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2015: A Worth it Year – From Now to Forever
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken They say time stands still, and it certainly feels that way at times. The weeks become months, the months become years, the seasons become memories, and we are deceived into thinking time has been standing still. That is until we take a long look into the mirror or run into an old friend who doesn’t recognize us. That’s when we realize time doesn’t stand still. Then we ask, “Where has the time gone?” When I think about my life, that’s the question I ask. Lynna and I announced our engagement on New Year’s Eve 1964, fifty years ago! Kent and Joel are…
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The Families of Christmas
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken Christmas. With scheming fathers and scandalous mothers what kind of families can Christmas have? What else but DYS-FUNC-TION-AL? Not all of these men and women were married to each other, it’s true, but, no matter who their mates were, what other kind of family could they have? How could Abraham and Sarah have anything but a dysfunctional family, invaded as it was at Sarah’s invitation to Hagar, her handmaid, and Ishmael, Sarah’s surrogate son? What must it have been like for Abraham to send Ishmael away because of her irrational jealousy over Hagar and Ishmael and the threat she felt for her…
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The (Scandalous) Mothers of Christmas
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, the unmentionable wife of Uriah the Hittite, Mary–the mothers of Christmas. Who were these women in the genealogy of Jesus and why this rare mention of women in a list of ancestors? Were they righteous women, holy before God, uncommon in their character? They were uncommon in their character, but not all were holy. There was a roadside prostitute, a scarlet woman on the wall, an alien reaper, the unmentionable wife of another man, and the handmaid of the Lord. What an amazing lot! It’s stunning that any woman would be listed in a genealogy, since lineage was usually traced…
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Off the Shelf Discipleship
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken Recently I ran into a researcher who received a grant to determine how pastors are doing discipleship these days. When I asked him what he’s discovering, he said, “Pastors are going to the Christian book store and buying what’s on the shelf.” Off the shelf discipleship. Whatever looks good. Whatever works. Now there are several good discipleship resources on the shelf, and many pastors are consulting what others have done while putting their own thinking together, a very good step. Yet many others could be making two serious mistakes that are giving disciple making a very short shelf life in…