The Power of a Legacy
Proverbs 13 states that a good person leaves an inheritance to his children’s children. While this literally focuses on family in the biological sense, I believe that we can also extrapolate general lessons for leadership.
Read Post
Hearing God’s Voice (Finale)
All too often, prayer has been utilized as a time where we drop off our wish list to God and quickly exit stage left. To be clear, we do have the privilege of taking our burdens and requests to our God, who is always attentive to our cry. However, prayer is a dialogue where we talk and listen. Just as we desire God’s ear, God also desires to be heard. The key to hearing God’s voice is to learn how to be an active listener.
Read Post
Hearing God’s Voice (Part 3)
Prayer and consistent reading of the scriptures are the perfect combination for growth. My spiritual life changed for the better once I looked at prayer and Bible reading in the proper context. Too often we read the Bible and pray because we buy into the superstitious ideal that neglecting to do these things will incur the wrath of God or result in a very bad day. However the power in these exercises is that they promote growth, by fine-tuning our ability to hear God.
Read Post
Hearing God’s Voice (Part 2)
God still speaks! God still speaks to humanity, and desires to speak with you. Because our Sovereign King is unseen, we often envision him as an entity that is close enough to see all things, but also too far for personal interaction. But nothing is further from the truth. God was not only invested in our creation and formation, but he continuously invests himself in our daily activities and agendas. In fact I would say that communication with man is something God delights in!
Read Post
Hearing God’s Voice (Part 1)
As Christian leaders, there is nothing more important than our ability to hear God. Instructions from God inform our journey as we lead others to a place of divine purpose. Without God’s direction, we are left to our own devices, which often prove futile. God’s voice brings direction, strategy, wisdom, correction, and even comfort. Hearing from God is important, yet how we hear him is critical.
Read Post
Do you suffer from Insecurity?
God loves you, and you must know it. I mean it is imperative that you understand that God loves you. Not just the obedient you, or the version of you that has the ability to hold everything together. But he indeed also loves the flawed, vulnerable, indecisive you. The walk of the Christian is often filled with moments from faith to faith.
Read Post
The Grace to Lead, The Grace to Feed
Next Sunday we will reflect upon the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. The prophet Isaiah proclaims that “the government would be upon his shoulders” and that there would be no end to the increase of peace and his government (Isaiah 9:6-7).
Read Post
Seeking Unity as a Divided Church
This election cycle has provided us with an opportunity to evaluate the questions of church identity and church functionality in this world. Will we remain divided because we would rather embrace silence instead of engaging in the hard work of unity? Is our political power and acceptance more important than the complete works of salvation, redemption, and restoration? Is silence the price of church membership and genuine acceptance for the marginalized, diverse, and discouraged?
Read Post
Got Vision???
This has been an election that has borne us two vastly different candidates with only one thing in common — they are both historically unpopular. It feels as if we are being forced to vote for the lesser of two evils.
Read Post
Strength in Abiding
If I were to ask you what the common bond was between pastors, politicians, and physicians, what would your answer be? The connection is that all of these professions deal intimately with human beings. Pastors deal with humans in the midst of personal tragedy; politicians and advocates with those who have been unjustly impacted by the societal and constitutional system; and, finally, physicians see people in the middle of bouts with physical ailments. Why do I bring this up? Because dealing with humanity takes a huge toll on us emotionally, mentally, physically, and even spiritually. In fact, if we are not careful we will often experience burnout and cease to be as effective as we can be.
Read Post
Access & Responsibility
Access…it is something we crave; it’s behind our motivations on how we position ourselves; it is the thing that we seek often. We desire to be in the room or to know “the guy” with influence. Access is a coveted thing that we would do practically anything to procure.
Read Post
The Charge: Active Ministry
Everything you do matters to God, and should be considered ministry. Yes, the relationships you cultivate matter to God and are extensions of your worship. Even the jobs you have should be considered part of that “true and proper worship” that Paul refers to in Romans 12. For far too long, we Christians have lived under the guise that there are sacred actions and secular actions. This has resulted in some believers overlooking the value that God finds in work and professional settings. For us, if we have truly given our lives to Christ, all of our actions should be Christ centered. All of our motives and decisions should emanate from our progressive union to God through Christ. Whether it is showing up to church faithfully, or working hard in your professional life, everything is to be done to the glory of God.
Read Post
The Charge: Endure Hardship
Through his own hardships and times of affliction, Paul experienced the most maturity and growth. Why? Because the apostle learned to trust in the sovereignty of God and view affliction through that lens. By putting his trust in God, Paul was able to understand that affliction is allowed by God to sharpen us and strengthen our leadership abilities. Think about it for a moment. When you are being persecuted you pray more, you hear God better, and you are more yielded to God than at any other point in your Christian walk. These qualities then lead to stronger acts of leadership. This only works if you remain committed to the process . . . if you endure hardship.
Read Post
The Charge: An Introduction
It is high time we revisit how we think about leadership and reshape the narrative on how we describe it. Leadership is an essential aspect of any movement. It is quite irreplaceable when you really think about it. A lack of leadership could lead to disorder, stunt the growth of an organization, or cause movements to become stagnant.
Read Post
Making Leadership Great Again
It’s election season in the United States again, and the country is about to choose its next President. As with many other election cycles, political consultants are in full-swing shaping the narratives and the images of their candidates. A typical day on the campaign trail includes high-level strategy meetings and debate-prep sessions centered around making the candidates look like strong leaders. A leader must be confident, a real know it all, and above all well liked. Let’s not forget error-free. At least that is what leadership has come to be defined as.
Read Post