When Fuller Seminary decided to launch out in our own uncharted terrain, we called on Tod Bolsinger to join our leadership team. When you read Canoeing the Mountains, you'll immediately understand why. Bolsinger's ability to translate the most important organizational leadership material into the day-to-day challenges of the Christian leader is without peer. His vulnerability and authenticity resonates as he shares his own leadership learning journey. This is the leadership book the church needs today." This new 40 th anniversary edition has been completely updated in line with the latest sea kayaking developments by Wayne Horodowich, a longtime friend of Hutchinson’s and the founder of University of Sea Kayaking. Summary: Using the story of Lewis and Clark, Bolsinger explores the kind of leadership needed in the uncharted territory of our rapidly changing cultural landscape. Whitewater Books 1 Introduction to Paddling: No Barriers (The Young Adult Adaptation): A Blind Man’s Journey to Kayak the Grand Canyon By Erik Weihenmayer

In a most winsome and engaging way, Tod Bolsinger weaves together the best of current leadership research?adaptive change, systems theory, organizational transformation?with the real-life challenges of a pastor/practitioner who has spent years trying to put all this together in a congregation ...Like a master storyteller, Tod also weaves in the story of Lewis and Clark as a historical parable of the change and challenge in which we find ourselves today in the church. This is a book that you simply must read!" The real challenge though is recognizing and persisting through sabotage, which Bolsinger believes can be expected when leading in uncharted territory. That was an eye-opener. Bolsinger says people don’t dislike change nearly as much as they mourn loss. As youth pastors, we need to shepherd people through the grieving process as they lose programs and traditions that are dear to them. Meanwhile, expect some sabotage on this journey.The River Wye stretches 215 kilometres from the Welsh Cambrian Mountains to the Severn Estuary, just north of Bristol. During its meandering journey, it drifts along lush green meadows, through mysterious wooded valleys, and past several interesting towns. The book-loving centre of Hay on Wye being just one of them. Leading off the Map" is the focus of Part Three and critical to this is the adaptive capacity of the leader. Leaders must be able to look at systems rather than react to symptoms, to calmly face loss and the challenge of the unknown, leading a learning process expressed in asking questions rather than giving answers. Sometimes rather than doing something, it first means standing still...and then doing something through a process of observation, interpretation, and intervention. In the process, understanding the DNA of the church and not violating that is critical. Interventions should start out modesty and playfully--lots of experiments, and resistance can be expected. In facing resistance, leaders must be absolutely clear and convicted about the mission, which for Bolsinger, "trumps all" and ready to press into mission even when no one else is. Ancient records of canoes are found from the Pacific Northwest to the coast of Maine, in Minnesota and Mexico, in the Southeast and across the Caribbean. And if a native of those distant times might encounter a canoe of our day—whether birch bark or dugout or a modern marvel made of carbon fiber—its silhouette would be instantly recognizable. This is the story of that singular American artifact, so little changed over time: of canoes, old and new, the people who made them, and the labors and adventures they shared. With features of technology, industry, art, and survival, the canoe carries us deep into the natural and cultural history of North America.

The following are questions from the book and from my own mind that are guiding a book study I'm leading on the final section. They may be helpful to you. And thus, these are the hardest and most painful challenges for a leader to face as it always means asking people to stop doing what they have done for years, and instead to do something else. How many of these adaptive changes have our churches had to make this year? This has certainly been the test for pastors’ ability to lead off the map!In 1930 two novice paddlers—Eric Sevareid and Walter C. Port—launched a secondhand 18-foot canvas canoe into the Minnesota River at Fort Snelling for an ambitious summer-long journey from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay. Without benefit of radio, motor, or good maps, the teenagers made their way over 2,250 miles of rivers, lakes, and difficult portages. Nearly four months later, after shooting hundreds of sets of rapids and surviving exceedingly bad conditions and even worse advice, the ragged, hungry adventurers arrived in York Factory on Hudson Bay—with winter freeze-up on their heels. First published in 1935, Canoeing with the Cree is Sevareid’s classic account of this youthful odyssey. In this coming-of-middle-age memoir, Kim Heacox, writing in the tradition of Abbey, McPhee, and Thoreau, discovers an Alaska reborn from beneath a massive glacier, where flowers emerge from boulders, moose swim fjords, and bears cross crevasses with Homeric resolve. In such a place Heacox finds that people are reborn too, and their lives begin anew with incredible journeys, epiphanies, and successes. All in an America free of crass commercialism and overdevelopment. Two illustrations: 1) We regularly use three words to talk about the people with whom we want to serve--character, chemistry and competency. Bolsinger uses the word capacity instead of competency. That subtle change is huge. It's the power of the right word. We use competency but that implies a set of skills. In our explanation we always say that we can teach what we want. Capacity captures that. 2) We're all familiar with Covey's "win-win" scenario. Bolsinger realistically and convincingly argues that win-win almost always causes us to maintain the status quo. If we are truly going to move people at a pace they can tolerate (paraphrase of his definition of leadership) then someone is going to lose something. The Ultimate Guide to Whitewater Rafting and River Camping introduces new rafters to the skills, equipment, and knowledge required to mount a multiday whitewater rafting trip. Rafting equipment, skills, and techniques have changed drastically in recent years, and this book provides the latest information on equipment selection, care, repair, and use; whitewater rafting techniques; reading rivers; hazard evaluation and basic rescue; camping techniques; river cooking and living; and expedition planning.

And to make matters worse, the pastors don’t know what to do either. As a seminary vice president, I am now charged with confronting this reality head-on. Our graduates were not trained for this day. When I went to seminary, we were trained in the skills that were necessary for supporting faith in Christendom. When churches functioned primarily as vendors of religious services for a Christian culture, the primary leadership toolbox was A church that has maintained unity through homogeneity will find it difficult to welcome those who differ in lifestyle, education, mores and social class" (75)

Like swimming in the Thames, kayaking the Wye is a great way to embrace the beautiful outdoors of the UK. It’s also probably a lot easier than you think. The hire company provides a waterproof barrel to store things you don’t want to get wet. If you fancy a wild swim (and you should) don’t forget your swimming trunks and a towel. If you expect one of your party is likely to splash about and get you wet, bring a change of clothes. Kayak: The Animated Manual of Intermediate and Advanced Whitewater Technique is an outdoor classic for all of those who want to live on the edge, but safely. Complete with all the details to enhance your whitewater experience, Kayak is a great resource for learning new skills for intermediate and advanced kayakers and learning rescue basics. Plus, all of this is explained in easy-to-read and understand illustrations that are as funny as they are resourceful. This book will teach you basic river courtesy rules, intermediate and advanced technique, and most importantly, how to hold on to your life and limbs and keep your sanity as well. In familiar territory, churches can be led by a seasoned expert. The battle-scarred veteran says, “Here’s what worked for me five years ago. Let me bring that model to your church.” But in uncharted territory, we don’t need a new model; we need a new kind of leader.

Thanks to JK Jones for this recommendation. Took me a while to get to it. Wish I had read it earlier. Briefly interacting with the Lewis and Clark story, Bolsinger writes about leadership that actually transforms the organization (read: church, school, non-profit, etc). His principles are powerfully laid out. His insights are helpful and cause a number of light-bulb moments. Adaptive leaders don’t simply impose their own “great idea.” Instead, they observe the new reality, collectively develop multiple hypotheses about what is going on, and try possible solutions. This is a guidebook for learning to lead in a world we weren’t prepared for. Our guides will be none other than the first American adventurers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.Bolsinger splits his wisdom into five parts. First, in “Understanding Uncharted Territory,” Bolsinger emphasizes that good leaders in this age recognize that the world in front of them is nothing like the world behind them. [2] For the church, the environment in which we pastors led churches in the past was to open a building and put out a sign; this is all it took for people to come. People were favorable to the church. But now, Bolsinger warns, we live in a post-Christian society, where people are suspicious of the church and unwilling to give up a good Sunday. His point? If we lead with the methods we used in the 1950s, we will be quite upset about the declining results. Bolsinger also notes that a large number of pastors are leaving ministry behind each year because they do not have the tools needed to lead in the church of the twenty-first century. Seminary did not train them to lead, but only focused on skills necessary to preach, serve in hospitals, lead weddings, etc. Many pastors were trained in a setting where they could assume people would come to hear and respect what they had to preach, but people in our society simply do not care anymore about our message. These changes in the world ahead are only more evident in a society marked by Coronavirus. But “adaptive challenges” cannot be solved with one’s existing knowledge. They arise from a changing environment, and they have no ready answers. Paddling Pacific Northwest Whitewater is the definitive guide to the best rivers and creeks for kayaking and rafting in Washington and Oregon—home to some of the most fun (and challenging) whitewater in the world. Including over 240 detailed run descriptions from local area paddlers who know these rivers and creeks better than anyone else, this is the only book you’ll ever need for a lifetime’s-worth of paddling in the Pacific Northwest. The divorce leaves Richey questioning everything, while struggling to find a way forward. To get his bearings, he enters the first Ultimate Florida Challenge, an all-out twelve-hundred-mile kayak race around Florida.