115 Bolsinger, Tod E. Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2018. 250 pp. $24.99. Before he was appointed Executive Director of the De Pree Center Church Leadership Institute and Associate Professor of Leadership Formation at Fuller Theological Seminary, Tod Bolsinger served as a seminary vice president, professor, pastor, and author. Most notably, Bolsinger led San Clemente Presbyterian Church as senior pastor from 1997 to 2014. He also authored It Takes a Church to Raise a Christian: How the Community of God Transforms Lives (Brazos, 2004) and Show Time: Living Down Hypocrisy by Living Out the Faith (Baker, 2005). His blend of leadership acumen and robust theology thus grants him a credible voice among twenty-first-century ministry leaders. Bolsinger’s most recent book, Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory (IVP Books, 2018), is a timely and relevant resource for adaptive Christian leadership. Inspired by Stephen E. Ambrose’s Undaunted Courage (Simon & Schuster, 1997), Bolsinger chooses to harness imagery from the 1804–1806 westward voyage of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to communicate the uncertain future that awaits Christian leaders. As a coach and consultant for many years, Bolsinger regularly heard statements such as, “[the] seminary didn’t train me for this” (21) and “the world around us is changing so rapidly and our church is dying” (141). In part one of this book, Bolsinger likens this anxiety in the face of the unfamiliar to Lewis and Clark encountering the Lemhi pass. After summiting the mountain, the explorers expected to find a new waterway, something like the Missouri River that had carried them to that point. What they found instead was a view of unending mountain ranges. These ranges rendered canoes, their primary source of transportation, useless. The explorers’ transition from canoes to horses represents for Bolsinger the kinds of adjustments ministry leaders must resort to amid a culture of instability and rapid change. “Canoeing the mountains,” then, serves as Bolsinger’s term for leaders unwilling or incapable of navigating changing trends, events, and challenges. Part two of the book introduces Bolsinger’s ideals for foundational leadership competencies. He asserts that people must demonstrate the ability to lead “on the map,” as he terms it, before they can lead people “off the map.” Stewardship of Scripture, souls, traditions, people, communities, and tasks remains the foundational competency from which subsequent innovation may arise. Consistency of character and “rational congruence” allow leaders to build the trust necessary to prepare people to follow them amid uncertainty. BOOK REVIEWS
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODc4ODgx