Guy Walker's Blog » Book review

Axiom by Bill Hybels: 5 Actionable Learnings

Guy — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:06:20 +0000

Language Matters.

Learned: Your effectiveness as a leader will hinge on something as “inconsequential” as word choice.

Action: Spend more time developing my vocabulary.

Take Away: John Maxwell speaks and everyone writes it down. Chris Rock says, “One word is going to be the difference in how big your laugh is.” (Nov Sky Magazine pg 62.) How much time was spent on the line “Real life change happens in the context of relationship” so that Hunter in my small group would be quoting pastor Chris Hodges.

Thinking that getting the general idea across will be good enough is no longer good enough for me. If great leaders focus on their words then I will too.

Making the Big Ask.

“Asking is a significant part of Hybels leadership role.” Pg 21

2. Learned: “The ask” only gets bigger as you grow in ministry. Focus on growth in this area or your ministry will not grow. Asking can build relationships. If done right, you honor the other person by asking.

2. Action: Use this chapter when talking about the “Big Ask” with church planters. Be a better asker.

Speed of the Leader, Speed of the Team

3. Learned: Leaders must never expect from others anything more than they’re willing to deliver themselves. When someone wonders how joyful they should be in their jobs, all they should have to do is observe the leaders level of joy. If I can’t be joyful then those I lead will not be either.

3. Action: Like John Maxwell says, “I must first learn to lead myself well.”

Bill Hybels’ Style

4. Learned: These Axioms are Hybels life experiences. The book wasn’t some theory “if you do x then y.” He used stories from his life to show why he leads the ways he does.

4. Action: Use stories when coaching church planters.

Admit Mistakes, and Your Stock Goes Up

5. Learned: When something goes wrong admit it and take responsibility for it. Admitting your mistakes says something about your integrity as a leader. Early on he felt like he had to prove himself. This lead to scrabbling behind the scenes and just made life harder. Now he just shoots straight as soon as he realizes he screwed up. It shows his confidence as a leader.

5. Action: Admit when I blow it.

Click here to purchase book.

Deadly Viper Character Assassins

Guy — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 13:19:44 +0000

DEADLY VIPER PROMO TRAILER: LONG FORMAT:2 MIN from Deadly Viper on Vimeo.

Here is the official trailer for Deadly Viper Character Assassins: A kung fu survival guide for life and leadership. By Mike Foster and Jud Wilhite

This book is great. It talks about a revolution of radical integrity and radical grace. You can also get a DVD series and small group studies.

Dino Rizzo- Servolution

Guy — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:50:28 +0000

Dino Rizzo author of Servolution and pastor of Healing Place Church in Louisiana is on TOUR! Well a blog tour at least. Here is the question I asked Dino about his church and serving in the community.

Dino have you ever embarrassed yourself while serving in the community?

Thanks, Guy, for participating in the tour. And thanks for asking such an important question. Really. I think there’s a great point to be made here. Have I ever been embarrassed in an outreach? Yes indeed. There have been more times than I want to remember. Like the time we got a shipment in of 40,000 plantains (a member of the banana family that is really more like a potato and certainly isn’t edible raw). I thought they were bananas. They looked like bananas, and everyone we gave them to believed us when we told them they were bananas. But what a surprise when people started peeling them back and trying to eat them.

There were the thousands of coffee cakes we gave away only to learn they had expiration dates several weeks past. There was the time we accepted a truckload of yogurt to distribute but didn’t think about how we were going to keep all the yogurt cold. We didn’t have any refrigeration to handle a truckload of yogurt.

There are times when I’ve been embarrassed because we didn’t think of something we should have. But there are also times I’ve been embarrassed just because the outreach itself was embarrassing. Like the time I tell about in the book where we received a truckload of goods to give away, which included a huge box of leopard-print plus-sized lingerie. There were certainly our fair share of embarrassing moments as our team gave the lingerie away.

And there’s just some moments that are a little awkward. Like a few weeks ago, I went with our team on a late-nite bar outreach. We just set up outside the bars around closing time and offer people water and juice and Chick-Fil-A sandwiches. I gave a sandwich to a dude who was shocked to see me there – he said he goes to our church and really couldn’t believe I was down there checking on him.

The important point in all this is that in serving, when you’re extending yourself to try to do all you can to serve your community, you’re going to make mistakes sometimes. And sometimes it is going to require being willing to put yourself in an awkward spot in order to be where you need to be to serve.

Thanks Dino for letting me participate in the tour.

If you have a funny story about a time you were serving the community share it by clicking on Comment.

The Tuesday Book Review- Momentum

Guy — Wed, 06 May 2009 03:29:41 +0000

Tuesday Book Review

watch the video for

free copy of Momentum by Steve Hickey

If you haven’t heard of this book

its because of its brand newness!!!

Book Review “Success for the Second in Command”

Guy — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:01:39 +0000

Tuesday Book Review 3/4

“If You want something done right, get someone else to do it.” -Quoting the Author and my boss Billy Hornsby. Billy is president of ARC, a network for church planters. He loves the outdoors, blogging and traveling.

Billy gave me this book to read when I started with ARC. It is a great book for pastors and leaders to give their 2nd level leaders. If you are wondering what is a 2nd level leader, read about Joseph in Gen. 41.

For the new folks, I read books for the stories and if anyone can tell a story, it is Billy. He has several good stories that teach the reader how to aquire the skills and be successful as the Second in Command.

I’m glad I read this book. “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all”

Just like the last few weeks, I want to give a copy of this book away. So the first person to comment on this post will get a free copy of this book in the mail from me. Just click “comment” and type “Send me a copy.” I need your address too! If you don’t want to make your address known you can email it to me planterguy (at) gmail (dot) com

Thanks for reading…

Book’s I am Reading “Pit with a Lion” Mark Batterson

Guy — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 13:05:24 +0000

Guy Walker’s Tuesday Book Review 1/4

I just finished Mark Batterson’s “In a Pit With a LION on a Snowy Day.” The book revolves around 2 Samuel 23:20

20 Benaiah son of Jehoiada from Kabzeel was a vigorous man who accomplished a great deal. He once killed two lion cubs in Moab. Another time, on a snowy day, he climbed down into a pit and killed a lion. 21 Another time he killed a formidable Egyptian. The Egyptian was armed with a spear and Benaiah went against him with nothing but a walking stick; he seized the spear from his grip and killed him with his own spear.

Can you imagine watching those things happen? Killing a lion! Killing an Egyptian with his own spear. I would love for someone to make a movie about this book.

Benaiah was a lion chaser. Mark does a great job explaining what lion chasers are

Lion Chasers are willing to take risk so God can use them
Lion Chasers are opportunist
Lion Chasers find a way of making circumstances work in their favor.

The book also has some great stories. My top 5 stories are:

The story of Sarah who was scared to go on a missions trip.
Lee was making 6 digits at Microsoft and left to plant a church.
Edward Lorenz discovering the butterfly effect
Corrie sharing her experiences living in a concentration camp
Marks stories of the lion’s he has chased

Mark made me wonder if I would be willing to chase a lion into a pit on a snowy day.

I want to give a copy of this book away. So the first person to comment on this post will get a copy in the mail from me. Just click “comment” and type “Send me a copy.” If you don’t want to make your address known you can email it to me planterguy (at) gmail (dot) com

This was part 1 of a 4 part series called “Book Review Tuesday”

Subscribe to my blog so you wont miss next weeks review!