There are a few classic books that never run dry no matter how often you dip into them. In The Name of Jesus is not only short and sweet, it is also deep and wide. I have drunk it to the dregs almost yearly for the last six years and am continually challenged by its message. Here is a sample one of the many quotes that I often return to: “The question is not: How many people take you seriously? How much are you going to accomplish? Can you show me some results? But: Are you in love with Jesus?” These words both refresh and rebuke busy Christian leaders like me.

After serving many years as a respected priest, counselor, scholar, and professor, Henri Nouwen “stepped away from the academic life and [was] called to be a priest for mentally handicapped patients and their assistants” in the Daybreak community (page 3). While serving there Nouwen was invited to give a series of lectures to a group of priests and ministers on “Christian leadership in the twenty-first century.” This book contains both the transcript of Nouwen’s lectures along with the story of how he and Bill, one of Daybreak’s patients, ministered together during the lecture series.

Nouwen uses two narratives from the gospels to frame his thoughts about Christian leadership: the story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11) and the story of Peter’s call to be a shepherd (John 21:15-19). Nouwen’s gut-level honesty about the real temptations that Christian leaders face is simultaneously a breath of fresh air and piercing sword for the soul of Christian leaders. Nouwen argues that we pastors, teachers and leaders are tempted by the same tactics Satan used against the Master Teacher in the desert: the temptation to be relevant, to seek popularity, and to be powerful.

Nouwen offers a counterattack to each temptation with the words of Jesus spoken to Peter during their post-resurrection breakfast meeting: the temptation to be relevant is negated by the question “Do you love me?”; the temptation to be popular is offset by the task of “feed[ing] my sheep”; the temptation to be powerful is dismissed by the call to humble servitude as Jesus tells Peter that “somebody else will take you.”

Nouwen reminds us that the “downward” path from defective to effective Christian leadership is taken by practicing the disciplines often the first to be jettisoned when a Christian leader gets overwhelmed: prayer, confession, forgiveness, and theological reflection. Nouwen calls us to these practices in order to increase our fruitfulness, not our productivity; to pursue dependence on Christ, rather than independence from Him; and to exchange the hubris that accompanies power for the powerlessness of humility.

In the Name of Jesus is rich with insight and should be required reading for all Christian leaders. Though short and sweet, this 100-page book packs a multi-volume punch. Read it with your staff, your elders and deacons, or other lay-leaders in your church. Prepare to be encouraged and exhorted at the same time. Then read it again next year.

Jimmy Davis is an ordained teaching elder in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. He and his wife, Christine, are currently planting Riverside Church, a family of home churches, in the historic Hardin Valley community of Knox County, Tenn.