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1 reason church leadership is out of order (and what to do about it)
I see you, pastor: pursuing the pastorate for a variety of reasons, commanding a stage, touting an epic power beard. I see you because, in many ways, I was you. So let me ask: have you gone through process? Sure, the issue is much older than you. Seventy years ago, any man with a grey flannel suit and a tie of regimental stripe could receive a pulpit. Several centuries ago, it was a man who could read Latin and, well, read. But, two thousand years ago when Jesus called the first pastor of his fledgling church, he led him through the process of becoming. Without it, insecurity, immaturity and ignorance…
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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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WWJD? Why Ask? Just Do It!
Leadership is Broken Because Leaders Are Unbroken WWJD has been around so long it’s become passé. Even people who don’t know or care what Jesus would do know what it stands for. The wristband days are over, but I never understood why the question ever came up in the first place. Why ask a question with such an obvious answer? What would Jesus do? What He did: out of a heart of love teach truth and disciple others. He would do the same thing today that He did when He walked the earth. In fact, that’s exactly what He is doing right now through those who want to do what…
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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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Not Your Grandmother’s Lumbago
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken With friends like us the cross hardly needs enemies, although it has many. Think of how we distort the cross. Many of us probably heard our grandmothers say, “My lumbago is killing me. It’s my cross. I must bear it.” Right then, before we knew what the cross was, we knew we didn’t want one if it made us feel the way Grandma felt. Or it’s presented to us as some horrible struggle we must endure because we follow Jesus. Now it’s true that the cross can mean rejection and persecution for the cause of Christ, but there’s more to it than that……
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Wall Breakers Anonymous
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken Sooner or later all of us hit the wall of inadequacy. There are no exceptions, no escape. There’s only denial, cover up, and futile efforts to break through, get over, get around, or dig under this utterly unexpected roadblock in life. The problem is everything we’ve done before doesn’t work. The barrier may be a career killer or a family struggle or a relationship block, but whatever it is, it matters to us, and we want it to end NOW!But nothing we do makes any difference because this unexpected and unwanted hindrance remains. We try all our tried and true methods, but they…
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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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The Fathers of Christmas
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken Names. Ancient names. Foreign names. Strange names. Lists of names. Genealogies. The Bible is full of them. You’d think that God would have something better to do than give us weird lists of difficult names in His eternal word. Matthew’s genealogy found on the first page of the first book of the New Testament. What could be less relevant than a list of often foreign names? Why would God start the record of the good news of eternal life in such a dull way? It may surprise you to discover that there could be no way more relevant way to start the story…
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When Eggs Learn to Fly
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken It’s no news to anyone that C. S. Lewis was a master of metaphors, and I read one recently that really grabbed me. He said it’s truly hard for an egg to learn to fly. To learn to fly, an egg has to become a bird—but it’s not easy for eggs to become birds. After all an egg has to give up everything it is to become a bird. Eggs have to give up their lovely oval appearance; they have to give up their protective shell; they have to see their natural inward self transformed into something that isn’t remotely like them at…
