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Transforming the Heart
Leadership is Broken Because Leaders are Unbroken Nearly three hundred years ago, Jonathan Edwards wrote on of the greatest Christian classics of all time entitled, Religious Affections. By “Affections” Edwards meant the deepest desires and drives of the heart. For Edwards, this is what our faith is about, and, while he doesn’t need me to confirm him, I believe he is absolutely right. I also believe his perspective is missing in today’s thinking. Edwards said, “. . . no one is ever changed, either by doctrine. . . or by preaching or teaching of another, unless the affections are moved by these things. . . . there is…
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Live the Jesus Lifestyle – Make Disciples
Leadership is Broken Because Leaders Are Unbroken The most disobeyed directive Jesus ever gave is the last directive Jesus ever gave: make disciples. Nothing could be plainer than Jesus’ final marching orders: make disciples! That’s what He said, that’s what He meant. Yet all over the world we find pastors, churches, deacons, elders and church members who are radically disobedient. Some are ignorant, others are willful, but many are disobedient nonetheless. Pastors give in to tradition and the demands of their people and choose to disobey Jesus’ final command. Many seem to think that ministry is about making them successful or keeping their job secure, which they confuse—often unconsciously and…
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Leadership Lessons from a Family Pastor!
For those that don’t know, I serve as the Family Pastor for my local church. It’s a great opportunity for anyone who loves the concept of the family like I do. I oversee age groups from birth to Sr. High and I’m seeing overseeing marriage ministry as well. I love that God has given this responsibility to me and I love the thought of what a Christ-Centered family looks like. As the Family Pastor, I’ve already made some discoveries in leadership that I’ve been a bit eye opening and yet familiar. I have learned a few lessons along the way and I have a feeling I’ll be learning more…
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Africa, Oh, Africa
Leadership is Broken Because Leaders are Unbokren No continent on earth suffers as Africa suffers. Not just Africans, but Africa itself. Like Africans, Africa possesses untold resources. And like Africans, Africa is mutilated, ravaged, and raped. Corruption contaminates the continent from the Sahara to South Africa. Neo-colonization reigns supreme as outside forces establish economic control the way older nations established political supremacy a hundred-fifty years ago. Africans experience a terrible sense of loss, an awful awareness of injustice, and an utter absence of hope that drives them to take frightful risks to find opportunities they never would have otherwise. Most Africans don’t talk to non-Africans about the corruption of their…
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Garissa
5:00 AM, April 2, 2015, Garissa University College, Garissa, Kenya. For sleepy heads it’s time to roll over and get a few more hours of sleep. For all nighters it’s time to grab another cup of coffee and push a little harder. For serious students it’s time to get up and review for today’s exam. For party types it’s time to find a bed somewhere and sleep it off once again. For committed Christians it’s time to gather for prayer. For al-Shabaab it’s time to kill. For Josephine, student leader of the Cru movement on campus, it’s time to die… The Christians gathered at the appointed time, 5:00 AM, under…
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Easter’s Unanswered Question
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken Sunday morning dawn. In many ways the first dawn. Three grieving women on their way to a rich man’s tomb, though a poor man lay in it. They came to pay their final respects on the first Easter Sunday to that poor man, but a huge stone lay at the mouth of the tomb placed there by Roman soldiers. Who would move it for them? Yet it was already moved when they arrived. A young man dressed in white told them Jesus wasn’t there. But where was He? They didn’t get it. Do you? Oh, you get the part where Jesus is raised…
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You Can’t Come in at the Door
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken So High You Can’t Get Over It, So Wide You Can’t Get Around It, So Low You Can’t Get Under It—But You CAN’T Go in at the Door When I was a boy I used to go to a Good News Club in my neighborhood. A Good News Club is a weekly gathering for children in which they sing some memorable songs, do some fun things, hear a fascinating Bible story, and meet some wonderful caring adults. One song we sang goes like this: So high you can’t get over it, so wide you can’t get around it, so…
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A Worth it Heart
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken So what is a worth it heart? What is a heart that gives rise to worth it days that result in worth it years and produce a worth it life? A worth it heart is a heart that has learned to navigate the wall of inadequacy. The wall of inadequacy is that place in life to which Jesus brings all of us to teach us the most foundational principle of life and leadership:You must do what you cannot do with what you do not have for the rest of your lives. Jesus did that with His men when He commanded them to, “Go…
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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…
