John Wooden's Leadership Game Plan for Success - Part One

This is going to be a several part series on the salient points from John Wooden's Leadership Game Plan for Success

Part One: Origins of Leadership: A Compass for Core Values

Most of John Wooden's core values came from his modest upbringings on the family farm in Centerton, Indiana. From this, Coach Wooden developed his "Compass for Core Values." Four core principles represented the four points of his Moral Compass and there are centered around ethics and attitudes. "Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Character is what you really are. Reputation is what people say you are. Character is more important."
Four Navigation Points of Coach Wooden's Compass:

1. The Golden Rule - Simply treat other's the way you would have them treat you. This is based on Matthew 7:12.

2. Dad's Two Sets of Three - These were planted in each of the four boys, including Coach Wooden, from his father. The first set have to do with integrity: Never Lie - Never Cheat - Never Steal The second set have to do with how to face adversity: Don't Whine - Don't Complain - Don't make Excuses

3. The Caution against Comparisons - "Don't worry about being better than somebody else, but never cease trying to be the best that you can be. You have control over that. Not the other.

4. Dad's Seven Point Creed: A graduation gift from Coach Wooden's Father was a two-dollar bill and 3x5 card on which he had written this: Be true to yourself; Help others; Make each day your masterpiece; Drink deeply from good books - including the Good Book; Make friendship a fine art; Build a shelter against a rainy day; Pray for guidance, count and give thanks for you blessings every day.

Commentary

I very much enjoyed the process this book is presenting. From the start, you understand the foundation of Coach Wooden's philosophy of Leadership - not just leadership, but life. Seemingly, it is a combination of home spun philosophy, biblical truths and experience handed down from his father. It seems simplistic, but it is a solid of a foundation as one could ask for.

To the authors credit, he doesn't go on for pages and pages of examples to support the points being made. It is almost a minimalist approach as he writes - principle, simple explanation, supporting example of anecdote. Simple, straight-forward, concise - much like Coach Wooden.

From this foundation, the rest of the book seems to flow. Looking forward to posting the next section.

Prodigal Friendly Church and Will Your Prodigal Come Home - Jeff Lucas

It has been a while since I have posted about what I have been reading - but that doesn't mean I haven't been reading! (smile)

These two books are tremendous. I first read Lucas's "Creating a Prodigal Friendly Church" and was humbled by his observations about the church of today. Using the story of the Prodigal Son, he posits the question about how receptive our churches are today to the Prodigal when they finally return home.

Tucked in his observations are some tremendous ancient cultural insights to the story of the Prodigal. Especially helpful were the understanding of the Kezakah and Keffakah.

If you would like further application of the book, I used Lucas's thoughts for a lesson you can view by clicking here. One thought that stayed with me: What would have happened if the Prodigal Son had met the Older Brother before he saw the Father? How many times has that happened in our churches?

Lucas's Second Book, "Will Your Prodigal Come Home" provided an honest asssessment of many of the children and grandchildren of people in our churches today. Lucas was helpful, but brutally honest in his assessment of Prodigals and their families. He spent alot of time discussing what a prodigal is and isn't and how you can deal with them. He also provided insight into the plight of a Christian Family and their Prodigals when they come to church. Very well done book. It too provided fodder for a great lesson which can be viewed by clicking here.

I would highly recommend both books to church leaders and parents.

Choices

Just some thoughts after preaching a 17 year old's Funeral.

David Gregory Books

David Gregory is a master at writing modern day parables. Here are the 3 books of his I have read:

Dinner With a Perfect Stranger
A Day With a Perfect Stranger
The Next Level - A Parable of Finding Your Place in Life.

Dinner with a Perfect Stranger is centered around a conversation Jesus has with a successful female lawyer named Nicky. Through the conversation, Jesus deals with different faiths, salvation, why does evil happen and other topics of interest. This book would be a great non-threatening evangelistic tool to give to someone who is searching.

A Day with a Perfect Stranger picks up 10 years later when Nicky's daughter is leaving to go to Art School. It focuses more on a disbelief in God, but again deals with the "why does God allow evil" question. It is not a apologetic in nature as the first book, but is very good none the less.

Both of these books have been made into DVD's. We have shown them both to the Church on Sunday evenings and they have been very very well received.

The Next Level book is the written more for a believer than was the other two. It focuses on trying to please God, serving Him out of love rather than out of duty or even selfishness. I will reread this book again to grasp some of the nuances I might have missed. It did not catch my heart as much as his previous 2 books did.

How Starbucks Saved My Life

I have a terrible habit to which I must confess. Whenever I fly, I have a habit of going to the Airport Book store and buying a book I would probably never buy anywhere else and paying a price that is twice what I could get the book for at Amazon. There ... I feel much better.

Such is the story of how I purchased this book. I was on the way to Albuquerque New Mexico when I picked up this book. For those who know me, I am a sucker for anything Starbucks and this book looked interesting.

How Starbucks Saved My Life by Michael Gates Gill is a book written about Mr. Gill's life experience. He has a seemingly lucrative and successful 30 year career as an Advertising Agent but is shown the door when "downsizing" takes place. He starts his own Agency, but the clients begin to dry up. Coupled with some bad personal decisions, he finds himself loosing most all that he has grown accustomed to in his life.

Family and fortune gone, he finds himself in his favorite Starbucks when he is "jokingly" offered a job. He accepts, stunning both him and the young lady who offered the job. Thus begins his journey into a culture that he was totally oblivious to for so many years.

Here is this WASP man now working for and with a black female manager at a store staff by minorities. And the transformation begins. What is amazing is that they learn from each other. They all struggle with misconceptions, prejudices, and preconceived ideas they have had about each other's culture. It is an interesting journey with Starbucks as a background.

As a bonus, one learns a tremendous amount about company policies of Starbucks, how they take care of their employees, and the inner workings of a store. Also, you learn much about different types of coffee and what goes well with them. After reading this book, I asked for a "Coffee Passport" at my local Starbucks and they gave me one!

This book is well written and shows how people from different ages, backgrounds and cultures can work through to help each other clearing up misconceptions.

I would encourage anyone - especially Starbucks aficionados - to read this book. I really enjoyed it!

A Quest for Answers: The DaVinci Code

In just a few days the movie, "The DaVinci Code" will be drawing millions to the movie theater. This movie, based on the same titled book, is a fictional best seller that weaves an incredible story of deceit, murder and intrigue about a secret society that has been given the task of keeping secret, shocking and priceless relic.

Many people have wondered, "It the DaVinci Code Real?; Is it Historically Accurate?" The answer is yes - and no. Yes, there are historical people and groups that actually lived mentioned in this book - just as there was actually a New York City and Empire State Building in the movie King Kong. But much of what is presented as fact is simply historically inaccurate. Be that as it may, the DaVinci Code is a great book - but it is a book of fiction.

Josh McDowell in the book, "A Quest for Answers: The DaVinci Code" tells a story of three college students who begin to read the book, "The DaVinci Code" and begin to research some of the historical claims of the book. McDowell writes this book in novel format, but it is heavily footnoted for those who would like to further study the claims the book makes.

If you would like to view an Adobe PDF File of the first chapter, you can click here. If you would like to order a copy of the book, you can click here.

Here is another link to more information about a Believers Response to the "DaVinci Code."

Blue Like Jazz

It has been a while since I have "blogged" on what I was reading. Not that I wasn't reading - just too busy to sit down and write about it. I thought it was time to change that - so here we go.

While writing my Doctoral Dissertation a couple of years ago - I discovered there were people that didn't think like me ... I am not talking about agreeing with me ... but the didn't process information like I did - didn't view reality like I did - didn't even view a relationship with Christ the way I did. I think a little background is in order here.

I was raised by very godly parents - they taught me how to love, taught me how to treat people and taught me how to think - how to reason. It was all very logical - for my father is an analytical engineer - smart too - brilliant actually - he is a rocket scientist. I was raised to think - reason - analyze - weigh out options - black/white - very quantifiable - very empirical. And I love that ... I love bulleted lists - I love precision - I love finding solutions to difficult problems.

And in a sense - that is what Jesus is to me - A solution to a difficult problem. Sin separated me from God and Jesus provided a solution to this relational problem. Big problem - great solution. Makes sense.

But as I began to research my Dissertation - I found that most people didn't see the world or God as I did. It wasn't so clear cut - the "reasoned bulleted convincing arguments" didn't work. It was if I was speaking a totally different language than they were.

So - I have been doing what I have always done - I have been analyzing the situation. (stop laughing) I want to know how to communicate with these people. I want to understand what "makes them tick."

At first I thought they were nuts. Sloppy - messy - artsy/fartsy kind of people - but now I have come to appreciate them for what they are. They are the artist to my engineer. They are the color to my black and white.

They love the same God as I do - but express that love in such different ways - worship Him in such different ways - ways that don't ring my bell - but I do think it rings God's Bell. Actually - I think my of loving and worshipping Him does too - God has a great capacity to receive all kinds of expressions of love from His Children.

Which brings me to this book - Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller.

Donald Miller is a guy that loves the Lord in an incredible way. This book chronicles many of his thoughts and experiences about people and God.

As I read it – it seemed like a meandering journey – but one that I truly enjoyed and appreciated greatly. In addition – he sees things in a way that I do not – which is marvelous!

It is clear that he has an incredible love for Jesus – and so do I – but we have arrived there in incredibly divergent paths – and we both have something to learn from the others journey.

I have learned to appreciate the journeys, experiences and biblical applicative insights from this book. He writes honestly about his struggles with faith, the church, right-wing politics and especially religion. But what is amazing is that he doesn’t “gloss over” these struggles with religious jargon or clichés. And in the struggles – you gain insight to his soul – and insight to your own.

There are some things in this book that make me uneasy – but to dismiss the insights because of those would be incredibly prejudiced – even judgmental. But still …

I would highly recommend this book to have both a greater understanding of a way of postmodern religious reasoning – and to see journeys to God that are filled with incredibly poignant truths.

Velvet Elvis - Rob Bell

Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell is a very interesting and entertaining read. There are many insights that I picked up from this book - particularly those of the Jewish Culture during the time of Jesus. From Bell's insights on the Jewish Culture, Rabbis and Tamildin - the calling of the Disciples by Jesus took on a much deeper and fuller meaning.

However, there are points where Bell stretches my comfort zone with his view of Scripture. His points of questioning whether there is a "constant right" interpretation of scripture troubles me. Even though there are cultural and traditional influences and insights, there is still places where the scripture is clear. While insights might add color, there are still some black and white issues of right and wrong in scripture that cross cultural, generational and geographic lines.

Additionally, I am troubled at some acceptance of habits that would be stumbling blocks in the culture that I live. While as Christians there is freedom, there are times when you don't exercise that freedom because it would be a stumbling block to either new believers or even unbelievers. Again - that is my culture - and Rob Bell does not live in my culture.

I would recommend this book to mature Christian who could filter it though his understanding of his faith and the culture in which he lives his faith out.