My earliest memories of church come from Christ Church Bexley, now part of St George North, and of a paradigm of ministry that had had its day. Leadership on the Front Foot shows how new life can be breathed into a dying body. This is not palliative care!

Zac Veron is a great leadership practitioner who God has wired up with gospel zeal and principled pragmatism. Leadership on the Front Foot bristles with a powerful blend of wisdom, experience and clarity of vision. Most apparent of all, is Zac's passion that his readers be better leaders within Christ's body the church.

Zac's openness to current thinking and teaching on leadership is evident in this book. However the structure of the book shows Zac's commitment to teamwork is not just theoretical. He's partnered with Ken Noakes to lift "Leadership on the Front Foot' from text book to training manual. Each chapter is a principle gleaned from leading a local church followed by an application guide where Ken asks the readers the "hard' questions of their own leadership, and to wrestle with the biblical foundations.

Maybe I just like having my own thinking reinforced but I really enjoyed the slaughtering of some pretty mangy sacred cows. Zac doesn't walk on egg shells, he sweeps them up. Not only does he give you a principle to employ but he reinforces the message with the error that will undermine your effort. Here's one of my favourites: "Principle 2: Be clear about what needs to be done, and keep doing it. Error: Losing your resolve under opposition."  Principle 4 may also ruffle a few politically correct feathers.

Finally someone has distilled leadership lessons they've learnt in the local Australian church and put them on paper to help young leaders make a good start. I already have plans for using this with my teams.

While Zac's clear target is the new incumbent don't pass this book by if you've been in the game a long while. It is great getting some fresh insights that prove the old proverb of "iron sharpening iron'. As I read it I discovered even an old dog can learn a few new tricks!