• Engage

    Can you spare 15 minutes?

    Do you read the newspaper for at least 15 minutes a day? Do you watch at least 15 minutes of television daily? Do you spend at least 15 minutes a day on Facebook? Do you surf the internet for at least 15 minutes a day? Do you check your email for at least 15 minutes a day? If you answered “yes” to any one or more of those questions, let me tell you a story and offer you a challenge? A friend of mine recently diagnosed with serious cancer is fighting for his life.  For the past several years he chose to read the bible through each year.  In addition,…

  • Heartprints

    Making New Year’s Resolutions as a Family

    January has long been heralded as a month of renewal and a time to set goals for the coming year. We make resolutions concerning all kinds of things. Maybe you want to get a better grasp on your finances or pay off the loan on a car. Or perhaps it’s more spiritual sounding like developing a deeper prayer life.    Regardless of the goal, don’t make your resolutions a solitary event. Take some time this month (if you haven’t already) and sit down with your family to discuss goals for the coming year and the motivation behind the goals.   As Christians, all goals should ultimatly honor God and draw…

  • Impact

    Wilderness Wanderings 2016

      Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken Wilderness Wanderings 2016: Learning to Live the Zigzag Life Happy New Year and welcome to Broken Leadership, the blog of Leader Formation International (LFI).  My name is Bill Lawrence, founder and president of LFI, and I want to take a moment to greet you and inform you concerning our early 2016 blog plans. I want to write a series of blogs on the subject Wilderness Wanderings: when a zigzag line is the shortest distance between futility and fruition. If you’re in any kind of leadership position, whether business or professional, educational or governmental, or—the most important—parental, you surely have wondered at times…

  • Impact

    Starting Over

      Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken January 1, 2016. A new year and a new start. Celebrations and all that fun. Resolutions and all that jazz. Bowl games and all that pizazz. A new slate and all that hope. But what do we do with everything we’ve written on the slate of 2015? Does it all just go away?  What if 2015 was a wilderness year for you as it was for me in some ways? The wilderness. Barren, empty, lifeless, colorless, solitary, unending hard sand, rock outcroppings, and rugged mountains. Hot in the day, cold at night. Far from the action, from the crowds, from life and…

  • Engage

    Blind Spots

    Check your rearview mirror. Look over your shoulder. Signal. Every time we climb into the car, these simple rules from Drivers Ed help us avoid blind spots and the accidents that could ensue. We all have blind spots—in driving vehicles and in navigating life. When we don't recognize these tender areas, dangerous events ensue.  Tires screech. Metal scrapes. People yell. Emotions flare. Conflicts deepen. Friendships fracture. So this year—amidst a month when we make our resolutions and look for ways to grow into our better selves—I plan to address some of these tricky spots in my own life. You too? How do we recognize our blind spots and work on…

  • Engage

    Untangled

    New Year's resolution #1: simplify my life. This year my goal is to cut back, say no more, and slow down. Last year felt so crowded and confusing. So this year my objective is to create space and catch my breath. Yet as I consider my soul’s craving for rest, I'm shocked by the compulsion that arises from within. I long to be wanted and needed. I find busyness thrilling. I fear I might miss out on something monumental if I take a break. So I make lists. I work late into the evenings. I seldom sit still. And as I toil, I let the really gratifying parts of life…