Making Room for Leadership: Power, Space and Influence

You don’t just lead with your voice and your decisions. You lead with your body. The way you take up space in a room, the way you use or don’t use your body in group settings, influences others. And all of us hold power to lead in our bodies. Yet, pastor and spiritual director MaryKate Morse contends, most of us are unaware of the ways we do or can use our bodies to influence others. Some of us cower in the corner, trying to hide. Others try to speak but are never heard. Still others are the focal point as soon as they walk in a room. What makes the difference? And how can we learn to lead in our own individual way with confidence? In Making Room for Leadership Morse

• explores different types of power in the body, delineating how each type can be used for good or for harm
• highlights how people gain and give leadership in group settings
• helps you identify the kind of power you as a unique individual hold

Throughout, Christ’s use of power serves as the guide for how to lead in ways that are life-giving and empowering to others. We all can lead. We all have some kind of power in us. Once we become aware of our influence, we can direct it toward good, toward building others up. Doing just that in these pages, Morse helps you learn to do the same in the places you live, move and have your being.

Leonard Sweet is the E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Drew University in Madison, NJ and a visiting distinguished professor at George Fox University in Portland, Oregon. Previously Sweet served as vice president of acadmic affairs and dean of the Theological School at Drew University. Sweet is the author of many books, including Soul Tsunami and AquaChurch
MaryKate Morse is professor of leadership and spiritual formation at George Fox Evangelical Seminary in Portland, Oregon. She is a speaker, a retreat leader and a Friends pastor who has planted two churches with leadership teams. MaryKate also serves as a mentor and spiritual director to church and parachurch leaders.