Thursday, July 5, 2012

More Than Enchanting

Saxton, Jo. More Than Enchanting: Breaking Through Barriers to Influence Your World. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2012.

Before winning this book, I had not heard of Jo Saxton, but since I'm usually very pleased with books by InterVarsity Press (Go IVCF!), I thought it would be good. Now that I'm finished with More Than Enchanting, I am so glad I have been introduced to this amazing author and speaker and her work.

More Than Enchanting kept me enthralled from page one. As a woman working outside the home and having leadership roles in our church and community, the emphasis on being a leader, even when women leaders are not encouraged, was a breath of fresh air. My notebook quickly filled with quotes and thoughts as I engaged with this work. Saxton does an excellent job of including Bible study concerning the role of women as leaders and includes a variety of word study resources as the basic of this content. She then proceeds to cover a variety of issues related to leadership and how to increase your effectiveness as a leader. My one regret while reading this work was that I was reading in it alone. I hope to read it again soon with a group of other women leaders in the huddle format Saxton describes.

Beyond the content, which was excellent and thought-provoking, I loved the way this book was set up. Many book have discussion questions at the end of chapters or the end of the book. However, More Than Enchanting has discussion questions incorporated right into the text of the book. The end of each chapter also contains reflections written by many leaders, both male and female. The end of the book also contains discussion questions which encompass the content of the entire book and help to complete a study on this book. Author, Jo Saxton, also includes a nice, but not comprehensive, listing of sources for further reading and study.

I would highly recommend More Than Enchanting to any woman who is a leader or who wants to be a leader. I would particularly encourage this book to be used in a Bible study or book discussion group among college students or young professionals who are struggling with the issue of how to be a godly woman leader. However, I would not limit the readership to just that demographic. I'm well past that age group now (I'm about to hit one of those milestone birthdays)and found this quite useful and encouraging as I enter new leadership roles in my mid-life years.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free through a giveaway from Margaret Feinberg's blog. I was not required to write a positive review or even to review this book at all. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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