Content - Vocation Category

10 Must-Have Books for Pastors

Thu, 28 Aug 2025 16:14:00 GMT

Pastoral ministry is both a sacred calling and an essential part of God's mission in and through the church. Those engaged in teaching, caring, leading, and offering spiritual guidance bear tremendous significance in the life of their churches and communities, often in ways not fully seen or acknowledged.

Through both the challenges and the rewards of day to day ministry, the right resources can help pastors in their day to day calling. These books have been thoughtfully chosen to support and equip pastors in varying aspects of their ministries and their own spiritual lives.

If you are seeking fresh insight, deeper spiritual formation, or practical wisdom for ministry, there's something here for you. Whether you're a pastor yourself or you want to support the church leaders in your life, these books are the perfect place to start!

“God Gives Good Gifts to Everyone”

Mon, 24 Jun 2024 11:00:00 GMT

“God Gives Good Gifts to Everyone”

6 Ways Academics Can Care for Each Other Well

Mon, 01 Apr 2024 14:39:00 GMT

6 Ways Academics Can Care for Each Other Well

Navigating Evangelical Academia as an Ethnic Minority Scholar

Thu, 28 Mar 2024 14:39:00 GMT

Navigating Evangelical Academia as an Ethnic Minority Scholar

A Conversation on the Lawyer's Vocation with Robert F. Cochran

Fri, 01 Mar 2024 16:08:00 GMT

A Conversation on the Lawyer's Vocation with Robert F. Cochran

At the Crossroads of Faith and Work

Tue, 12 Dec 2023 16:08:00 GMT

At the Crossroads of Faith and Work

A Conversation on Asian American Identity & Faith

Thu, 20 Apr 2023 15:08:00 GMT

A Conversation on Asian American Identity & Faith

Being God's Image as a Woman in the Academy and the Church

Wed, 01 Mar 2023 12:00:00 GMT

By Carmen Joy Imes, Author of Being God's Image

What is it like as a woman in the world of Biblical Studies?

My experience in the academy has been largely positive. Sure, I have stories I could tell, like the faculty member who met with me when I was in seminary and wondered out loud which of his male colleagues would be willing to supervise a woman in the doctoral program. Or the colleague who accidentally referred to the faculty in our department as "the guys" or the other colleague who effused after a faculty hymn sing how wonderful it was to hear "all the men's voices." In moments like that, I feel erased. Invisible. The field of theology and biblical studies has long been one in which the vast majority of professors are male. Although more women have joined their ranks, we are still by far the minority. If my colleagues occasionally misspeak, it's understandable.

On the whole, I have felt well received as a student, faculty candidate, and faculty member, whether in the classroom, in the boardroom, applying for grants, or presenting at conferences. When I landed a tenure-track position, I found it so encouraging that my new institution recognized the value of the work I had been doing, counted time toward tenure, and committed to paying me fairly.

I don't share this experience to minimize or silence the voices of the many women who have felt sidelined, ignored, harassed, or even abused in academic contexts. Inequities persist in some form at many institutions, and we must continue to be vigilant about ensuring that women are fairly treated, fairly compensated, and taken seriously.

However, the more difficult venue for me personally has been church.

Women's Roles in Church Ministry

I am fiercely committed to the church. I can't imagine life without the weekly rhythm of gathering with other believers to worship and be sent back into the world. I felt a call to ministry at a young age. At eight I offered my life to God as a missionary. At twelve I sensed an unmistakable call to missions. In my first year of college, I realized that God had gifted me as a teacher and first tried it out on adults in my home church. During my junior year, I had my first opportunity to teach a course at the college level under the supervision of my professor. I found such deep joy in doing so. For a long time, the desire to teach in the classroom made it relatively easy not to think about women's roles in church ministry. I didn't have to form a conclusion about what the Bible taught on that because I was called to the academy. Preaching and teaching required somewhat different skill sets; I was called to teach. In seminary, that began to shift. God began stirring in me a desire to invest more deeply in the church. A desire and willingness to preach began to flower in my soul. I began to realize that the gendered hierarchy present in many churches does not reflect the vision of Scripture for partnership in ministry between men and women.

My vocation is to study and teach the Bible. I do it all week long in the classroom, on podcasts, on YouTube, and by writing for the academy and for laypeople. But for most of my life, on Sundays, when I walk into the church service, I no longer have a voice. My place is in the pew, not on the platform. I listen to sermons rather than offer them.

On most Sundays, I have more theological education than the man in the pulpit. Depending on the passage, I may even have spent more hours poring over it, taking or teaching classes on it, reading about it, and considering its claims. At the same time, on any given Sunday, pastors around the world are sharing with their congregations what they have learned from my books or podcasts. To be clear, I'm not bitter about learning from men. I bring my journal to church every Sunday as a spiritual discipline. I find that the Spirit of God consistently meets me and speaks to me in some way through our services. But I, too, sense a call to bring the Word of God to the people of God. In my current context, and in most contexts where I have worshiped, it is either not allowed or it is so unusual that it would cause a bit of a stir.

Some of you are wondering, "Why not find another church?"

It's not so simple. A woman's role in the church is only one point of doctrine or practice that I care about. Many other things also matter to me. Finding a church in my neighborhood that has a high view of Scripture and allows both men and women to faithfully teach the Word is nearly impossible. For a variety of historical and cultural reasons, conservative theology usually goes hand in hand with a hierarchy between men and women. Conversely, the churches who tend to champion leadership roles for women are often more progressive in other areas as well, holding views that don't align with a high view of Scripture as our authority today. It doesn't have to be this way, but it often is.

So where does that leave me? As a woman trained in Biblical Studies with a lifetime of experience in ministry, I carry with me a longing for the full inclusion of women in every aspect of the church. For me it's not a matter of equal rights but of faithfully responding to the call of God and the empowerment of the Spirit. No one has a right to the pulpit. Only those called by God and equipped to rightly handle the Word of God should be entrusted with the ministry of preaching. Those of us who sense this calling from God but are prevented from responding carry ongoing grief.

In my current church context, women participate in many ways, including as worship leaders, deacons, Scripture readers, members of the prayer team, and service hosts. This last role includes giving announcements, leading in prayer, leading the liturgy, serving communion, and offering a public reflection or response to the sermon. I have loved the opportunity to minister to our congregation in this way. Our church benefits greatly from the thoughtful voices of many women.

Two weeks ago we were out of town on Sunday, but after the service the elder who preached sent me a copy of his sermon manuscript. On "Holy Name Sunday" he had based his sermon on my book about bearing God's name. He told the congregation about my work and how it had helped him. Greg supports the idea of of women preaching, but our church is still thinking through this issue. It was beautiful to read Greg's sermon but bittersweet for both of us. We're both left with the gnawing question: why is it okay for him to stand in the pulpit and talk about my research, but it's not okay for me to do so? What qualities or qualifications does he possess that I do not? What calling or empowerment does he have that I don't? What is the difference between us?

Testosterone seems an odd basis for ministry leadership.

Scripture's Testimony of Women in Church Leadership

It's true that we don't always understand God's ways. We're called to a life of obedience even when we haven't put it all together intellectually. But the practice of barring women from preaching seems to me to downplay Scripture's testimony of what women have contributed and will contribute to the church.

Drawing on the prophecy of Joel, Peter announced at Pentecost, "Your sons and daughters will prophesy . . . even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy" (Acts 2:17-18 NIV).

Paul is often cited as the one who prohibits women from speaking in church gatherings, but Paul is also the one who says that women should have their heads covered when they prophesy (1 Cor 11:5, 13). Paul assumes that women will contribute to the church by using their voices to declare the Word of God to the people of God. If Paul assumes this, why don't we?

In Romans 16, Paul greets many women who were involved in ministry alongside him: Priscilla, Junia, Tryphena, Tryphosa, Persis, Julia, Mary. He says, "I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae" (Rom 16:1). Most scholars believe that Phoebe was responsible for delivering Paul's letter to the church in Rome. As a benefactor, she had invested deeply in the church. As Paul's ambassador, her role would have included the public reading and interpretation of the letter. Just as Jesus entrusted the news of his resurrection to a woman, Mary Magdalene, so Paul entrusted his teaching for the church in Rome to a woman, Phoebe.

Besides Paul, the other place in Scripture that people point to in order to justify a gender hierarchy is Genesis 3:16. But should we look to the consequences of the fall for our paradigm rather than to God's vision in Genesis 1–2? In Genesis 1, women are clearly the image of God, ruling alongside men with no hierarchy between them. No human was told to rule another. In Genesis 2, Adam's lack is resolved through the provision of woman as an ally corresponding to him.

Why would we ground our vision of gender relations in the fractured disconnect resulting from sin rather than in the chapters that present to us the world as God designed it to flourish?

If Paul is right when he claims, "In Christ there is neither male nor female…" then why would we keep trying to preserve the fall?

To take seriously the testimony of Scripture means to lean into God's vision of gender partnerships in which both men and women rule creation side by side, ensuring the flourishing of humans as well as the rest of the created world (Gen 1:26-28). It's to recognize that God creates the first woman in Genesis 2 as the first man's suitable ally, not his minion (Gen 2:18). It's to notice the parade of faithful women who led, prophesied, judged, and offered theological reflection to the people of God throughout the Old and New Testaments. It's to read Paul's statements about women's silence in context of the rest of his letters, where it becomes abundantly clear that female followers of Jesus partner with male followers of Jesus in every conceivable role in ministry.

Being in the academy has made it possible for me to read more widely and study more deeply on the topic of women in ministry than I would have if I had pursued some other career. That privilege has enriched my faith, but it has also made my participation in church more difficult in some ways. I've come face to face with a robust vision of mutuality in ministry that I find compelling. And I'm left waiting in this liminal space in which my understanding of God's intentions for the church are partly unfulfilled.

I know I am not alone.

The history of the church is a story that includes innumerable women who God has called to participate in gospel ministry. Some of them were able to respond unhindered. Others encountered opposition, not because they were ungodly but because they were women.

I treasure their stories, and I long for a world where character, not chromosomes, will be the determining factor in whose voices we hear in church.

This article was edited on 3/20/23 for clarity per the author's request.

The Search for Meaning: Finding Your Purpose in Life

Fri, 13 May 2022 21:04:00 GMT

The Search for Meaning: Finding Your Purpose in Life

A Conversation on Vocational Formation with Susan Maros

Thu, 10 Mar 2022 20:29:00 GMT

Susan Maros's book Calling in Context flows from her years of teaching in vocational formation, wrestling alongside her students with big questions about calling and social location. In this interview, she shares some misconceptions many people believe about vocation and tips for moving forward in the discernment process.

What are the biggest misconceptions we bring to the topic of calling? What do we need to "unlearn"?

Susan Maros: I often see two major misconceptions about calling: first, that discerning vocation is exclusively about an individual determining their career path, and second that knowing one's calling is a one-time, trajectory-setting revelation. A third common misconception has perhaps decreased in strength but is still around: that calling is exclusively for the pastor or missionary, not for "ordinary" people.

The disorientation and disruption that comes with times of crisis and rapid change (as we've been going through) offer an opportunity for a kind of reset. There is so much that is already deconstructed, that barriers to considering a different perspective about vocational formation are potentially lower. In times of crisis especially, we yearn to make sense of our lives and experiences. Thinking in terms of the invitation to participate with God's work in the world can be part of making meaning out of the challenging circumstances we encounter in this season.

What do people say when they hear you've written a book about calling—things they're wrestling with the most, burdens they're bearing, hopes they have?

Maros: The question I get most is, "Oh, you're going to tell us how to know our calling?" The second is, "Are you going to tell us the biblical model of calling?" I hear people anxious about missing God, as if somehow calling is a test they have to pass. I also hear people anxious about the decisions ahead of them. There is an unspoken assumption that any wrong turn will be a disaster, as if, somehow, God requires perfect choices from us to bless or use us to make a difference.

Obviously people should read your book. But do you have other reading tips for people when they're pondering vocation?

Maros: Biographies are one source of reading I particularly recommend. I especially recommend reading the stories of people who are not a part of one's faith tradition or cultural background. Sometimes, hearing the story of someone with different experiences from our own can help us reconsider the assumptions we have about the ways God works in people's lives.

I also recommend reading authors who write about contemplative spirituality. Calling is often cast in active terms: we're seeking to identify what we're supposed to do. Drawing from the experiences of contemplative writers and engaging in contemplative spiritual practices can help ground us in a spirituality of being that is at the root of any life-long engagement with God's work in the world.

Is there anything from the writing process of this book that has stood out as especially important or surprising to you?

Maros: The amount of inner work that was necessary while writing this book caught me by surprise. I'd been thinking about calling and social location for years so, in theory, writing was supposed to be just recording what I had already thought through and engaged with students. But that wasn't the case in the actual experience. A colleague asked me if the labor might be due to the kind of book this is, and if I might have found writing a different kind of book to require less emotional and spiritual labor. That question was helpful because it provoked me to realize I wouldn't have wanted to write a different kind of book! This is the book that comes from my heart.

What's next for you? How can we cheer you on and pray for you?

Maros: Interestingly, writing this book has sharpened my sense that there is a new season coming for me vocationally. I am engaging in my own vocational formation as I seek to discern where God is leading me next. Some possibilities are opening but I currently do not have clarity. So, I practice what I preach and trust that, as I respond and the next faithful step ahead of me, God will lead me into the next season.

5 Things I Wish I Knew About Becoming an Adult

Wed, 20 Oct 2021 19:32:00 GMT

By Katie Schnack, author of The Gap Decade

Getting old is weird. One minute you are racing office chairs down the parking garage of your college with fifteen of your best friends, and the next you are sitting in an office chair eight hours a day next to a boring dude named Carl who has a perpetual throat tickle.

The transition from young adult to full-blown adult can be brutal. A surprising slap in the face at times, frankly. The season of being in your twenties and early thirties comes with so much acquisition—trying to acquire a job, a bank account that isn't in the negative, a spouse, new friends, a home, and maybe even a family. And with that acquisition comes a lot of stress, heartache, longing, and waiting. Trying to navigate this very formative decade can just be straight up challenging. Ya feel me?

In my new book, The Gap Decade: When You're Technically an Adult but Really Don't Feel Like It Yet, I go deep into my experiences of trying to figure out just what the heck being an actual adult entails. Now, at the ripe old age of thirty-four, with two kids, one of whom is in kindergarten (how?!), there is no denying that I am in full-blown adult mode. I have to be because I have tiny human beings depending on me. And honestly, I love it. Something at some point during this decade just kinda switches, and you feel like both your feet are on the ground. Not perfectly on the ground but pretty much stable. And it feels good.

I can't help but think about what this past amazing, challenging, fun, and hard decade brought about for me and my husband. I think it is good to look back and reflect sometimes. Hopefully my book can help others who are walking through the thick of it. And hopefully you can see how God perfectly orchestrated everything for your good, something that sometimes you aren't able to see until you are five steps ahead and able to glance back.

Here are five things I can see now but wish I knew when I was in my early twenties and trying to be a "real adult."

1. Don't try and fight the wait. Just embrace it like a relative you don't exactly enjoy being with but have to tolerate anyway.

Guys, things take time. You are not going to graduate college and then the next month have your entire life in place. For me, I was constantly looking so far ahead that I wasn't fully enjoying what was around me at that moment. I wanted to be in the next place, the next chapter, the next city. And waiting drove me crazy. But if you can just accept where you are now, while making sure you are taking steps in the right direction, you are doing all you can.

Waiting is hard, but it is 900 percent a part of life. So make sure you just try to enjoy the journey as much as you can along the way. One day the waiting will stop.

2. Don't waste time and energy on comparisons. Keep your eyes in your lane and run your own race.

In your twenties when people are getting married, getting new homes, getting jobs, whatever, it can be easy to slip into the mindset of comparisons. Especially with social media showing everyone's highlight reel and not the dust from behind the curtains. To be honest, there are times now when I think back on things or people that, quite honestly, make me really jealous—someone who had a bigger, better this or that, or what seemed like a dream job, or that house that is Better Homes & Gardens worthy.

I can see how all those things were not really what was important though. Because now I have also seen hard divorces, death and heartache, loss and grief, even before we all turn forty. All the material things I envied did squat to protect and shield people from the hard stuff of life. So, I have learned now to be so grateful for what I have—for love, health, family. Nothing else matters. Seriously.

3. Sometimes God calls you to do hard, scary things. Just do them. He has got you.

A few times over the past decade God has called my husband and me to dive into something totally new. Move to a brand-new city for grad school, take a job in a state where we knew literally zero people, take a new job when we were comfortable in the ones we already had. And it was scary! It can quite literally feel like diving into a big ol' dark pit of the unknown.

But time and again, God shows up. He guides us, he comforts us, he provides for us. He is trustworthy. And I "knew that" before, but I know that now. I have seen his provision time and again. And I know he loves and cares for you just the same (maybe more? Idk I can be kinda annoying). So, if God is bringing you somewhere, he will fill in all the little details for you. He is trustworthy.

4. You can get better at doing boring, dumb adult things like cleaning. I promise.

I feel a lot of shame around my messiness. My brain moves too fast, and I low-key leave a tornado in my wake wherever I go. But I am working on it. I have been working on it and will continue to, and you know what? My tornado is getting a little smaller. Category 5 to like a category 2. It's not perfect, but it is progress, and I will take that for now.

If there is some adult thing you are not super great at—budgeting, cleaning, meal prepping, whatever—it's okay. Give yourself grace. Work at growing and finding your groove, for your own sanity, for your family, whatever. You are not stuck. You can grow in areas you want to. Also, if you check TikTok for cleaning tips, you will be amazed.

5. Friendships change but are still so vital. So dust yourself off, and go speak with real human beings every once in a while.

The older you get, the easier it is to just hide at home under a pile of blankets and cats all weekend binging murder shows on Netflix. But there is still so much beauty in finding community and true friendships—even past college. Is it more difficult to find those types of relationships when you are not sardined into a dorm with twenty people going through the exact phase of life with you? Of course! But it is still possible.

The friendships I have made into adulthood are so sweet. They are fewer and farther between but existent and so vital—vital to filling my life up with more joy and less adulthood stress. So, I hope you will make extra efforts to find your people and live life with those people. Ask God for community if you have to. Then take awkward steps to pursue it if necessary. Get out of your cave. The cats will be fine by themselves for an evening.

Listen, I in no way have life totally figured out. But I think the secret is that nobody really ever does. And that is okay. Looking back at challenging seasons in life can be so eye opening. Once you walk out of the tunnel, you can glance back and realize just how far you actually have come. For me, I can see now how so many of life's challenges during my "gap decade" were really just God working things together for his glory and my good.

And no matter what season you may be walking through, I really believe he is doing the same for you too. So, hold on tight and try to enjoy the journey.

A Conversation on Life's Transitions with D. Michael Lindsay

Tue, 06 Apr 2021 16:23:00 GMT

In this interview, Michael Lindsay explores the seven stages of transition he writes about in his book Hinge Moments. With vulnerability and insight, he shares how he has navigated his own vocational transition from president of Gordon College to president-elect of Taylor University.

Leaving Gordon College this year and becoming the appointed president for Taylor University, you are experiencing your own hinge moment. What insights from your book have you seen in new ways as you prepare to make the most of this current life transition?

Michael Lindsay: In the book, I outline seven stages of transition, which are graphed against two axes: time and one's sense of confidence. The low point for everyone in transition occurs in what I call the intersection stage, the point when we are between our former life and the new life we will experience as a result of this hinge moment. For some changes, the intersection stage lasts only minutes; for others, it can last months. For me in this most recent hinge moment, it lasted about four months as I waited to see where the Lord would take us after announcing my decision to leave Gordon.

Love, encouragement, and support from family members and special friends are very important in the intersection stage because many of our other networks and sources of support are removed in this liminal phase. This is true even in changes we bring on ourselves: I relied on loved ones more than I have in years after deciding to step down at Gordon. But I'm also living proof that the intersection stage eventually passes, and we move into phases of greater confidence and encouraging hope. That's the great thing about God's redemptive work in the midst of hinge moments; he keeps moving us along, and in so doing, we make peace with the change and become stronger for the journey ahead.

That's the great thing about God's redemptive work in the midst of hinge moments; he keeps moving us along, and in so doing, we make peace with the change and become stronger for the journey ahead.

In the book Hinge Moments, you outline seven different phases that occur during a transition. To date, you have experienced discernment, anticipation, and intersection as you move from Gordon to Taylor. Are there any new lessons from these phases that you learned from this recent transition that aren't referenced in the book that you could share?

Lindsay: I am more convinced than ever that God can use our bodies to give us helpful indications of what's happening in our spirit even when we, in our conscious thinking, are not fully aware. In the discernment and anticipation phases, pay attention to things like the butterflies in your stomach—when they come, what calms them down, and how long they last. They can be signals that change is approaching, whether by our own choosing or someone else's, and indications that a godly restlessness may be growing within us by the prompting of the Lord. God can also use conversations with others, sermons, or devotional readings, as well as new observations and nighttime dreams as signposts that change may be afoot. The great thing about the Christian life is that God is working to redeem all things, and he often guides us in the hinge moments of our life through a variety of signals and signposts.

What part of the upcoming phases of landing, integration, inspiration, and realization are you most looking forward to as it relates to this transition?

Lindsay: For all of us, the best part of any change in our life is the chance to start anew, to develop new friendships and connections, and to grow more fully into the mature person God wants us to become. So as I prepare for my start as Taylor's next president, I am most looking forward to the chance to get to know the wonderful people associated with the university and to have a chance to be a better, wiser, and more effective college president in what will be my second lap around the college presidential track.

Also, I am a big believer that every person and every institution needs to experience some form of self-renewal every so often. As such, this hinge moment in my life is also providing a chance to renew my sense of calling to Christian higher education and giving both Gordon and Taylor a chance to start a new chapter. It's exciting and energizing for everyone.

Of the seven phases, is there one that you feel is the most critical? Why is that phase so critical, especially in relation to vocation, in your view?

Lindsay: I think our character is shaped most profoundly in the intersection phase of a transition because it represents a time when we have the fewest forms of support. So we rely on God more fully and regularly than we do in the other phases. As such, the Lord can use that particular season as a chance to redirect us to new opportunities, new professional horizons, even new ways of thinking about ourselves and the contribution we make. That said, we can only remain in this phase for a limited time period because it's emotionally and spiritually draining, so we rely on our reserves a good bit in this phase.

I think our character is shaped most profoundly in the intersection phase of a transition because it represents a time when we have the fewest forms of support.

Eventually, in God's providence we move forward to the landing, integration, and later phases of transition. As this occurs, we are confirmed in our new callings and get excited about the positive aspects of the change. Things like loss, disappointment, and isolation diminish as we become more fully integrated and are able to more fully embrace our new season. This is true for a job change, a relocation, or even a family change like having a baby or rebuilding our lives after a loved one dies. The trajectory of our recovery from the change is determined, at least in part, in how we handle the intersection phase of transition, which is why it matters so much that we handle that season with godly wisdom and faithful commitment.

How are you working to make the most of this life transition for yourself, your family, and your new colleagues?

Lindsay: Saying goodbye well is really hard. For starters, once we know where we are headed next, our heart and mind become increasingly focused on the next chapter, so our ties to our last chapter become looser. And then there is all the sadness about not seeing beloved colleagues and friends regularly and the fear of the unknowns about what will be challenges in the next chapter. But the way you say goodbye says as much about your character as does the way you carry yourself in your new place. So my wife and I are thinking a good bit about finishing well at Gordon even as we are excited about the promise and possibilities that await us at Taylor.

One practical way to manage this transition well relates to giving yourself some time between the two roles. We are taking several weeks between the time at Gordon and Taylor to decompress a bit with some time off, but we are also making sure to have time to pack up, move, and unpack. Feeling settled at home is important to success at work, and we wanted to have the space and time to do that well while also giving it our all through the end of our time at Gordon. So we are excited about what's coming ahead and working diligently to manage this hinge moment as best we can.

A Conversation on Motherhood and Academia with Nancy Wang Yuen and Deshonna Collier-Goubil

Tue, 16 Feb 2021 18:00:00 GMT

How do Christian women navigate the call to both the academy and motherhood? In their book Power Women, Nancy Wang Yuen and Deshonna Collier-Goubil write to other Christian academic mothers, combining research with personal stories to provide wisdom, encouragement, and solidarity. If you've ever wanted to hear from women on a similar vocational journey who come from different backgrounds, academic disciplines, and stages of parenting and career, this interview will be refreshing.

What motivated you to take on this project? Was there a specific circumstance or event that inspired the book?

Deshonna Collier-Goubil: I became a mom while in a full-time faculty position. In Christian higher education, our environments are very family friendly, but navigating new parenthood is still daunting. I wished there was a resource that spoke to my unique circumstances.

Nancy Wang Yuen: I want to give voice to and provide a resource for others struggling to balance motherhood, the academy, and faith.

What are some challenges that Christian mothers in the academy face that seem different from challenges that perhaps all or the vast majority of academic mothers face?

Collier-Goubil: At times a person's religious beliefs can prevent them from seeking assistance and discussing things we do not often discuss in the church, such as infertility and child loss, or when a faculty mom is the head of her household. A Christian woman experiencing infertility has to consider not only the personal and medical repercussions of her decisions but also the social and professional. Similarly, a faculty mom who is head of household has to navigate the historical territory of the church that calls for male leadership in all areas and aspects of life (depending on faith background). Being a pastor, faculty, or mom, including a mom dealing with depression, or a mom of an exceptional child—these are areas that we fail to openly discuss in many churches, so where do we leave a faculty mama to turn for assistance?

As you gathered stories and worked with contributors, what is one thing you learned (or a highlight of that process)?

Collier-Goubil: I have been so inspired by the creativity, resilience, and brilliance of our contributing authors. They have navigated rough terrain and still show up in class perfectly assembled, carrying grace and mercy for students, and with a lesson plan ready to go! Then a few hours later, they become a problem solver in chief, assisting their littles to navigate all sorts of issues that life throws their way. They truly are power women!

Yuen: I learned from the contributors to conceptualize motherhood, the academy, and faith not as different spheres vying for our attention but synergistic assets.

We're in the middle of a pandemic. Would you be willing to speak to the effects of this crisis on academic mothers in general or those you know personally?

Collier-Goubil: The moms I know personally are struggling. This pandemic has definitely affected all in a remarkable way. Faculty moms are burning the candle at both ends, so to speak, and trying to avoid burnout. It's a tough time for us all.

Yuen: Professor mothers who have to supervise or homeschool their children because of school and daycare closures are having a hard time finding work-life balance. At the same time, they also savor the slowing down of time with their children and families.

What is one message you hope readers take away from your book?

Collier-Goubil: We hope that readers find themselves, their colleagues, and faculty they supervise in our book. We hope that the stories of these powerful and faith-filled women will motivate us all to aspire to a higher-ed workspace that is more inclusive of the myriad pressures experienced by faculty moms.

Yuen: We want this book to be an encouragement for Christian professor mothers as well as a resource for all those who work alongside and supervise them.

A Conversation on Christian Leadership with Richard Stearns

Wed, 09 Dec 2020 21:09:00 GMT

17 Character Traits of Effective Leaders

In your book Lead Like It Matters to God, you highlight seventeen different character traits that are important for leadership. In today's current climate, are there two or three traits that seem to be of critical importance right now?

Richard Stearns: Perseverance, Vision, and Encouragement. In this particular season of uncertainty, disruption, and anxiety, leaders have the challenging job of calming, encouraging, and motivating their teams despite their circumstances. In the midst of such daunting challenges a leader who can persevere with unwavering belief in a positive future can also help their team to believe there are better times ahead. Perseverance can be contagious.

Then casting a compelling vision of what's possible and how to achieve will lift the eyes of the organization to a more desirable future state. The leader must own and sustain this vision by constantly painting the picture through their words and actions.

And lastly, simple encouragement along the way really helps keep people motivated. Take time to recognize and praise team members when they make a good contribution. Call them personally to affirm how important their work is. Help them to believe that their work is crucial to the team's success. Encouragement has a great return on investment.

With COVID-19, many companies have a workforce that is now fully remote and working from home. In what ways do you believe leaders must adapt and change to continue to lead well virtually?

Stearns: Shifting to a virtual workplace poses some real challenges for leaders. There are two critical ingredients that aren't easily transmitted virtually—culture and relationship. The workplace culture of an organization is critical to its identity and its flourishing. And culture is often created and sustained through both formal and informal human connections in a workplace. But how does that happen when the workplace is gone?

Human connections and relationships in a workplace are critical to the fabric and health of an organizational culture. Leaders must find creative ways to build and strengthen culture online—celebrating victories, recognizing individual achievements, inspiring with vision. Work cannot be allowed to devolve into hour upon hour of mind-numbing technical drudgery. Finally, leaders need to have regular one-on-one talks with individual members of the team—not to review their to-do lists but to check in on them personally, affirm them, and encourage them along the way.

Human connections and relationships in a workplace are critical to the fabric and health of an organizational culture.

What is the one thing about leadership you wish you knew when you began your career?

Stearns: I wish I had better understood the power of encouragement to motivate others, lift performance, and help the people around me realize their full God-given potential. That simple insight, though it may seem obvious, is one of the most powerful motivational tools at our disposal. The best leaders know that regular affirmation and encouragement, not criticism, is what helps the people on their team develop confidence, improve their performance, and lean into their gifts and abilities. Encouragement energizes people while criticism often demoralizes. A leader who understands the power of encouragement and affirmation will see a huge return on investment, paid back in improved performance, motivation, and loyalty.

Looking back at your impressive career, who would you say influenced your leadership style the most?

Stearns: We are not born fully formed as great leaders. The best leaders grow and evolve over many years of experience—watching and learning from others above them, around them, and below them. But learning from others requires enough humility to admit that everyone from the janitor to the CEO may have something worth emulating. I learned not to try and emulate someone else's style of leadership because we each have our own unique style. You want to be the best you that you can be. But you can and should emulate the positive values and principles that you admire in others. How do they treat others, are they people of their word, are they forgiving, are they good listeners, and do they work with excellence? Imitate those qualities when you see them demonstrated.

The best leaders grow and evolve over many years of experience—watching and learning from others above them, around them, and below them.

Your career afforded you the opportunity to lead in both secular and Christian companies. What insights about leadership did you gain in both types of work environments? Were the insights the same or different?

Stearns: There are many commonalities between for-profit, not-for-profit, and Christian organizations. All three involve carrying out a mission, managing people, and hitting financial targets. Most of the nuts and bolts of leadership are the same. But Christian and nonprofit organizations have an edge in motivating staff because of their unique and compelling missions—curing cancer, fighting poverty, educating students, etc. Those inspirational causes really help to inspire staff to work with passion. For-profit organizations don't always have such motivational missions and so they often invest more to motivate staff through financial incentives and career advancement.

Christian and nonprofit organizations have an edge in motivating staff because of their unique and compelling missions.

If I were to summarize the most profound difference, I would say it this way: In a for-profit organization, the end goal is money or profit. Everything else (books, automobiles, retail stores, software, etc.) is simply a means to that end. But in a nonprofit organization it's just the reverse. The end goal is usually cause-related (improved health, reducing poverty, protecting the environment, etc.) and money is just a means to that end. It's a profound and fundamental difference that requires very different leadership approaches to motivating staff, establishing goals, and communicating with constituents/customers.

What lessons do you hope readers learn from your book Lead Like It Matters to God?

Stearns: I hope readers will take away at least five key points from the book.

Christian leaders are called to be different—their leadership is their witness to the truth of the gospel. The 'one job' of a Christian leader is to be an ambassador for Christ as described in 2 Corinthians 5:20 "as though God is making his appeal through them."
Achieving success in the secular sense can become a form of idolatry for Christian leaders. In the words of Mother Teresa, "God has not called us to be successful; he has called us to be faithful."
God is much more concerned about how a Christian leader leads than what that leader achieves. In other words, we tend to put the highest value on the outcomes of our work, but God values our motives more. We value the what of our work, but God values the why and the how. We prioritize the destination, but for God it's all about the journey. We reward success, but God's bottom line is faithfulness.
The beauty of becoming a values-driven leader is that embracing positive values does not require you to master any exceptional new skills or techniques. Values-driven leadership is more about character than capabilities, more about being than doing, more about pleasing God than people.
Leaders who embrace these characteristics will lift not only their own performance but also the performance of their teams. Putting faithfulness above success will ironically make a leader more likely to achieve success as they honor God with their character and trust him for the outcomes. And not only do people want to follow a leader who consistently demonstrates a godly character—every organization wants to hire leaders like this because of the positive culture they create.

Tips & Tricks for the Aspiring Academic Author

Tue, 07 Mar 2017 18:53:00 GMT

Tips & Tricks for the Aspiring Academic Author