Dave Frederick

I'm a Practitioner, Not Just a Theorist.

What I've Learned About Leadership, I've Learned In the Trenches. Some people seem to go from glory to glory, success to success, as if they have the magic touch or some special favor from God. I'm not one of them.

I'm the guy who walked through deep waters and came out on the other side, still standing, still moving forward, and learning through it all. I've built strong, healthy churches, but it didn't come easy.

I know the struggle of planting churches, wondering if the work I thought God called me to was really going to make it. I've also known what it is to supervise a wonderful staff in an exciting, growing church.

I've experienced the loss of loved ones, wrestled with my wife having cancer, and questioned God. I've also raised three kids who love God and the church - maybe my proudest achievement

The Journey

In 2008 I left a successful church I had planted and grown to health and vibrancy.

"What now?" I asked.

Over time, God reaffirmed his call to encourage, empower, and equip his people to be who he’s called us to be, and do what he’s called us to do. In the process, two basic convictions came together.

Two Basic Convictions

1

The Church is the hope of the world.

When it is healthy and functioning as it should, there is no more powerful organization than the Church to impact the world. By "the Church" we mean the local church and all the agencies and ministries that work together to promote the gospel of Jesus Christ on earth.

2

Everything rises and falls on leadership.

The health of the church (or any organization) is connected to the quality of its leadership-to the character, integrity, and skill of those who lead it, whether they are pastors, staff, or lay leaders who impact others and influence the health and growth of the church.

Those convictions, combined with over 25 years experience planting churches and pastoring, birthed a desire to serve the leaders of the local church - to encourage, empower, and equip them to lead more effectively, both in the church and at home, school, and work. As those leaders grow into the people God has intended, the church becomes what God has intended, people's lives are transformed, and the world is impacted.


I've been a lifelong learner, eager to find solutions and wisdom from others who have gone ahead of me. I've read scores of books, and often found great help in them. I've found answers, warnings, direction and encouragement. The wisdom I’ve gotten there has helped me succeed and navigate rough waters.

I’ve also had times where I was disappointed in a book, when it didn’t really deliver on the promises of the title or its description. Those are a lot of hours I’ll never get back.

Those two things—the value of the wisdom gained from some books, and the disappointment from others, made me want to get the good stuff to other leaders in an affordable, accessible way.

 I searched for a resource to do that, but could not find one that hit the mark. I wanted condensed and affordable versions of the best books for Christian Leaders that captured the true essence of the text and didn't lose the author's voice. I also wanted to share my insights and applications, and discuss them with other leaders.

I found a few services providing summaries, but those that captured the key content along with the author's voice didn't cover many of the titles I wanted. The other services missed important content, were just poorly written, or lost the author’s voice entirely. And I didn’t want just glorified outlines—I wanted something readable and engaging.

THUS, THE BIRTH OF:

LEADERS BOOK SUMMARIES

My way to enable Christian Leaders to access the wealth of wisdom that is available to them, share insights from the trenches, and do it in a way that really works!

Leaders Book Summaries provides condensed versions of the best books for Christian leaders while staying true to the essence of the text and the author's voice.

  1. Access to the Masters: Our summaries allow you to learn from accomplished leaders who have learned the hard lessons and found success.
  2. Wisdom: I can never recover the countless hours I spent digging through texts to find the content that I am offering to you in a fraction of the time (and money). This is wise management of your resources.
  3. Convenience: Members receive 30 Summaries released directly to their inbox annually. There is also a personal online library to access your summaries at any time.