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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…
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Job, Do not Despise the Wisdom of the Youth!
With Job's three friends he was also angry, because they could not find an answer, and so declared Job guilty. Now Elihu had waited before speaking to Job, because the others were older than he was. But when Elihu saw that the three men had no further reply, he became very angry. So Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite spoke up: "I am young, but you are elderly; that is why I was fearful, and afraid to explain to you what I know. I said to myself, 'Age should speak, and length of years should make wisdom known.' But it is a spirit in people, the breath of the Almighty, that makes them understand. (Job 32:3-8 NET)
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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 they 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…
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A Leader’s Loves
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken What a leader loves determines how a leader leads. Consider Solomon, for example. Solomon loved the Lord and walked according to the statutes of his father, David . . . As long as Solomon loved the Lord and walked according to David’s ways, he was humble and trusted God for an understanding heart because he knew he was not adequate to lead God’s people. Solomon demonstrated his love for the Lord by living in radical dependence on Him. Because of this request God gave Solomon a discerning heart and with it, God gave him more than he asked for: riches and…
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Job, With Friends Like These Who Needs Enemies?
When Job's three friends heard about all this calamity that had happened to him, each of them came from his own country– Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They met together to come to show sympathy for him and to console him. But when they gazed intently from a distance but did not recognize him, they began to weep loudly. Each of them tore his robes, and they threw dust into the air over their heads. Then they sat down with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, yet no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his pain was…
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The Principle of Except
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken The demise of Solomon should scare us out of our complacency and drive us to our knees. Once the wisest man on earth, then one of the most idolatrous men in the world, and finally a murderous man, Solomon shows us the role of the heart in leaders. How did this come about? One thing you must understand: Solomon allowed his heart to outgrow his altar, as he became a victim of the principle of except… Could this happen to us? There is plenty of evidence that the most dedicated among us can be snarled in the trap of adultery or fall…
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Is Your Altar as Big as Your Heart?
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken Is Your Altar as Big as Your Heart? When I was twelve years old I put my heart on God’s altar. It happened on a Sunday morning when Mr. Stewart, the superintendent of the junior high Sunday school department in my church, exhorted us mightily to give our all to the Lord. I don’t remember what he said, just that he spoke with intense passion about giving our all to Christ. As I listened I remember distinctly thinking, “That’s what I thought it’s all about. That’s what I did when I trusted Jesus as my Savior.” I became a Christian in my…
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McMansions in the Sky
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken McMansions in the Sky Leaders today are building eternal edifices on temporal foundations. The result? McMansions in the sky that lack foundations and crash leaving crushed hopes, confused leaders, and questioning followers. Everyone asks, “What happened?” What happened is what Jesus said would happen. When we build leaders and ministries on the sand of human talent, experience, and success, the storms of life bring them crashing down all around us… We think talent, experience, and success are the foundation for effective leadership and don’t realize that these resources can never produce lasting leaders. If we depend on talent, experience, and success to…
