John Pearson - Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Non-Profit

Mastering the Management Buckets is simply the best book I have read on Christian management of nonprofit organizations. It is a perfect balance between biblical wisdom and a Harvard MBA.

DENNIS BAKKE

Author of the national bestselling book Joy at Work

Mastering the Management Buckets is both a great idea-generating tool and a ready reference guide for the nonprofit manager. Its a book Ill definitely keep in my library.

KENNETH A. BEHR

President, Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability

This is certainly one of the first books a Christian leader should read. John puts the cookies on the lowest shelf. He speaks from the perspective of 30 years as a CEOthe perspective you have as a Christian leader. This is a very practical, supremely useful book. It deserves a wide audience.

BOB BUFORD

Chairman of the Board, The Buford Foundation and Leadership Network

John Pearson has just thrown a bucket of cold water into my face... and it woke me up! John has taken all things management and artfully organized them into a system honed over the past 35 years and validated with Scripture. This book will enable any leaderseasoned or freshto get the results that are critical for mission effectiveness.

MAJOR GEORGE HOOD

National Community Relations and Development Secretary
The Salvation ArmyUSA National Headquarters

From years of successful practice, John Pearson has captured, in one book, what is core to leadership and management. Mastering the Management Buckets is a must-read for veterans and beginners alike.

BOB KOBIELUSH

President, Christian Camp and Conference Association

Whether you need help with the bottom-line insights in the Results Bucket or need to add more fun to your workplace with the best practices in the Hoopla! Bucket, Mastering the Management Buckets can help you to become a more effective manager. Buy a bucketful of books and bless your hard-working team members!

FRANK LOFARO

President and CEO, Christian Management Association

John Pearson has written a wonderful book that is not only for those aspiring to leadership positions but also for those who have been in the management ranks for years. I enjoyed it and learned a few things to boot! Buy the book, grab a cup of coffee, put your feet up and take notes!

DIANE PASSNO

Senior Vice President, Focus on the Family

As World Vision helps transform the lives of the worlds poorest children and families in nearly 100 countries, we strive to be leaders and managers who honor God every day. Thats not easy! Mastering the Management Buckets is a fresh reminder of the complexity of the leadership challengeyet it also delivers practical management insights for our leaders and our in-the-trenches people.

RICHARD E. STEARNS

President, World Vision U.S.

2008 John W. Pearson

Published by Baker Books
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakerbooks.com

Baker Books edition published 2014

ISBN 978-1-4412-2431-6

Previously published by Regal Books

Ebook edition originally created 2011

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

All Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated are taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright by Eugene H. Peterson, 1993, 1994, 1995. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Other versions used are:

AMPScripture taken from THE AMPLIFIED BIBLE, Old Testament copyright 1965, 1987 by the Zondervan Corporation. The Amplified New Testament copyright 1958, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

KJVKing James Version. Authorized King James Version.

NASBScripture taken from the New American Standard Bible, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

NIVScripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

TLBScripture quotations marked (TLB) are taken from The Living Bible, copyright 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189. All rights reserved.

This book honors

Janet Beneditz,
Faithful Servant of the Crisis Bucket

Without Janet and her servant colleagues worldwide,
no leader or manager would make it through the day!

CONTENTS

by Bob Buford

The People Bucket
With Don German and Bob Kobielush

By Bob Buford

John Pearson, a friend and colleague of almost 30 years, has been a lifelong student and practitioner of management applied to the growth of Christian organizations. Under the umbrella of Christian Management Association and the Willow Creek Association, he has hosted and provided a platform for the leading thinkers of our time.

The two of us share a loyalty to the thinking of Peter Drucker, often called the Father of Modern Management, whose work has been both profound and useful to many Christian ministries. John traces his Drucker lineage back to Druckers debut appearance 20 years ago at a 1986 Leadership Network Summit Conference of large church and para-church leaders in Estes Park. These vital organizations have not only advanced Gods kingdom, but have also been central to the stability and moral foundation of American culture, still the envy of the world.

Peter Drucker often emphasized that churches and parachurch organizations were spiritual and moral enterprises at the core, instruments for serving Gods purposes on earth. Peter was quoted in Forbes magazine, whose cover story called him Still the Youngest Mind, as saying, The pastoral megachurches are surely the most important social phenomenon in American society in the last thirty years.

A recipient of the Christian Management Award presented by Christian Management Association in 1990, Peter told us that those thinking of religious organizations needed to consider three factors:

1. The eternalthat is, things that never change. Three months before his death in what was probably his last media interview, Peter expressed his view of the eternal:

Tom Ashbrook: Youve lived a long life and focused intensely on life and how its lived. Now youre 95. What about an afterlife? What about God? How do you think about the moment of transition that you are inevitably approaching?

Peter Drucker: Well, I happen to be a very conventional, traditional Christian. Period! And I dont think about it. I am told! Its not my job to think about it. My job is to say, Yes, Sir.