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Okay, so maybe you haven’t been sitting next to your computer with baited breath like I have, but if you’ve been following this newsletter for a while, you know that I’ve been working for the past 18 months now pretty much non-stop on a new book in the “Redeeming” series called Redeeming Power.
I didn’t know when I started working on Redeeming Administration somewhere around 15 years ago now that it would turn into a series. I just wanted to figure out a way to stay sane in my job working in the Church. I was a “mid-level” program administrator at the time and pretty worn down by the daily grind of administration. It wasn’t what I thought being in ministry would look like. So, I began interviewing a whole bunch of healthy and holy ministry leaders to see how they managed it. What were they learning and how were they growing in their roles?
One of the things that I discovered early on in these interviews was that a lot of their effectiveness as leaders (and their sanity as persons) depended on whether or not they had good skills related to having tough conversations. Many an administrator told me, “If it wasn’t for needing to deal with conflict, lots of people could do my job. It’s the conflict that either makes or breaks you as a church leader.” Indeed, conflict came up so much that I realized it was its own book and that when I finished working on Redeeming Administration, there needed to be a follow up volume on Redeeming Conflict.
So then I started doing workshops on conflict. (Super grateful for my time at Triad Consulting that helped me to learn so much about the field of negotiation, difficult conversations, and mediation.) When I would ask groups about what their hardest conversations as leaders involved, what I discovered was that the topic that came up most was power. Ten years ago this wasn’t necessarily the case, but in recent years power has surfaced constantly. Many of the questions asked were not ones I knew the answer to myself. I wanted to spend some time learning from other people wiser than myself. Thus began the interviews related to Redeeming Power.
It gives me great joy to finally get this book out from the space that it has taken up in my brain and onto a bookshelf, and to take the interviews I conducted and have them available as podcasts. For those of you who have waded this far into my newsletter, a special treat. Here is a discount code if you order my book this month: GARRIDO25 . Yup, that is right, enter that code when ordering a copy of Redeeming Power from Ave Maria Press and you will automatically get the book for 25% less. Get one for yourself. Then get one for your pastor, your DRE, your hospital administrator, your favorite principal, your religious provincial. Gosh, it doesn’t even need to go to someone who works for the church. Any Christian who leads in any capacity would get something from it, I think.
And largely that is because of the wonderful people I interviewed. So, if you buy the book, please also listen to the podcast that accompanies it: Waking Up Goliath. You can find it on my website or subscribe at Apple or Spotify.
You should probably start with my first episode just to explain the title, but then after that, feel free to pick and choose in any order to listen to people like...
- Casey Stanton of the Discerning Deacons Project
- Danielle Harrison, founder of Mission, Faith, Equity Consulting
- Bishop David Toups of the diocese of Beaumont, TX
- Dr. Crystal LeRoy, president of Christian Brothers High School in Sacramento, CA
- Dr. Elizabeth Berkes, director of development at Moreau Catholic High School in Hayward, CA
- Fr. Michael Bechard, executive director of the Northern Bridge Community Partnership
Upcoming weeks will feature Kerri Robinson (President of Catholic Charities, USA); Dr. Kevin Baxter (Director of the Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program); Eric LeCompte (Executive Director of Jubilee USA)… just to name a few. Subscribe now not to miss an episode. And please share this podcast with any leader you think might be interested!
Will you be at LA Congress in Anaheim next week? If so, I hope to see you there. I’ll be at Congress on Friday and Saturday, mostly in the vicinity of the Ave Maria Press booth. I’ll be presenting during Session #4 on Saturday morning and signing books over in the book signing area immediately thereafter. Last time I got put between Ron Rohlheiser and John Allen, so know that I could use some help balancing out the long lines on either side of me. Come and say “hi”!