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Leaders and pastors, have you ever heard this?: “When are we going to get the deep teaching here? When am I going to get some meat?” And after hearing that question several dozen times as a pastor, I snapped one night and came unglued when someone asked me that after a church service. I responded, “Tell me who you think the deepest teacher who ever lived was. Throughout history, who knew exactly what human beings needed to grow spiritually and gave them the best Grade A m

This whacked-out 2020 year is a case study in how circumstances can upend organizations and their leaders: how they function, how they fulfill their vision, how they stay solvent, and, most importantly, how they are led. Heraclitus opined, “Character is destiny.” If character is the primary long-term predictor of how effective a leader will be, then circumstances are a key shaper of a leader’s character. Your leadership destiny will be dependent on how you allow God to shape

In doing ministry that is geared toward serving, generosity, and giving away resources, some churches get concerned that they might get ripped off. Many times when I was pastoring I was asked, “Don’t you worry that some people will take advantage of what you’re doing?” To which I would respond, “No, I’m not worried. I know they will!”  I think the stats were pretty good that we’d get ripped off. As a matter of fact, I believe that’s a scriptural idea. When Jesus told the s

For some unknown reason, I recently stumbled across a 60-year old interview with Ayn Rand by Mike Wallace. As you probably know, Rand’s philosophy was and is controversial to this day: a laissez-faire capitalism and hyper-individualistic philosophy. Her two novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, show up periodically on “must read” and best-seller lists. I personally find her shockingly inconsistent, but hey, that’s just me. At the very least, she was certainly no friend