Baker Leadership Collection Upgrade (9 vols.)

When Jesus walked the earth, he focused his energies not on filling stadiums but on twelve handpicked disciples whom he mentored and equipped to carry out ministries of their own. For the past forty years, Jim Stump often sat in cafés on the Stanford University campus, chatting with some of the most talented athletes in the world, getting to know them, walking with them, sharing his life with them, and loving them. He understands that the best way to have an eternal impact on the world is to develop deep and meaningful relationships with a handful of people.

With engaging personal stories and examples from the life of Jesus, Stump shows you how to develop rich mentoring relationships with the people in your life, providing simple steps toward sharing faith and life with those you care about. Inspirational, encouraging, and practical, The Power of One-on-One will increase your impact on God’s kingdom in surprisingly simple ways.

Great leaders build up, not down. When leaders, whether in the church or in the marketplace, inspire their teams with a vision of what is possible, passion meets production and truly great things start to happen. As senior director of family ministries at Lakewood Church in Houston, Craig Johnson oversees thousands of staff members, lay leaders, and volunteers. From his unique vantage point comes Lead Vertically, a fresh look at the importance of building teams when the goal is not only success, but fulfillment. Lead Vertically includes tools and exercises that can be adapted by any leader for teams of any size, as well as tips for recruiting, training, and strengthening teams. Leaders will learn to inspire even when saying no and to build trust personally, not just professionally. People can live with disappointment but not without hope. Lead Vertically shows leaders how to motivate teams by consistently and clearly communicating that the best days are ahead.

This substantial resource offers pastors and church leaders practical insight into the daily issues of running a church. Conceived and compiled by the editors of Leadership Journal, this book covers the full spectrum of ministry practice. This revised and expanded edition of a proven ministry resource contains new contributions from prominent ministry leaders. Contributors include Leith Anderson, Rick Warren, Brian McLaren, John Ortberg, Aubrey Malphurs, and many others.

Pastors and church leaders are constantly faced with tough questions. What size staff does the church need? How many workers are needed in the nursery this month? When is the right time to start a second worship service? How many people should we train for evangelism this year? How does seating and parking impact worship attendance?

What Every Pastor Should Know offers 101 valuable rules and time-tested wisdom to help answer real-life ministry questions. From advertising to facilities to visitation, this valuable book offers the practical help you need, just when you need it most. This comprehensive guide will become one of the most valuable books in your library.

If you’re a pastor, no one needs to tell you that the majority of churches in America are in a state of stagnation or decline. It’s possible that you are ministering in one right now. But there’s hope. In The U-Turn Church, two pastors who turned their churches around show you how to help usher in a new season of health, faithfulness, growth, and vision in your church.

The U-Turn Church walks you through common roadblocks to growth into a hope-filled future. Isn’t it time to begin your own u-turn journey? Here’s the practical help and wisdom born of experience that you need.

Well-staffed churches grow. But how do you staff your church for growth in these rapidly changing times?

In Effective Staffing for Vital Churches, two veteran pastors and church growth consultants offer workable solutions that focus on the four core processes vital to church health and growth: bringing people to Christ and the church, retaining them, discipling them, and sending them back out into the world. If you want to multiply the leaders in your church and develop a mission-minded staff that does the same, this is the place to start.

In challenging economic times, it is no surprise that churches must get creative with their resources. In The More-with-Less Church, the authors of the bestselling When Not to Build propose that church leaders look on these times as opportunities to reconsider ministry practices that may be siphoning time, money, and energy from their churches. Drawn from time tested strategies and experience, this practical resource will help you avoid costly mistakes and maximize the return on investment in ministries, staffing, facilities, and finances.

Every pastor is an interim pastor. Every church and ministry goes through changes in leadership. Despite this truth, few churches are planning ahead for the day they will face a transition in leadership, and far too many handoffs in leadership end with a dropped ball. But the outcome doesn’t have to be that way.

While there is no simple, one-size-fits-all solution to the puzzle of planning for a seamless pastoral succession, Next offers church leaders and pastors a guide to asking the right questions in order to plan for the future. Vanderbloemen, founder of a leading pastoral search firm, and Bird, an award-winning writer and researcher, share insider stories of succession failures and successes in dozens of churches, including some of the nation’s most influential. Through case studies, interviews, and real-time research, the authors demystify successful pastoral succession and help you prepare for an even brighter future for your ministry.

Ever wonder how a restaurant or hotel earns a five-star rating? Is it the people? The location? The service? In most cases, it is all of this and more. Why should your church be any different? The Five Star Church reveals how you can pursue Christian excellence and uphold the Lord’s command to “honor one another above yourselves” (Romans 12:10). It contains tips, tools, and the inspiration you need to build a top-quality church that people will flock to and participate in. Now matter how small your ministry or budget, God can use your church effectively to make everyone feel welcome and cared for—the marks of a five-star church!