Renewal

Mac Pier has been on the cutting edge of the prayer movement in New York City (NYC) for over a decade. This book explores the work of God when people pray. You will learn the spiritual history of the greatest city in the world; the biblical role of cities in the plan of God; and a precise plan for developing a prayer strategy for your city. You will also be encouraged and inspired by the stories of the people and miracles surrounding the prayer movement in New York City.

Pier and Sweeting, who are with Concerts of Prayer of Greater New York..., share the four aspects of prayer for any city:

Prayer for Revival
Prayer for Reconciliation
Prayer for Renewal
Prayer for Reaching the Lost

I think it is interesting to read this book along with "Leadership" by Rudy Guiliani. Over the last decade there has been amazing positive change in the culture of NYC. While policy played a role in the decline of crime and violence, you can also clearly track the decrease to the increaase in the prayers of Christian people.

Highly recommended for anyone living in NYC or anyone who desires to see a prayer movement in their own city. If it can happen in New York City, it can happen anywhere!...

is a way Westen offers to gain health and be an active particpant in doing so. Weston gives clinically proven tools to awaken human powers of consciousness, responsibility, love, generosity, channeling, and other gifts we possess but do not know how to use. Happy reading and praying.

Thomas Troeger is an amazing writer, capturing the heart and imagination of preachers seeking new vitality in proclaiming the Gospel. He starts his extended analogy with a parable of a collapsing dome, decorated with ancient mosaics. The piece of the roof that crashes to the church floor had contained an image representing God the Creator. From there, he discusses this "God-shaped hole" not only in the roof of a building, but also the ones in the individual believer and in the church in a time of massive change.

Troeger is not some off-the-wall change agent, or a pessimist about the state of the church. He is a man profoundly rooted in salvation history. He brings across the stage of our 21st century consciousness the challenges faced by the Church throughout its past. From the confidence of God's work to prosper (and not just to preserve) the Church in prior times of upheaval he speaks of hope to be found and preached in the current societal, scientific, and technological challenges facing us in the early third millenium.

This is definitely not a how-to book on constructing a sermon. It is rather a captivating extended parable designed to free the heart, soul, and mind of those who are charged with speaking the word of God to the men and women who come into the worship time needing hope and strength.

This superbly written book challenges the Church of the 21st century to return to her 1st century roots. In a day when the Church has become so easily distracted from keeping the main thing the main thing (obeying the Great Commandment and the Great Commission) Reggie McNeal through his provocative six questions calls the Church back to it's Founder's original mission to His followers - win the lost! Rather than settling for the status quo, this book challenges pastors and leaders of Churches to again understand the mission and calling of the Church in the 21st century. There is a rising up of leaders all over the world who understand what McNeal is saying and who will continue to be effective servants of the Lord. This book is an encouraging read for those who are keeping the main thing the main thing and will no doubt disturb those who have become sidetracked, and hopefully inspire them to get back on track!

Howard Snyder's third book in his series regardng renewed church life (The Problem of Wineskins and Community of the King) focuses on the contribution of John Wesley to the renewal of existing church patterns. After first giving a brief history of the conversion of Wesley and the growth of the Methodists, Snyder then brings Wesley face to face with today's church. The fundamental issues at stake in Snyder's arguements are 1) How do you renew the church without destroying it? 2) How do you gain an apreciation for the apostolic faith in a contemporary context? 3) How do you touch people that the current tradition of the church doesn't touch? Beautifully, Wesley addresses all of these. It is amazing that Wesley's voice is as fresh today as it was two centuries ago. In Radical Wesley, Snyder brings this voice out with clairty and alacrity to our current situation. I heartily recommend this to those who are searching to address the gospel in light of post-moderism.

My husband of twenty-six years died in May, and I've been having a very difficult time adjusting. Though my kids tried to get me up and out of the house, nothing has really helped. I felt so alone and helpless without John. A friend gave me Mary Ellen Berry's book, and one day I picked it up. I left the house last week for the first time in months, and I've started picking up with my old friends again. Though I still grieve for John, I'm realizing that I can still have a life and it isn't betraying his memory to enjoy my remaining time. I recommend this book whole-heartedly.

Reclaim The Fire: A Parish Guide To Evangelization by Martin W. Pable (Retreat Director, St. Anthony Retreat Center, Marathon, Wisconsin) is a straightforward, "reader friendly" guide to bringing new life and followers into the Catholic parish. Individual chapters address a brief history of evangelization, evangelizing active and inactive Catholics alike, reaching out to people when surrounded by the distractions of modern culture, and a great deal more. Reclaim The Fire is especially recommended reading for Catholic activists and a welcome addition to the bookshelf of every parish.

Dr. Friend offers a unique and compelling approach for revitalization of faith communities that is spiritually grounded. Though it is concrete and specific in the guidance it offers, it challenges congregations -- members and leaders -- to identify and explore individual and corporate "sacred center". Acknowledging that "sacred center" is hard to define, the author invites exploration of the deepest essence of both the person and the organization. This book is most helpful when read and discussed by a core group of people in the community. The book is based on the author's experience with dozens of churches and judicatories across 8 denominations. While courageously realistic, it offers the reader hope grounded in fresh alternatives to the discouragement that characterizes so many congregations today. Real stories from real people are at the heart of this important book.

REDESIGNING HEALTHCARE DELIVERY:

A Practical Guide to Reengineering, Restructuring, and Renewal

CIOs are in for a shock when they read REDESIGNING HEATLHCARE DELIVERY: A Practical Guide to Reengineering, Restructuring, and Renewal recently published by Boland Healthcare. This nine hundred plus page book documents why most health care organizations are not working well and what they must do to meet customer needs. What is startling about this book is the level of detail it goes into in describing just how far hospitals, medical groups, and managed care companies must go to improve quality and lower costs at the same time.

This forty chapter book was written by operational experts as a comprehensive survival guide to managed care. It offers step-by-step instructions and case studies for redesigning inpatient, outpatient, and ambulatory care. With a hundred plus tables and figures, it describes methodologies, strategies, and techniques to improve performance and document value.

The book draws on a "best practices" approach to information system design and management that shows how to refocus core functions and services around customer needs-rather than traditional provider priorities and values. This means a fundamental shift in the way health care is designed, managed, and delivered. The book advocates using multidisciplinary patient care teams and information technology to standardize treatment protocols and integrate financial, clinical, and administrative data.

Redesigning Healthcare Delivery provides practical methodologies for organizations to lead and manage change. Part one establishes the rationale for repositioning medical institutions as market-focused organizations. Part two explains the management principals and transformation steps required for effective change management. Part three presents a wide variety of case studies on business process redesign and the lessons learned from each for providers and customers. Part four details the management tools, particularly IS and IT, and communications strategies required to change individual behavior and organizational performance.

The central theme running throughout the book is that health care executives-particularly CIOs - need to develop and use new change management tools and IS/IT is the most important one. The solution, however is not to rely solely on technological approaches but to use them to better manage the human aspects of change. This is a fundamental concept because information technology can only go so far in restructuring work and operations by itself. What characterizes the most successful change initiatives in this book is a profound strategic commitment to better customer service.

The book's editor, health care industry analyst Peter Boland, states that unless health care organizations can implement IS/IT rapidly to refocus institutions on customer service, then the market will pass them by. Thus, information technology becomes the main enabler to lead both internal change and document tangible value to patients and customers.

Book Review Author

Walter Wieners, Consultant, Sausalito, CA, USA, provides managed care planning and strategic business advice both in the United States and internationally.

W.R. Clement has written a concise and clear analysis of the cultural clash of East 'versus' West. The "War on Terrorism" and all the hyperbole are stripped away and Clement presents the essential differences between the two cultures and their followers. Particularly useful for westerners like myself, was the brief historical account of Islam and its spread across the Arabic world. One of the central themes of this book is that the Islamic world and the Judean world can never be rationalized with each other because they are so fundamentally different (at least in their present forms). Also, drawing on themes from his previous book "Quantum Jump: A Survival guide for the new Renaissance" (also a good read), Clement rightly points out that because Islam did not undergo a Reformation, as did the West, their sociopolitical & legal structure is all still founded and embroiled in Shari'a (religious) law. At this point, with the new Iraqi constitution having just been signed; it would be worthwhile to read this short, well-written book to bring yourself up to speed on the problems that will be faced by the Islamic culture in the coming years. Perhaps the most interesting point (from a biologist's point of view) is the last paragraph.