Gordon MacDonald

A simple question led to a life-defining collapse.

Are you here? Really here?

An outward focus is part of Christian community: part 3

What’s involved in Christian community: part 2

What ‘we’ learn that ‘I’ will never know.

Why an unlikely trait has such powerful effects.

Where nobody knows your (last) name.

A leader’s most significant transaction.

One doctor’s insistence prepared me for another doctor’s report.

How would our worship services be different?

What does it take to turn greed into generosity?

Top 10 indicators of relationship health

When we listen to Jesus’ teaching on generosity, we should respond by giving everything to him and others.

How pastors guard the flock

Our faith is shaped by the stories we encounter.

The Serenity Prayer isn’t just for alcoholics.

12 outward signs of the inner reality

At times our preaching needs fixing.

Yes, American Christians will grow up when they have to.

Whether from the pulpit, or Ground Zero, pastoral prayer changes things

Leadership lessons from the deck of Titanic

A glimpse of heaven’s joy in a little girl’s smile

There’s something lacking in our public petitions to God.

What would it have taken to reach the Apple founder’s core?

Even mundane places can be filled with God’s beauty and love.

One of God’s underused gifts is time to sharpen.

What the Quakers taught me about the power of quiet virtues.

Discernment comes from aligning memory, imagination, and will.

Cultivating people of spiritual depth is a pastor’s top priority

Inspiration from the life of Samuel Logan Brengle

The gems of spiritual wisdom that have enriched my life

A new home awaits us . . .

Life-changing encounters often come unexpectedly

Conflict occurs over things you least expect. Here’s what you can do.

Sometimes the Spirit doesn’t give you the coveted aisle seat.

Jesus bears a distinct resemblance to his mom.

If a “physical” is important, so is a “spiritual”

You grow in grace by following a follower of Jesus.

How do we respond when someone quits the faith?

How do we respond when someone quits the faith?

What’s the invitation here: “Pray this prayer” or “Follow me”?

We are each a picture that’s missing a few pieces?

Each week, debrief with yourself and God. Here’s how.

What the Graham team continues to communicate with or without words

One eruption can contaminate your inner space for a l-o-n-g time.

It may cost us a bit more, but our nation has taken a compassionate step in the right direction.

Joy and wisdom is discovered when we take the time to observe the lives around us.

Eventually your preaching turns you inside out.

Magazine covers and Scripture say different things about starting over.

Like Robert De Niro, “Everybody’s Fine.” Well, not quite.

What it takes to prevent congregational decline.

A clear and gentle answer turns aside testiness.

Nine characteristics of effective discipleship.

Reflections on the strange, seemingly uncontrollable power of God in our lives.

What makes a pastor a pastor?

The agony of downsizing my bookshelves.

What might God be saying in tough economic times?

The parade that reignited my personal mission.

Knowing when to let go of your ministry role.

Sometimes we don’t realize what we need to hear, again and again.

Our times demand a new kind of leadership.

The most important things may be the easiest to overlook.

Why certain stories disturb many and comfort so many more.

Good reasons to journal.

Leading in these times requires something more.

I needed a stimulus to tend my “interaction economy.”

When days are desperate, be bold and move forward, for Jesus’ sake.

Why fully devoted followers can be really threatening.

Seeing God in daily interruptions.

Even non-intuitives can hone leadership instincts.

Broken shines light on addictions, recovery, and (maybe) the church.

For those who don’t fit the system, a gifted instructor can make the difference.

It wasn’t till we attempted the untried and untested that I discovered …

When the church you love tries to enter the 21st century.

A painful tumble and surgery taught him some things that “were worth it all.”

When Starbucks shuts down for retooling, maybe we all can learn something.

The power of the Bible: in story and memory and more.

What makes our Bible precious in a land that publishes so many?

In this political season, how much should I say?

Creating a new cell-phone directory tested my commitment in ways I didn’t expect.

What really changes history.

Have I nurtured my spouse’s personality, or buried it?

A classic hymn shows why holiness is scarce these days.

Why are we so good at leading people to faith and so bad at prodding them to maturity?

Stepping off the trend-mill is an important step of faith.

A self-test, plus journal entries on loons, Iraq, and G.K. Chesterton.

Shoring up the parts of leadership nobody (but God) sees.

The tension between honesty, contentment, and encouragement.

How to gain, and maintain, your people’s trust.

The kid is self-absorbed and directionless. Does he have a future as a leader?

For Pastors, it’s not necessarily easier to give than to receive.

How I learned to take correction – and give it.

The essential traits of that most difficult role.

What hospitals can teach us about appreciating our unpaid workers (and other thoughts from my journal).

It’s not just living your words, it’s knowing the lives of those you’re speaking to.

Baseball, hot dogs, and an afternoon with my dad was a foretaste of glory divine.

When we cultivate the deeper curiosities of life, our faith becomes an extreme faith.

The reason to forge ahead when your spiritual work becomes drudgery.

What my unreliable old car taught me about myself.

What’s a leader to do when followers are revolting?

What I really want to know from the candidates before I make my choice.

Conflicting strategies for saving the planet (and its inhabitants).

How God uses sheep from outside this fold.

Even the best causes can become cold, prideful, and all-consuming.

The church can disagree in a way that does not threaten its unity and integrity.

Our historic church finds renewed meaning in a new name (and in the slow process of changing it).

Ted Haggard, self-destruction, and the consequences we all suffer.

A pastor’s perspective on the Clinton Global Initiative Conference.

New gifts from the death camps, plus a new book on quitting church to follow Jesus.

What I’m learning from airlines, C.S. Lewis, and war.

O for the sermons that change lives

Gordon MacDonald on rest for the high mileage believer.

Life in the slow lane may be God’s intention for us after all.

Gordon MacDonald on the elderly, his recent trip to South Korea, and becoming a foot-washer.

There are lessons in lingering in your discouragement.

Thoughts on hot-dogging, second chances, and Olympic-size opportunities.

When am I too old for effective ministry across the generations?

Creating Jesus in our own image, and other thoughts from my journal.

Many in ministry Did Not Finish. What can we do about that?

How blue tooth technology has me connecting on a spiritual plane.

Two roads to greatness, and other observations from Gordon MacDonald’s journal.

Present insights from my journals and readings.

A theology of turnaround.

In the pulpit and out, if only we could delete poorly chosen words.

We must not live in middle ground because God is in lofty and lowly places

When we repent, Jesus sets us free.

A child’s parents’ greatest duty is to make their home a place where people grow.

The journey of a seeker is characterized by self-realization and metamorphosis.

Revival is marked and sustained by generous giving.

What we can learn from two pastors-Bonhoeffer and Thielicke-who ministered in terrible times

Lessons in simplicity from Gordon’s journal (plus his summer reading list).

And more gleanings from Gordon’s journals.

The applied advice of Mister Rogers, and other observations from Gordon’s journal.

Some memories from my childhood still shine today, for good reason.

Pastoral conservation and more fresh observations from Gordon’s personal journals.

Sometimes we have to deliver an unwelcome message.

Urgent messages must sound urgent, and other entries from Gordon’s journal.

Preaching that even children take to heart employs words simple and deep.

How a fatty cheeseburger prompted meatier messages.

One giant lesson about introducing new ideas.

Do you approve the minutes of the meetings God arranges for you?

My wife’s non-negotiable priority saved our family life. And other recent observations from Gordon MacDonald’s journal.

Recent entries in Gordon’s journal include crashes, Jesus, and mismatched socks.

Shoring up the parts of leadership nobody (but God) sees.

Amid political tensions, when is a pastor to speak out and when to refrain?

In a dangerous mountain hike, I discovered what real friendship is.

How long-dead pastors encourage me today, plus other bits from The MacDonald Files.

Journaling: a tool to bring your soul into focus.

Observations on the new “gloom and doom” from Gordon’s journals.

A Sunday morning encounter led to an irresistible illustration.

What productive leaders can learn from the four-minute mile.

What Abner Peet’s trunk says about preaching, life, and doing something worthwhile.

Why do we skip across the surface when we really want to go …

Clippings from the MacDonald Files.

A.W. Tozer and other wisdom from The MacDonald Files.

Gleanings from The MacDonald Files.

Do you approve the minutes of the meetings God arranges for you?

From the MacDonald Files

And other gleanings from the MacDonald Files.

Without Windows NT, is it a wonder the gospel ever escaped Jerusalem?

So what exactly is a call to ministry?

Gleanings from the MacDonald Files

Reality, however harsh, is preferable to sweetened memories.

What’s inside determines both the heavy-hitter and the lightweight.

Leadership Weekly readers weigh in on the value of uncertainty.

The kid is self-absorbed and directionless. I don’t like him. Does he have a future as a leader?

from the MacDonald Files

from The MacDonald Files

The best pastoring doesn’t happen in the office.

What really changes history.

An interview with Garrison Keillor.

After a week in the world, worshipers may need our prayers as much as our preaching.

Reorganizing a church is never easy, but at times it’s necessary.

The blossoming of a church depends on more than one kind of nutrient.

A church leader’s private life is not second-class time; it’s a chance to come apart and rest.