I received a copy of Developing Emotionally Mature Leaders: How Emotional Intelligence Can Help Transform Your Ministry by Aubrey Malphurs from Baker Books in exchange for a review.

This book covers a lot of technical information. It carries more the cold feel of a textbook rather than the welcoming warmth of a typical Christian living book, which I partially expected upon starting. I appreciate the effort of explaining the history and definitions of this complex subject. Malphurs describes in-depth without making the information inaccessible to the average person. While this targets church leaders and likely benefits them most, laypeople like myself can make use of this knowledge as well.

While the information remains accessible to the average reader, I find myself wanting more application. An extra insight as to how to use this knowledge properly would have been beneficial. The several appendixes in the back give a good starting point for this with quizzes and extra information. However, an epilogue or something similar with more steps on how to move forward might encourage readers truly to apply this knowledge. Considering “developing” starts the title, it seems like the book hints at going beyond textbook knowledge.