setting a goal of reading no less than 1 book on a weekly basis, or by listening to sermons or podcasts while having a long drive. The author could have expressed clearly how spiritual leaders can maximize their time in learning and growing. A lot of people fail to maximize their time and do not manage themselves and therefore they miss out on growth. The other question that pops up in my mind after reading this text is: if a good spiritual leader does not choose greatness, does it really mean that he will die prematurely as the author puts it? According to McNeal, a spiritual leader faces the option of greatness. As many others have done, he or she can choose to settle for less, but this means that he or she would die a premature death, adding that the spiritual leader will rob other people the chance of living a better life.[5] This sounds scary to a good spiritual leader who may feel forced to choose greatness or die. McNeal could have put his point across in a different way that is less frightening to good spiritual leaders.
Action
As a result of reading this text, the actions that I am going to do in my life are as follows: first, I will practice greatness by developing some disciplines. In the next 2 years, I will develop self-awareness by recognizing what I am good at and what I am not good at, and understand how to maximize my strengths. Moreover, by developing self-awareness, I will get to know why I react to things in a particular way, why particular things draw my attention, why I am prone to particular sins, or why some individuals rub me the wrong way. This action will entail a commitment to my close friends and family members since I would need to know from them why some of them at times rub me the wrong way. The second action is about enhancing belongingness. It is notable that the discipline of belongingness typifies the ability of a great leader to enjoy significant relationships which actually cultivate and develop his or her life.[6] Even though leadership is lonely, it does not necessarily have to be as lonely as some leaders at times make it seem. In the next 16 months, I will develop and nurture relationships although this may take a considerable amount of effort, time and work, and it might be difficult and hurt along the way; to be a great leader I would need to thrive. I will need to belong in my family as well as marriage considering that this is actually the lifeblood for a married spiritual leader.
Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders References
Malphurs, Aubrey. Being Leaders: The nature of authentic Christian leadership. . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2010.
McNeal, Reggie. Practicing Greatness: 7 Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2006. ISBN: 9780787977535.
[1] Reggie McNeal. Practicing Greatness: 7 Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2006), 12.
[2]Ibid, 19
[3] Ibid, 8
[4] Aubrey Malphurs. Being Leaders: The nature of authentic Christian leadership. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2010), 22.
[5] Reggie McNeal. Practicing Greatness: 7 Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2006), 32.
[6] Ibid, 15
