elementals: quick reads to sharpen your leadership edge.

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A Different Christmas Eve

One September day twenty-two years ago, I was sitting in a Chipotle with my wife Anita and suddenly declared: “I can’t do another...

Do You Have “Missional Integrity”?

The present love affair with corporate mission statements must be more than a framed eight-by-twelve well-wordsmithed paragraph hung on a...

The Problem With Traditionalism

The owner of a Chevron station in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle got tired of plastering advertising deals on his sign. Instead,...

Is Faith Really a “Private Matter”?

In a recent survey of self-identified Christians sponsored by the Barna Group and Navigators, an interesting trend was observed as it...

Is Your Church Accessible?

Last week in a coaching session with a young pastor, we talked through some challenging decisions to make in her church as she’s about to...

Reconstruction After Deconstruction

One of the more sobering passages for me in the New Testament is the story of John the baptizer’s painful deconstruction. Please apply...

The Problem With Meetings

The most generalized common complaint I hear about church operations from staff and pastors is: “I hate meetings.” Especially those who...

Top 5 Things Pastors Should Stop Pretending To Be

I believe that a pastor’s main duty is making sure the mission of the local church is carried out, which is primarily guiding...

Are You A “Quadrant Dweller”?

Many years ago a fellow pastor introduced me to a graphic that was helpful for a wider view of the Church. He had adapted a construct...

Jesus and The Really Big Idea

One day while working in Ephesus, the apostle Paul dictated a letter to a terrifically dysfunctional church he had founded earlier. In it...

Tidy Church Litter

The church has always struggled with the tension between evangelism and holiness. I have friends who say when it comes to evangelism,...

Who Is Adjusting Your Vision?

Managing Change...and Your Personal Vision To say the Covid-19 pandemic has changed our lives is the understatement of the year. Managing...

Needed: Organizational Explosives!

So what do you need to blow up in order to move forward? On a recent trip, I took a jaw-dropping train ride from Skagway, Alaska into the...