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When the Numbers Stop Working
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken We use numbers to hold our lives together and demonstrate our value in life. Numbers measure time or distance or height or age or the amount of power we have or value, especially the value of our identity: our address, our net worth, our power (an office suite or a penthouse on the 50th floor is a lot more impressive than the 2nd floor), our business success (25 years on the job is more impacting than 5 months). And now we use numbers to tell us how to be happy and (maybe) how to please God. I say maybe about pleasing God because…
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If Jesus Gives Me Rest, Why am I So Restless?
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken When most of us think of rest we think of a rockin’ chair on the front porch, a cool glass of ice tea, and a beautiful sunset at the end of a hard day’s work. Now that’s sweet rest. It’s just not the kind of rest Jesus offers and not the kind of rest that will relieve our restlessness. It’s clear that when Jesus thought of rest He had work in mind. I mean, what else could He have been thinking of when He said, “Take my yoke upon you . . . and I will give you rest.” To me, a…
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How do we speak from failure with integrity?
We who follow Jesus have a high calling. And often a high privilege of telling others about him and his way of life, equipping or simply encouraging them on their journey. But we are all sinners, desperately in need of God’s saving grace. So when our lives haven’t aligned with the way of Jesus how do we decide if we still should speak (or write) about following Jesus in that way? For example, How can we best honor Jesus and speak with integrity to our children about sexual purity if we were not sexually pure? Or should we counsel and minister to other couples about how to have…
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Lead by Loving
If you asked twenty good men today what they thought the highest of the virtues, nineteen of them would reply, Unselfishness. But if you had asked almost any one of the great Christians of old, he would have replied, Love. . . A negative term has been substituted from a positive . . . The negative idea of Unselfishness carries with it the suggestion not primarily of securing good things for others, but of going without them ourselves as if our abstinence and not their happiness was the important point. — C.S. Lewis The poignant words struck my soul. What if we lived and led by Lewis’ observation? What if…
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Even You Need Rest
Hey, friend. When did you last take time for soul care? I know. It’s not a vacation-guilt-trip we’re after here. But summer is almost over. The ministry year is planned. (Or, maybe you’re really stressed because it’s not!) As one who’s learned the value of taking care of my own soul (and paid the price for not doing it), let me encourage you to get out your calendar & find time. Make time. Cancel something if necessary. We can’t afford not to. Ruth Haley Barton spoke to a group of leaders in my area a few years ago from her book Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership. A friend…
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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…
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Boy-Man Meets Jimmy Carter on the #4 Train
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken I heard him before I saw him–the Boy-Man hustling to get on the #4 train. The Yankee game had just ended, and Kyle and I were headed to Times Square so he could buy the newest Metallica CD at the Virgin Record store. I couldn’t help but hear the Boy-Man as he and his buddy rushed for the train with us because he used the kind of language Boys use in a crowd when they want you to think they’re Men. The two Boy-Men ended up standing next to me, but I didn’t pay any notice to them when we first pulled out…
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Toy Soldiers for Jesus
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken Hearts are like beds and minds—they need to be made up. Just as an unmade bed shows a lack of discipline and an unmade mind shows a lack of determination, so an unmade heart shows a lack of devotion. Rehoboam was a leader with an unmade heart. His epitaph from God was, “He did evil because he did not set his heart on seeking the Lord (2 Chronicles 12:14).” He never made up his heart, he never decided that he would devote himself to the Lord. Sometimes he did, and then the Lord blessed him. But much of the time…
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Father’s Day Memories of my Daddy
My father, who passed away 30 years ago at 63, was a quiet and thoughtful man, a person of great integrity and spiritual maturity. As Father’s Day approaches, I think of him and the life lessons he taught me through his strengths—lessons that have served me well as a person and often as a leader. Daddy loved the Word of God. He never led us in family devotionals, much to my mother’s dismay, but he many nights he read us Bible stories at bedtime. Often when I found him deep in study in his chair, I would ask him what he was reading. He usually responded by taking me in…
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The Leader with No Ears
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken "To listen well is as powerful a means of communication and influence as to talk well." – John Marshall Leaders who don’t listen talk their way right out of leadership. That’s exactly what happened to Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, who disqualified himself as king over most of Israel because he refused to listen to his followers. A representative group of leaders came to Rehoboam from the northern part of what should have been his kingdom (I Kings 12:1-17) and asked him to lighten the tax and forced labor load that his father had put on them. He responded with wisdom and sought…
