As with his first book, The Effective Pastor, Robert Anderson marshals his experience and research to address is sues of leadership in the local church. Writing to clergy and lay leaders, the author's concern is "how to bring about change in the church without causing harm to the body and its members." Anderson sees the church as a living organism that demands change.
According to the author, adaptability does not come about easily. The church must identify the mission God has for it and create structures that effectively and efficiently accomplish that mission. Those structures are the "circles of influence." Reading Circles of Influence is like sitting in one of Anderson's classes at the Western Conservative Baptist Seminary, where he is professor of pastoral theology. His writing flows logically and orderly, resembling a lecture without the squeal of blackboard chalk.
Anderson does a masterful job tracing traits of leadership through the Scriptures. Throughout the book he presses for making biblical leadership models relevant for the 90s. Anderson reiterates the underlying servant-heart of an effective leader. He writes: "If there is no other point you get from this book, re member the higher a person is placed on most charts, the greater his degree of servanthood and the greater his degree of responsibility to all those he serves."
Perhaps the most valuable contribution of the book is a section on the pastor's code of ethics located in the appendix.
