Every church leader knows the necessity and difficulty of maintaining and enhancing morale. Visions of service, excellent programs, and capable personnel are not enough to keep the ship of the church on course if spirit is lacking. In 'Keeping the Dream Alive', Robert D. Dale skillfully analyzes the various factors that determine congregational morale. Using the metaphor of weather, he discusses such subjects as steering currents, seeding the clouds, prevailing winds, and long-range forecasting. The result is a book characterized by depth and practicality. If you are struggling to keep your congregation on course in fulfilling its mission, this book will be an invaluable resource for 'Keeping the Dream Alive'.
Church leaders want to know that their leadership strategies are informed by Christian teaching and made credible by the authority of Scripture. In addition, pastors have an unquenchable thirst for new and unique approaches to leadership. These needs and many more are met as Robert Dale takes the reader through four primary leadership strategies in the New Testament. Focus is a strategy that one learns through study of Jesus' mission and leadership influence. Flexibility is the strategy learned as the Church expands through the Acts of the Apostles. Future-Orientation is the strategy emphasized through the pastoral Epistles. Feasibility is the strategy developed in the Book of Revelation, when the churches are in crisis or in survival mode. Each strategy is illustrated with practical application for the life of congregations so that leaders can sharpen leadership skills with integrity and authority.
There are four ways to revitalize a church, organizationally speaking. The easiest change is policy change. You simply adjust the way you do things. A second strategy is to change personnel. Firing the minister or electing new lay leaders is a common approach. Another change tactic is to create new program structures. Reorganization plans are familiar in institutions of all kinds. Change policy. Change people. Change programs. Each of these approaches has its advocates. But the approach I suggest is the most basic of all--clarify purpose. The fourth way to revitalize a church is to define and act on its fundamental purpose. A new dream awakes a congregation. A poster motto challenges: ÒAim for the sun. You may not reach it, but you will fly higher that if you never aimed at all.Ó --from the Foreword
In an original, widely researched, and accessibly written book, Robert Dale Parker helps redefine the study of Native American literature by focusing on issues of gender and literary form. Among the writers Parker highlights are Thomas King, John Joseph Mathews, D'Arcy McNickle, Leslie Marmon Silko, and Ray A. Young Bear, some of whom have previously received little scholarly attention.Parker proposes a new history of Native American literature by reinterpreting its concerns with poetry, orality, and Indian notions of authority. He also addresses representations of Indian masculinity, uncovering Native literature's recurring fascination with restless young men who have nothing to do, or who suspect or feel pressured to believe that they have nothing to do. The Invention of Native American Literature reads Native writing through a wide variety of shifting historical contexts. In its commitment to historicizing Native writing and identity, Parker's work parallels developments in scholarship on other minority literatures and is sure to provoke controversy.
Discovery features paintings and drawings by Robert Dale Williams, a classically trained American painter. Williams earned a Master of Fine Arts degree at the prestigious New York Academy of Art Graduate School of Figurative Art. He furthered his studies under the internationally recognized Norwegian painter Odd Nerdrum, building a dynamic body of work. In addition to a selection of finely crafted figure studies and still life arrangements, Discovery includes many paintings by Williams that address human rights issues. Featured in collections world-wide, Williams has exhibited in New York, England, Spain, Norway, and Germany. This debut volume includes 26 full color illustrations.
This comprehensive problem-solving reference for pastors provides theological foundations and experience-tested techniques for effective clergy leadership. Robert D. Dale offers insight into the dynamics of clergy management by placing leadership into a congregational context and stressing servanthood as the primary biblical leadership image. Following a discussion of the three critical dimensions of organizational effectiveness, Dale explores and critiques the four basic leadership styles: catalyst, commander, encourager, and hermit. Out of this background exploration, Dale discloses decision-making guidelines that have proved effective in helping clergy: resolve conflicts; lead churches through chan≥ define the congregation's dream; budget resources effectively; manage meetings; build teams; and, motivate oneself and others. Pastoral Leadership concludes with a unique look at the effects of clergy leadership on the pastor as a person, offering valuable insight into clergy spirituality, burnout, family demands, and career development. Notes, a bibliography, and review questions accompany each chapter.
This book investigates the demobilization and post-war readjustment of Red Army veterans in Leningrad and its environs after the Great Patriotic War. Over 300,000 soldiers were stood down in this war-ravaged region between July 1945 and 1948. They found the transition to civilian life more challenging than many could ever have imagined. For civilian Leningraders, reintegrating the rapid influx of former soldiers represented an enormous political, economic, social and cultural challenge. In this book, Robert Dale reveals how these former soldiers became civilians in a society devastated and traumatized by total warfare. Dale discusses how, and how successfully, veterans became ordinary citizens. Based on extensive original research in local and national archives, oral history interviews and the examination of various newspaper collections, Demobilized Veterans in Late Stalinist Leningrad peels back the myths woven around demobilization, to reveal a darker history repressed by society and concealed from historiography. While propaganda celebrated this disarmament as a smooth process which reunited veterans with their families, reintegrated them into the workforce and facilitated upward social mobility, the reality was rarely straightforward. Many veterans were caught up in the scramble for work, housing, healthcare and state hand-outs. Others drifted to the social margins, criminality or became the victims of post-war political repression. Demobilized Veterans in Late Stalinist Leningrad tells the story of both the failure of local representatives to support returning Soviet soldiers, and the remarkable resilience and creativity of veterans in solving the problems created by their return to society. It is a vital study for all scholars and students of post-war Soviet history and the impact of war in the modern era.
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