The Future, Funerals, and Mentoring? All in One Post...
At the start of a new year, rather than thinking about resolutions and future-thinking, I prefer to first mentally review the past year:...
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elementals: quick reads to sharpen your leadership edge.
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- Dec 29, 2021
- 3 min
The Meaning of Life...in One Short Blog
“The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he...
- Dec 14, 2021
- 2 min
What Do Leaders Pray?
How do leaders pray? Or more specifically, what do leaders pray? If our ultimate leader in this Kingdom movement is Jesus, how and what...
- Dec 7, 2021
- 2 min
“Values, meet Strategy.”
In the early days of our church, founding pastor Steve Sjogren coined a simple phrase for people to use in basic “servant evangelism”...
- Nov 30, 2021
- 3 min
Why Does Your Church Meet?
One of the most important questions church leadership has to answer is: What is the purpose of our weekend services? This is a big deal....
- Nov 23, 2021
- 2 min
A Different Kind of Thanks/Giving
Here in the States we’ll be celebrating Thanksgiving this week. Forget the pilgrims and corn—let’s just talk about the concept of...
- Nov 17, 2021
- 2 min
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...
- Nov 10, 2021
- 2 min
How Is Your Mission?
In our work with churches in assessing the four key elements of healthy organizations, the first one we typically look at is the...
- Nov 2, 2021
- 2 min
Are You In Survival Mode?
Lots of folks have been questioning what church life and ministry should look like post-Covid. To do that, I think it would first be best...
- Oct 27, 2021
- 2 min
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...
- Oct 21, 2021
- 3 min
Do You Have the Right Problems?
In his landmark book Corporate Lifecycles: How Organizations Grow and Die and What to Do about It, Dr. Ichak Adizes laid out...
- Oct 12, 2021
- 3 min
To Plagiarize or Not To Plagiarize: the Sermonic Question
Last week my wife and I were having dinner with our small group when someone brought up a sermon they heard that had originally been...
- Oct 6, 2021
- 2 min
Complexity, Trust...& the Devil?
Let’s pause for a moment and reflect on how complex the world—and human nature—is. And why that makes leadership a very challenging work....
- Sep 28, 2021
- 2 min
Authority & Trustworthiness
When I first became a Christian in my twenties, I worked with a guy who challenged me about the credibility of Christianity. His point...
- Sep 22, 2021
- 2 min
Are You More Important Than You Think?
“No one in my master’s house is more important than I am.” ~Joseph (Genesis 39:9a CEV). It seems the fall of prominent Christian leaders...
- Sep 15, 2021
- 2 min
Searching for Significance
In the decades that I’ve been following Jesus, I’ve met numbers of people who have questioned how they’ve spent their time after...
- Sep 9, 2021
- 2 min
Create Your Discipleship Path
Discipleship is one of the most difficult challenges most pastors and church leaders face. And while it is the central simple thing Jesus...
- Aug 17, 2021
- 2 min
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,...
- Aug 3, 2021
- 2 min
Check the Lost & Found
No one has lived life more decisively than Jesus. And if we are to lead like him, what does that say about us? Think about it: even prior...
- Jul 16, 2021
- 2 min
So What Does A Coach Do? Depends.
In my years of coaching pastors, I’ve found that the conversation will inevitably drift into one of three tracks that will determine what...
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