Maxwell Leadership Bible, reviewed by Dony Donev

 

Study Bible Series

There has been a growing number of Study Bibles released in the last few years and Dony Donev is reviewing them along with some classic Study Bibles. Dr. Donev will be evaluating each of the Bibles by focusing on subjects such as the gifts and ministry of the Holy Spirit, free will and the security of the believer, as well as prophecy and eschatology.

 

John C. Maxwell, ed., Maxwell Leadership Bible, Revised and Updated edition (Thomas Nelson, 2007).

The Maxwell Leadership Bible has drawn lots of attention especially with the publication of John Maxwell’s new bestseller Sometimes You Win—Sometimes You Learn: Life’s Greatest Lessons Are Gained from Our Losses, which deconstructs the winning model of church leadership on a totally different level. We’ve used his study Bible through the years especially in cases of young ministers’ training and mentorship.

Instead of a page by page annotation, the Maxwell Bible setup contains inline articles and discussions on various leadership issues within the text. Over 100 biographical profiles of Biblical leaders and short articles are combined with the philosophy behind two other bestsellers on leadership by the author: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You and The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader: Becoming the Person Others Will Want to Follow.

One of our initial comparison passages (Numbers 6 and Jeremiah 18) is commented, although Numbers 6 does have an article on the Nazarite vow within the Law of Sacrifice, entitled “Give up to go up.” Jeremiah 18, however, contains a great note on teachability. The annotation of v. 18 is simple, but strong: “To keep leading, keep learning!”

The Maxwell Bible is not oriented to be organized by doctrines. Therefore, there’s not much on eschatology and particularly little regarding either the Rapture or Tribulation. Nevertheless, the lessons from the Seven Churches of Revelation are abundantly annotated and worthy to be read privately or taught in a classroom setting, intended to be taken literary and applied to today’s ecclesial reality.

 

 

This work is not Pentecostal or from another Christian tradition in particular, as it addresses church leadership in a general Biblical sense. There’s no particular reference to the Trinity, however Acts 2 comments on the magnetic power received by the apostles at Pentecost and in 1 Corinthians 14, the Spirit is called “Broker of gifts.” Instead of a concordance at the end of the Bible, there are several indexes containing leadership laws, qualities, issues and a complete list of profiles of Bible heroes who encompass the law of leadership.

Reviewed by Dony K. Donev

 

Publisher’s page: http://www.thomasnelson.com/maxwell-leadership-bible-revised-and-updated

Cover from the 2002 release of the Maxwell Leadership Bible. Notes in the Revised and Update version reflect newer books published by John Maxwell including The 360º Leader, Attitude 101, 25 Ways to Win with People, and Leadership 101.