Greg Cootsona has always been intrigued by the rhythms of life. From his earliest days growing up in Menlo Park, California, to his sojourn as a pastor in New York City, he has striven to better understand how life is to be lived and how we can be at our best for the work we are called to do and for those we love.

In his youth, Greg loved the rhythm of tennis and was one of the top players in his state. His family was very supportive and would even take days off from their jobs to get him to and from important tournaments. “My mother was my first PR agent,” he says. “She was always happy to talk about me to others.” But by the time he was 12, he had lost interest in tennis, feeling the work involved wasn’t worth the outcome.

Then, Greg began to play drums and discovered the joy of music. Throughout his teen years he played in one of the best-known high school jazz and big band outfits in the country and even played the main stage at Montreaux, all before turning 18. He had always liked school, but he really fell in love with learning in his junior and senior years, before entering UC Berkley and finding that “there was this terrific interplay of ideas, and I wasn’t really sure what MY IDEA was. I was really interested in the big questions that had confounded humanity down through the years-Philosophy, Sociology, Literature, etc. So I chose Literature.”

But somewhere in his quest to answer the big questions, he was blinded by a light so profound and so bright that it could Not be ignored, and that experience changed his life forever. He was exposed to Christianity in a way that he had never before experienced and, as he had done with tennis and music, he did his due diligence. He began to investigate as fully as he knew how this life that so many intellectuals down through the ages had chosen. “I started reading ‘Mere Christianity’ by C.S. Lewis, and it really got under my skin,” he admits. “What drew me was the person of Christ, but I also found it to be the most compelling lifestyle. It brought coherence and meaning to my life in a way that Nothing else did.”

After receiving his doctorate in 1994, Greg took a full time position at the prestigious Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City. It was there that the rhythms of life became a bit too intense, and a brush with heart trouble and high blood pressure led him to examine his (and as it turns out, our) priorities. The result of that examination is a new book, Say Yes To NO, due out on Random House in March ’09..

His mission is really a simple one and he pursues that mission with great vigor and joy whether he is teaching a class, playing the drums, or writing a book: “to enjoy the love of God and to glorify Him with the use of my time, my creative passion and gifts for the good of those around me, and ultimately for the good of all humankind.”

Greg currently lives in Chico California and is the Associate Pastor of Adult Discipleship and College Ministries at Bidwell Presbyterian Church. He is married and is raising two daughters.

Say Yes to NO: Using the Power of NO to create the Best in Life, Work, Love

by Greg Cootsona

If you feel overwhelmed and overcommitted, Say Yes to NO will help you shake up your priorities on the job and at home. Greg Cootsona shows how finding the proper balance of work and rest—‘the rhythm of NO’—can lead to a more relaxed and rewarding life. In our busy, busy world, everyone needs to read this book.” -Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One Minute Manager® and Leading at a Higher Level ________________________________________________________________________

In a day and a time when communication is wireless, paperless, and moving at a constant clip around the globe, it is increasingly clear that one of the most critical issues today is how we spend our precious time. Not only do we work more than the generation before us, technology has now tied us to our phones and email around the clock.

A new book by Pastor Greg Cootsona offers us all a permission slip to say NO -- to create the space and time for the things and the people that really matter to us. His prescriptive advice is a pathway to creating a life with real purpose.

SAY YES TO NO (Doubleday, trade paperback, March 2009) is a pushback against the pressures of today's world -- a world that puts us constantly on call. Cootsona was a pastor at the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City, living a non-stop, round the clock life caring for his congregation, raising two daughters, and nurturing his marriage when life issued a wake up call. The illusion of being able to juggle it all was shattered for Cootsona at a cardiac clinic in Manhattan where the then 38 year old was told to slow down -- or else.

Cootsona's close brush with serious health issues forced him to carefully consider how to balance his life’s goals, his growing family obligations, and his most important relationships. Struggling to make it somehow all work, Cootsona discovered may be the most important life strategy that a busy executive or leader will ever find. He discovered that he making choices, saying no to some things and yes to others, allowed him to live a life that was full of meaning, but not scheduled every second. Armed with this new insight, Cootsona felt compelled to share his discover in SAY YES TO NO so that others too might find their lives more within their own grasp, no matter their profession or station in life. “This book describes the lessons I’ve learned,” says Cootsona. “I’ve consulted scores of people about the principles in this book: dot com CEOs, investment bankers, business consultants, stay-at-home parents, artists and students. All at one time or another wrestle with the issues the book addresses.”

Cootsona deftly uses the analogy of Michelangelo’s sculpting for how we should pursue a well-lived life. He suggests we chip away all the peripheral noise, intrusions, unnecessary distractions and yes-even limiting technology’s hold on us- to find balance in every aspect of our lives-friendships, families, work, community. He specifically offers insight using “no” to craft better friendships, personal relationships, and enjoying our families more.

In SAY YES TO NO Cootsona addresses:

• The difficulty of saying yes to NO in a world that we’re always tethered to • What we miss by not saying yes to NO • The folly of saying yes to pursuing wealth as an end in itself • Creeping technology intrusions • The need for rest

This book will force everyone racing through life to consider not only the cost of their pace, but also what it would take to create time for the things that will give their lives true purpose. Publisher’s Weekly says “…the author’s personal experience, unique presentation and eagerness serve to animate tried and true ideas.”

SAY YES TO NO will be a helpful guide for anyone trying to navigate the modern world and still have time for the things that matter most.

Other Titles CREATION AND LAST THINGS (Foundations of Christian Faith)

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