Issue No. 629 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting recommends an inspirational book—with 60 true stories—for your Christmas gift-giving. Plus, click here to see book recommendations in all 20 management buckets (core competencies), and click here for more book reviews. Also, read my recent conversation with our son, Jason, about his new documentary film, “Spares: Second Chance Stories of Frozen Embryos” (view it for free here).
Yikes! Yow! Oh, My! Amazing! Amen! Those were my out-loud exclamations when I read When Kingdom Light Shines—with 60 unbelievable true stories!
60 Inspiring Stories!
OH, MY! This new book—jam-packed with 60 inspiring stories—is so, so powerful that I’ve already gifted the book to seven people and it’s not even Christmas! Here’s my Christmas Gift Idea #1:
Stories That Inspire Faith
by Mark Ellis (2024)
YIKES! When Mark Ellis generously gave me this book on Nov. 3, 2024, I had a brilliant reading plan: 60 stories/60 days. But after reading the first inspiring story—I couldn’t stop! I averaged three chapters every day and completed this unbelievable book in 21 days!
AMAZING! I started with Chapter 20, “How God Answered Francis Chan’s Ridiculous Prayer for a Son-in-Law.” (Did I mention, amazing?) You’ll read about this daring prayer (just three pages) by author and speaker Francis Chan, “who lifted up a bold, audacious matchmaking prayer, and God answered in a way that confounded Francis himself.” (Have you ever prayed a “ridiculous” prayer?)
The 60 short stories feature the author’s favorite “God reports” from the last 25 years. Mark Ellis believes that “God’s stories are the best stories, and that He is doing even greater things in the world today than he did in the first century.” So Ellis launched the God Reports website “with a mission to support and encourage Christian missions, by sharing stories and testimonies from believers around the world.”
YOW! There are two powerful bookends in When Kingdom Light Shines: Stories That Inspire Faith. Chapter 1, “Dream Led to Hidden Tribe,” begins with this: “In 2013, Caleb Byerly woke up with a start and began to furiously write in his journal everything he saw in a rather unusual dream.” This missionary had sensed that “God had spoken to Caleb through dreams previously, so he meticulously recorded” the dream details.
“I feel like when God speaks to you, it’s an invitation to partner and walk with God,” Byerly said. (This reminded me of Henry Blackaby’s wisdom, “When God speaks, it is important to write it down.”) What follows will shock you (in a really good way!)—and you’ll retell the story to family and friends.
Chapter 60, “Dying Farmer Left Civil War Bible Behind for New Age Homebuyer,” is another breathtaking story that concludes this marathon of miracles. Dale Walker reports that he “graduated from Wesleyan University without knowing who John Wesley was, or who Jesus Christ was. And I never really met a single person that knew God or could tell me about God.”
At age 31, he practiced Eastern meditation, but “his inner emptiness wouldn’t go away.” He notes, “At the same time, my personal life was tangled into a series of knots which I didn’t know how to untie.” (This reminded me of a recent "Hidden Streams" podcast and the original song, “Tied Down,” at the end of the podcast.)
Read why after his first-ever prayer on his knees to “ANYBODY UP THERE,” Walker sprinted (no pun intended) across a farmer’s field to a farm house he had recently purchased—and found the previous owner’s 1865 family Bible in the attic. (Yes. It was dusty!) He read “The Lord is my shepherd” from the 23rd Psalm—and it changed his life!
There’s more! Read how that same night Walker randomly views a TV program about Roy Campanella. The program depicted the famous Brooklyn Dodgers catcher in the emergency room after a paralyzing injury from a car accident. The program flashed back to a young Campanella who remembers a Scripture his mother had taught him. (Guess which one?)
AMEN! I generally read silently—but dozens and dozens of times when reading this stunning book, I heard myself audibly respond: Amen! Wow! Yikes! Amazing! Praise the Lord! Examples:
• Chapter 34, “Lost Forty-Seven Days at Sea,” spotlights Louis Zamperini, the USC track star, 1936 Olympics runner, and WW2 POW. Read about the event that rid him of his extreme PTSD.
• Chapter 32, “Vincent Van Gogh’s Unappreciated Journey with Christ,” will prompt your own “Amen!” You’ll never look the same way again at “The Starry Night” or other Van Gogh masterpieces.
• Chapter 58, “He Preached the Gospel as Hijacked Plane Hit the Water,” is an excellent God story to share with the seatmate on your next plane ride. Andy Meakins, “a gentle giant of the faith,” was airborne on Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 from Addis Ababa to Abidjan—when “three hijackers stormed the cabin and demanded to be flown to Australia." (No way!) When the plane ran out of fuel, it hit the water, yet 50 people miraculously survived—but all 175 passengers and crew heard the Gospel story during those fateful final minutes. Must-read!
• Chapter 10, “Missionary Died Thinking He Was a Failure,” describes the 17-year ministry, beginning in 1912, of a doctor’s work among tribal people in a remote corner of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Failure? You decide.
All of these God stories reminded me that writer David Sedaris called Tobias Wolff “America’s greatest short-story writer.” (See my review of My Ideal Bookshelf—also a Christmas gift option.) Sedaris notes:
“Sometimes I meet ministers, and I always say to them, ’If I had a church, I’d read a Tobias Wolff story every week, and then I’d say to people, “Go home.”’ There’s nothing else you would need to say. Every story is a manual on how to be a good person, but without ever being preachy. They’re deeply moral stories; the best of them read like parables.”
Ditto these 60 God stories. I envision a surge in storytelling at weekly staff meetings—and hopefully—in pulpits across the globe. Thank you, Mark Ellis!
TO ORDER FROM AMAZON, click on the title for When Kingdom Light Shines: Stories That Inspire Faith, by Mark Ellis.
Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions:
2) After you’ve read all 60 short stories (or featured four or five stories at future weekly staff meetings), then host a gathering and call it, “Chapter 61.” Invite staff members, board members, and key volunteers to nominate God stories from your organization that are so remarkable they could become Chapter 61 in When Kingdom Light Shines.
UP NEXT! Watch for my review of “Christmas Gift Idea #2”—a new book just released today, Dec. 3, 2024. Read Glad I Didn’t Know: Lessons Learned Through Life’s Challenges and Unexpected Blessings, by Vonna Laue.
For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #99 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.
Leadership Core:
Character, Competence, Capacity
(Leadership Multipliers)
by Dick Daniels
Books #97 through #100 spotlight “the final four” books in this recommended volume of 100 must-read books. Daniels writes: “Every leader will face at least one impossible situation during their leadership tenure. That time is described as having your back against the wall, with no way out, completely alone, and the feeling of gloom you have when it seems like the end is near.”
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon.
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson).
Did you know that “people lie more on Monday and Friday than Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday?” Daniels notes research indicating “people lie two to four times a day.” So the author discusses five times when your staff might lie: 1) Lying to land a job, 2) Lying to get ahead, 3) Lying to achieve work-life balance, 4) Lying with feedback, and 5) Lying during the exit interview.
BONUS! Read my review of the latest book from Dick Daniels, The 365 Day Leader: Recalibrate Your Calling Every Day. (Another Christmas gift book option for leaders and managers!)
Song #39 of 45: “Another Brick in the Wall”
Listen to “Another Brick in the Wall,” by Pink Floyd, Song #39 of 45 in our blog series, Johnny Be Good. Marc Myers notes that the song “has long been viewed as an anti-education mantra, a mischaracterization that still rattles Roger Waters.”
A Berkeley Frat House & Josh McDowell’s Book!
Mark Ellis, the author of When Kingdom Light Shines (see above), wrote a very personal narrative in 2021, The House at Channing and Moonsail (read my review). Read what prompted Ellis, who said "God was not on my radar," to read Josh McDowell’s book, Evidence That Demands a Verdict. For more book reviews, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog.
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