4 Mat Book Review

4 MAT BOOK REVIEW

PRACTICING GREATNESS: 7 DISCIPLINES OF EXTRAODINARY SPIRTUAL LEADERS

BY REGGIE McNEAL

A PAPER SUBMITTED TO DR. BRAD REYNOLDS

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR

THE COURSE LEAD 510-B07

BY

WILLIAM MAITRE

LIBERTY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA

Thursday, March 31, 2016

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT 3

CONCRETE RESPONSE 4

REFLECTION 6

ACTION 7

BIBLIOGRAPHY 9

ABSTRACT

"Ambition to become a great spiritual leader actually frees the spirit from the idolatry of self-centeredness, because greatness in the spiritual world cannot be pursued without cultivating God-consciousness.” This quote summarizes the purpose of this book. McNeal list seven principles that will allow a leader to do just that. McNeal believes that there is always a need for strong Christian leaders and he aims to equip them with this book. Contained within the introduction are some attributes that McNeal briefly explains. He starts with humility. McNeal stated that “I also now understand that humility does not correlate with low spotlight.” The author stated that a leader doesn’t have to be obscure to be considered humble. Next was effectiveness to this he said “greatness is not just about character. It’s also about effectiveness.” The author here is letting future leaders know that greatness is not something that can be attributed to them unless they are effective at their task.

McNeal structures his book to identify seven disciplines as previously mentioned. These disciplines are self-awareness, self-management, self- development, disciplines of mission, discipline of making, disciplines of belonging, and discipline of aloneness. Wrapped around these seven lessons that he hopes leader will learn are tangible example for the reader the further understand the concepts. When speaking on the discipline of mission McNeal is referring to the leaders ability communicate with...