-
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…
-
The (Scandalous) Mothers of Christmas
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, the unmentionable wife of Uriah the Hittite, Mary–the mothers of Christmas. Who were these women in the genealogy of Jesus and why this rare mention of women in a list of ancestors? Were they righteous women, holy before God, uncommon in their character? They were uncommon in their character, but not all were holy. There was a roadside prostitute, a scarlet woman on the wall, an alien reaper, the unmentionable wife of another man, and the handmaid of the Lord. What an amazing lot! It’s stunning that any woman would be listed in a genealogy, since lineage was usually traced…
-
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…
-
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…
-
When God’s Will Isn’t Good Enough
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken Some time back Lynna came to me and said, “What do I have to do to make you content?” I was stunned by her question. For one thing I hadn’t realized I was that discontented. For another, I didn’t understand that she had taken on my discontent as a problem for her to solve. I certainly wasn’t discontented with her. She was great. My discontentment was with God. I didn’t like His will for me. It wasn’t what I expected when I responded to His call to serve Him. It wasn’t good enough for me. It pains me to say this. In…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…