ELDERLY CHRISTIAN WOMAN BURNED IN BANGLADESH
On Jan 7, unknown attackers tried set fire to the home of a 70-year-old woman, intending to burn her to death, after they found that she would be baptized in February. According to Compass Direct News, Rahima Beoa, who was planning to be baptized Feb 13, suffered burns on more than 70 percent of her body. Rahima lives in Rangpur, a district with a Muslim majority. Pray for Rahima’s healing. Ask God to protect her and for this attack to draw her closer to Him. Pray for her family and for her testimony to draw non-believers into fellowship with Christ. (Source: Compass Direct)

PASTOR KILLED IN PAKISTAN
On Jan 17, a pastor was shot and killed by an unknown person in Peshawar, Pakistan. According to The Voice of the Martyrs contacts, the pastor had worked with the Assembly of God Church in Peshawar for the past 10 years. He is survived by his wife and a one-year-old daughter. Pray for this grieving family and church. Ask God to comfort believers in Peshawar and for this pastor’s family to realize that to be absent from the body is to be present with Him. (Source: VOM)

CHINESE HOUSE CHURCH LEADER AND WIFE DETAINED
On Jan 12, Li Mu Jiang, a house church leader in Kashi, Xingjiang province, was taken from his home and arrested for an alleged "national security issue." According to China Aid Association, on that same day his wife was also taken from their home and interrogated. Ask God to protect this family. Pray God will give them strength as they go through persecution. (Source: China Aid Association)

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On the Operation World website you can download editor Jason Mandryk's 35-minute "State of the Gospel" presentation, given at the Lausanne Younger Leaders Gathering (YLG) 2006 in Malaysia. This PowerPoint Presentation with accompanying MP3 audio file is "Great stuff: well-researched, God-focused, hopeful, compelling, and passionately presented!" (review by Marti Smith of Missions Catalyst). The presentation includes a wealth of information, maps, and statistics related to the task of taking the gospel to the unreached and unevangelized peoples in our world today. Download (free!) and view the presentation yourself, then share it with your mission committee, Sunday school class, or small group. 

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The Three Signs of a Miserable Job
by Patrick Lencioni | 2007 Jossey-Bass
Reviewed by David Korb

If you’ve read and enjoyed previous books by Lencioni such as Death by Meeting or The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, this book will not disappoint. Lencioni’s writing style remains the same here as he spins A Fable for Managers (and their employees).

The genesis of this book was Lencioni’s realization that most people in the workforce do not enjoy their jobs; in fact, they are miserable. He notes that it doesn’t seem to make any difference if the person is a professional athlete, a CEO, a waitress, or a teacher. Income doesn’t seem to influence the bottom line of job satisfaction either. Taking into consideration his own experience and his observations of others, Lencioni set out to form a theory about why so many people are miserable in their jobs, and what it takes to go from job misery to job fulfillment.

Lencioni warns readers in the introduction—and rightly so—that “the remedy I propose here is going to seem ridiculously simple and obvious at first glance.” He contends that the book is necessary, however, because the bulk of managers fail to put these simple, obvious ideas into practice, and as a result workers continue to suffer through miserable jobs which breed frustration, cynicism, and fatigue.

Lencioni illustrates his theory by telling a story, or fable, about how retired CEO Brian Bailey discovers the three signs of a miserable job. Lencioni explains, “A miserable job is not the same as a bad one. A bad job lies in the eye of the beholder. One person’s dream job might be another person’s nightmare. But a miserable job is universal. It is one that makes a person cynical and frustrated and demoralized when they go home at night. It drains them of their energy, their enthusiasm and their self-esteem. Miserable jobs can be found in every industry and at every level.”

Through the tale of Brian Bailey, the author identifies three factors that make a job miserable. The first is “immeasurement” (yes, a term coined by Lencioni). “Employees need to be able to gauge their progress and level of contribution for themselves.” Employees become frustrated if they do not have a sense that they are making progress. The second is irrelevance. “Everyone needs to know that their job matters. …Without seeing a connection between the work and the satisfaction of another person or group of people, an employee simply will not find lasting fulfillment.” And finally, the third sign of a miserable job is anonymity. “People cannot be fulfilled in their work if they are not known.” Bailey muses to his wife, “How can a person really feel good about going to work when they don’t feel like anyone there knows who they are? Or cares?”

Whether you are a manager or an employee, I think this book is worth your time. I picked up this title at the airport knowing I was facing a long delay. My wife Ingrid was with me and was intrigued by the title. She started to read and did not put the book down until she reached the last page just as we hit the runway at O’Hare. Furthermore, she went to school the next day and told her fellow teachers that this is a must read! If my wife responds this way to a business book, I suspect that you, too, will find it a worthwhile read. For more about this book and related resources, visit the book’s page on Lencioni’s website.

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