Serving as a Board Member

My second book, Serving as a Board Member: Practical guidance for directors of Christian ministries, is now available for sale in print and as an e-publication.

“This book is a gift of gold for brand new board candidates. It’s a refining fire for those of us who are already committed.” – Jim Brown – author of The Imperfect Board Member.

This is not a book about governance. It is about how an individual can decide whether or not to accept a board nomination, and once elected, how they can best contribute to the board’s success. My goal is that directors will find their board service to be a rich, satisfying experience. The book is a very down-to-earth, richly illustrated, practical guide to:

• fulfilling your responsibilities,
• participating in great debates without losing friends,
• understanding how boards work, and
• leaving the board well.

The DVD version is perfect for board development/group learning. You can download as many workbooks as you want and the modules are 15-20 minutes in length. The book is intended for people who prefer to read rather than watch, or who want to have more reflection time than a DVD allows.

The book has everything that the DVD has in terms of content, but I’ve added to it. New topics include:

• Practical advice for discerning God’s call to a ministry board
• A more extended discussion of the special nuances of church boards
• The differences between business boards and charity boards
• How business people need to adjust their business criteria to help, rather than hinder, a charity board

I also thought that readers should benefit from more than just my own views, so I’ve obtained permission to include some of the writings of nine governance authors that touch on the topic of this book. They are:

• John Carver – Boards That Make A Difference
• Charles Olsen – Transforming Church Boards into Communities of Spiritual Leaders
• David Hester – From Building Effective Boards for Religious Organizations
• Max De Pree – Called to Serve: Creating and nurturing the effective volunteer board
• Malcolm Warford – from Building Effective Boards for Religious Organizations
• Les Stahlke – Governance Matters
• Jan Masaoka – From The Best of the Board Cafe: Hands-on solutions for nonprofit boards
• Ram Charan – Boards That Deliver
• Edgar Stoesz – Doing Good Even Better: How to be an effective board member of a nonprofit organization

And I was really blessed to have Jim Brown write the foreword.

At about 180 pages, it is a quick read that should help your board members work together better and avoid the many traps that create tension and strife in the boardroom. My prayer is that it will improve the governance of Christian churches and ministries.