Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award "Eva not breathing. Pray." That text message was Mel Lawrenz's entry into the harsh reality of losing his thirty-year-old daughter. Things would never be the same. How could he and his family cope with this devastating loss? In this narrative of grief, Pastor Mel Lawrenz chronicles how his family struggled to survive the sudden death of their beloved daughter. In raw, vivid episodes, he describes the immediacy of the pain and the uncertainty of what comes next. In the agony of traumatic loss, Lawrenz apprehends the realities of love and life and offers insights on how to navigate our life priorities before or after tragedy hits. You are not alone. You too can find a way forward.

"If you are in a position of positive influence, if you exercise leadership in any way, your faith in God gives you a power-a hidden power-that will allow you to make an enduring difference in the lives of other people and organizations. But how does that power work?" So says Mel Lawrenz in this fresh look at leadership which offers practical and biblical guidance to believers who want to have a deep influence and who want to know: What is the proper use of authority and power? Where do good ideas come from? How can we deal with failure? What does God expect of us? Drawing from more than thirty years of experience in pastoral ministry, Lawrenz writes for Christians in any position of influence. This book provides a new baseline for 21st century Christian leadership, addressing issues such as: * building integrity * seizing opportunities * exploring new horizons * speaking into crises * receiving power * accepting authority * promoting truth * managing expectations * dealing with criticism Using real-life examples, key Scripture passages, and history, Lawrenz shows that when believers align their responsibility to lead with the teaching of Jesus and the work of God's Spirit, their spiritual influence will have integrity and enduring effectiveness. "Lawrenz gives us hope that the leadership pendulum which has swung from 'over- spiritualized' to 'de-spiritualized' in recent generations may have finally come to rest where it always belonged-upon Jesus Christ." - Skye Jethani, Senior Editor, Leadership Journal, from the foreword "It is exciting to think about believers at every level of society rising to a new call to exercise powerful spiritual influence. In his newest book Mel Lawrenz has given us all a new baseline for leadership that is personal, wise, and spiritual. It spans the generations and reaches across cultures. Just think what will happen if believers in positions of influence tie into the wisdom and the power that comes from God in order to bring restoration in our broken world!" - Mark Batterson, Lead Pastor, National Community Church in Washington, D.C.

'La influencia espiritual es provocada por el Espiritu de Dios, cuya obra consiste en transformar al espiritu humano, devolviendonos la forma original con la cual Dios nos diseno. Esto sucede cuando el Espiritu logra influir ---in fluir--- en nosotros. Y se produce a lo largo de miles de pasos escondidos e imperceptibles.' En este novedoso estudio de lo que es el liderazgo, Mel Lawrenz sostiene que necesitamos mirar mas alla de la superficie, hasta el nucleo mismo de la dinamica espiritual de la vida, para comprender mejor como los lideres pueden tener una influencia duradera en la vida de las personas y de las organizaciones que dirigen. Aprovechando la experiencia adquirida en mas de veinte anos de ministerio pastoral, Lawrenz escribe para los cristianos que tienen algun tipo de liderazgo, cualquiera que este sea, aunque se centra de una manera especial en los lideres mas jovenes. Este libro nos facilita un nuevo punto de partida para el liderazgo cristiano del siglo veintiuno. En el se incluyen las claves para llegar a logros y capacidades que son necesarios para un liderazgo eficaz, entre ellos los siguientes: uedificar integridad en su persona y sus relaciones uaprovechar las oportunidades uexplorar nuevos horizontes uresolver las crisis urecibir poder uaceptar la autoridad ufomentar la verdad ucontrolar las expectativas uenfrentarse a las criticas"