Summit 2010 - Session 1 with Bill Hybels

I though I'd give blogging through Willow Creek's Leadership Summit this year.  We'll see if I actually make it through the whole thing.

.:From Here to There

Getting stuck in a leadership slump

Half-a-dozen problems around Willow Creek that he just couldn't seem to resolve and right about this time, his secretary came in and dumped half-a-dozen new leadership books on his desk.

Then he started looking at the books and thinking about the problems and thought, "Maybe I've come to the end of my run."

Then had a wedding to do, and thought, "This will be good, because I know I can do weddings. Not my favorite thing to do, but I know I can do them. I've done hundreds of them."

Went through the whole wedding and everything went fine until the very end when he gave the nod to the vocalist to sing the final song, but she shook her head no.

"I can't even do a wedding right!"

He was in a slump.

Told God, "I need help. I don't know anything."

God told him, "Bill, you've been leading for 3 1/2 decades. You know a few things."

Leaders move people from Here to There.

We are HERE (current reality), but someday we are going to wind up THERE (preferred future) and we will all love life, our church will be stronger and better and more like Jesus.

He used to think the first step was to just describe "There"

Angelology by Danielle Trussoni

Angels and demons are commonly thought to be the two sides of the ethereal coin forever battling each other at the direction of higher powers. In her debut novel, “Angelology,” however, Danielle Trussoni introduces us to a third strain of the otherworldly, the hybrid Nephilim. Formed from the union of angels and humans, the Nephilim first appear in Genesis 6: “The sons of God saw the beautiful women and took any they wanted as their wives … [and] whenever The sons of God had intercourse with women, they gave birth to children who became the heroes and famous warriors of ancient times.” The Nephilim survived the Flood by sneaking onto Noah’s ark and set about infiltrating every level of human power.

Centuries later, the Nephilim live among humanity and are on the search for a cure to a mysterious illness endured by many of their greatest. Against this backdrop, secret correspondence between a former mother superior and Abigail Rockefeller bring together Trussoni’s heroes a young nun named Evangeline and Verlaine, an art historian. Together they begin to unravel the ages-old mystery of angelologists, a secret society dedicated to the eradication of all Nephilim.

While Trussoni’s narrative weaves biblical, historical and mythological threads into an entertaining and engaging whole a few moments bring the reader out of the world she has so carefully crafted. A flashback designed to illustrate the brutality of the Nephilim is a small moment of unnecessarily graphic gore that is out of place in the novel as a whole. Another flashback provides a clue to Evangeline’s ancestry so obvious that when it is revealed with a dramatic flourish 200 pages no one is surprised.

Though it’s impossible not to group this in with the recent spate of Dan Brown-inspired thrillers that redefine something “we thought we knew,” Trussoni’s novel is better than most. It’s a good read for those with more than a passing interest in biblical spirituality or history, but goes too far afield from established belief for strict adherents.

A Guy's Guide to Life by Jason Boyett

Jason Boyett is the author of several books in the guide/handbook genre.  It’s no wonder that he is the man behind A Guy's Guide to Life: How to Become a Man in 224 Pages or Less. Divided into three sections the book addresses cultural myths about manhood, sexuality and spiritual development.

Though Boyett relies on the Q & A troupe more than I care for, his writing is solid and easy to follow.  Despite its subtitle, it’s not a book of quick fixes. Instead it addresses the critical issue of becoming a man. Along the way, Boyett finds time to handle issues as varied as shaving, how to tie a necktie, dating, purity, exercise, peer pressure and faith.

A quick, but helpful read, I recommend it to teens and fathers of teens looking for a book to guide them along the tumultuous path from boy to man.

Disclosure of Material Connection: 
I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC's “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

What's In a Word? by Webb Garrison

While studying Spanish in college, I became interested in the little idiomatic phrases (actually insults) that don’t really translate into English. Even after years of classes, they’re really all I can remember.  If I get lost sometime in a Spanish-speaking country, all I could do is just insult the people trying to help me. It would be a disaster.

That’s why when I heard about the book. What’s in a Word?, I was pretty excited.  Unfortunately it didn’t take long for my excitement to deflate.


What’s in a Word? is a collection of short entries explaining the origins of words or phrases you hear in everyday speech. If you share my fascination with the origin of those odd phrases, this book might be for you more than it was for me.

It isn’t so much that the book isn’t well written. I found the individual stories for each entry to be sly, witty, and occasionally rather clever.  It’s just that many of the “fascinating stories” are kind of mundane (In the Groove), obscure (Best Bib and Tucker) or out-of-date (Floppies). An updated version of the first chapter in a revised edition would go a long way to making the book a better read. For now, though, it’s short entries means it’s the kind of book you’ll want to keep in the bathroom for quick reads.


Disclosure of Material Connection: 
I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC's “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”