Making Room for Leadership - by Marykate Morse Paperback

About the Book

Book Synopsis

You don't just lead with your voice and your decisions. You lead with your body.The way you take up space in a room, the way you use or don't use your body in group settings, influences others. And all of us hold power to lead in our bodies.Yet, pastor and spiritual director MaryKate Morse contends, most of us are unaware of the ways we do or can use our bodies to influence others. Some of us cower in the corner, trying to hide. Others try to speak but are never heard. Still others are the focal point as soon as they walk in a room. What makes the difference? And how can we learn to lead in our own individual way with confidence?In Making Room for Leadership Morse

• explores different types of power in the body, delineating how each type can be used for good or for harm
• highlights how people gain and give leadership in group settings
• helps you identify the kind of power you as a unique individual hold

Throughout, Christ's use of power serves as the guide for how to lead in ways that are life-giving and empowering to others.We all can lead. We all have some kind of power in us. Once we become aware of our influence, we can direct it toward good, toward building others up. Doing just that in these pages, Morse helps you learn to do the same in the places you live, move and have your being.

Review Quotes

"Making Room for Leadership explores an interpersonal side of leading, specifically addressing a person's ability to have "presence" and how a grasp of spatial issues, body language and communication can create a more effective leader."

"Making Room for Leadership is both practical and a superb study of the gift of power for leaders. Read it slowly and prayerfully. It will transform the way you lead."

"A detailed look at the nuanced ways in which power is ascribed and utilized. A good peek behind the curtain for those in any leadership position."

"A teacher and retreat leader contends that all of us have the power to lead confidently, enabling us to use our influence for greater good. Filled with many tips and thought questions to evalutate your own effectiveness in ministry, with suggestions for making improvements that help you succeed and empower others."

"Although I have read many books on leadership, this is the first I've seen that spells out servant leadership in such fresh and down-to-earth terms. So I commend this book to all would-be leaders, and especially those who teach leadership, not only because it's new and groundbreaking, but because it's based on a very old truth. For when God modeled leadership for us he did it by sending his Son in the flesh, coming into space and time in an embodied way. If we are going to lead like Jesus, then we too must know how to use the power of space and body in a way that empowers others. This is an important book, breaking new ground and speaking biblically and practically to a blind spot in our leadership. In every chapter I have learned something valuable. Most of all I commend it because I know how Dr. Morse embodies in her own leadership what she has written for us."

"An original and insightful book about the use of power in relationships within the body of Christ."

"I haven't read any other book which talks more openly and realistically about the honest, raw, wondrous complexities of leadership today as Making Room for Leadership."

"MaryKate Morse has written a marvelous book which forces us to take a fresh look and a fresh listen at the visual and verbal markers we exchange on a daily basis. . . . [She] most importantly draws back the curtains to reveal the smoke and mirrors behind the machines of 'power' and the machinations of communication. . . . Thank you, MaryKate, for writing a book like none out there."

"Morse's ability to discuss bot the physical and spiritual realities for Christian leaders in a manner that refuses to settle for trite statements (all too common in much of the popular literature on Christian leadership) makes her worth reading. Recommended for thoughtful readers who are interested in connections between faith and leadership."

"Saying that leadership is a universal trait that anyone can use, MaryKate Morse hopes to push today's business leaders to embrace God, grow closer to Him, and to their co-workers as well. A unique and impressive dive into the mix of religion and business."

About the Author

Leonard Sweet is the E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Drew University in Madison, NJ and a visiting distinguished professor at George Fox University in Portland, Oregon. Previously Sweet served as vice president of acadmic affairs and dean of the Theological School at Drew University. Sweet is the author of many books, including Soul Tsunami and AquaChurch

MaryKate Morse is professor of leadership and spiritual formation at George Fox Evangelical Seminary in Portland, Oregon. She is a speaker, a retreat leader and a Friends pastor who has planted two churches with leadership teams. MaryKate also serves as a mentor and spiritual director to church and parachurch leaders.