Category: Book Summaries

Christian Leadership by Maxie Dunnam

Speaking to God for the people, Speaking to the people for God

When this book was published in 2019, Maxie D. Dunnam was eighty-four years old and still active in ministry, serving as Minister at Large at Christ United Methodist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. He answered the call to preach when he was seventeen and preached all his life. As he put it, “I still feel I’m doing what I was created to do.”

Dunnam provides a “life-giving truth”: verbalizing something gives it a reality that is not there until the word is spoken.

He explained that at seventeen, the notion of preparing to become a preacher had tumbled around in his mind for months. Then, when he could think of nothing else for several weeks, he told his pastor, “I think I’m being called to preach.” As Dunnam recalled, his pastor had a wry, telling smile, but his smile that day was more telling than it could have ever been before. “I know,” he said, “I’ve just been waiting for you to acknowledge it.” Those words gave solid substance to Dunnam’s struggle; and when his pastor asked, “Are you going to answer?”

Dunnam responded, “I said yes, my calling became real.”

Click here for more from Maxie Dunnam on Christian Leadership

Who Are You, Really?

In May, our older son, Cody, secured a summer internship with a construction company in Houston—Jamail & Smith—which will help him in his current degree field at Texas A&M.  He’s in the University Studies Program in the College of Architecture that allows you to tailor a degree to your interests, so he’ll focus on construction project management; and the program will take the coursework he has already completed toward Hotel & Hospitality Management.

When Cody mentioned he would live at home for the summer, he asked if we could complete a Bible Study together. Since our younger son, Tanner, is entering his senior year of high school, I thought the three of us should focus on a Bible Study about identity.  Cody is always asked, “What do you plan to do after college?”  Tanner is consistently asked, “What will be your college major?”  It’s easy for our identity to get wrapped up in those things.

We found a study by the Kendrick Brothers called Defined: Who God Says You Are, which focuses on understanding and embracing one’s identity from a Christian perspective. The authors, Stephen and Alex Kendrick, explore how knowing one’s identity in Christ can profoundly impact various aspects of life. In fact, the book formed the basis of their movie Overcomer.

The three of us worked through this 8-week study this summer, which was enriching for all of us.

Click here for a summary of the Defined study and what I learned from it