Leadership Is the Key: Unlocking Your Effectiveness in Ministry (Leadership Insight Series)

Every clergyperson has a persona: the public role he or she assumes in performing ministry for a congregation or organization. For example, the roles of preaching, pastoring, and church administration "go with the territory" in most congregations. These tasks are part of the employment contract.

Every clergyperson also has an anima: the true inner self, reflecting deeply held ideals of conduct. Because this inner core of being controls how a pastor lives out the details of ministry, anima determines how effectively he or she fits the needs of a particular congregation or ministry role. For example, a minister who relates poorly to youth is seldom productive as a youth minister.

Listing twelve elements of the pastor's anima mix, Herb Miller asserts that clergy are effective to the extent that the conscious and unconscious choices they make in developing each of these elements fit the needs of the congregation or church organization they serve. In Leadership Is the Key, he offers practical ways to influence these choices and maximize effectiveness in ministry.

Herb Miller is recognized as an authority in church health and effectiveness. Author of 14 books, Herb has flown millions of miles conducting planning conferences with 700+ congregations. He has authored numerous columns for publications serving over one million people in twenty-five denominations. Herb's success with Abingdon Press is evidenced by increased financial giving and new member additions in countless congregations. He is an advisor for the U. S. Congregational Life Survey; he also serves as a consultant for the Northwest Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church. Herb Miller's broad experience includes pastoring congregations in Arkansas, Iowa, and New Mexico; being a college professor, a private-practice counselor, and the founding editor of Net Results magazine.