{"id":3083,"date":"2016-10-04T09:05:00","date_gmt":"2016-10-04T09:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/2016\/10\/04\/treat-folks-well\/"},"modified":"2016-10-04T09:05:00","modified_gmt":"2016-10-04T09:05:00","slug":"treat-folks-well","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/","title":{"rendered":"Treat Folks Well"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Leadership starts and stops with people. To lead well is to treat folks well.<\/p>\n\n<p>A permanently swollen list of pressing issues, priorities, and problem-solving leaves little space for the softer sides of leading people&mdash;also known as personal attention. But must this be true? When a leader helps people feel individually cared for, a highly committed and do-whatever-it-takes culture will emerge.<\/p>\n\n<p>I learned this to be a leadership truth, and the story starts in a physician&rsquo;s office:<\/p>\n\n<p>&ldquo;You must keep your immune system strong to help you win this fight, so eliminate stress.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n<p>Of all the information shared during my first oncology visit, those words offered me hope. Everything else sounded truly frightening. My oncologist&rsquo;s directive on stress gave me something to do with high purpose. He had handed me a secret weapon to fight back against the cancer. Let the battle begin.<\/p>\n\n<p>Four months following surgery for advanced melanoma and four weeks after surviving experimental drug therapy, an unexpected fever arrived. A few other unwelcome symptoms also showed up. Apparently my immune system had decided to sit out part of the fight, which led to my doctor&rsquo;s conclusion, &ldquo;This appears likely to be lymphoma. We&rsquo;ll need to run tests to confirm.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n<p>Unfortunately, the lymphoma news arrived a few days ahead of another major tension source. Life seemed to have confiscated my secret weapon.<\/p>\n\n<p>At the time, I worked as the communications director for my suburban Chicago church, a position with responsibilities for a team of writers and graphic designers, as well as spokesperson duties to the media and public. When issues arose, the church expected my full involvement and best efforts. So when a call came to attend an urgent meeting to discuss an upcoming major event, it felt like business as usual&mdash;even though the rest of life felt rather unusual. Cancer does that to a person.<\/p>\n\n<p>About a dozen people sat in the conference room waiting for Bill, our senior pastor, to join us via conference call. Still no big deal. <em>I have lymphoma, so I hope whatever this is doesn&rsquo;t need much of me<\/em>. My internal self-dialogue distracted me so much I failed to hear the phone ring. But the couple minutes that followed commanded my entire attention, because the most long-lasting leadership moment I&rsquo;ve ever experienced took place.<\/p>\n\n<p>Through the speakerphone, Bill asked for the names of everyone gathered to meet. After the roll call, he said, &ldquo;Dave, my assistant Jean tells me you have some new health concerns. How are you doing?&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n<p>Caught a bit off guard, I replied, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m okay today. Looks like my battle wants to continue, though.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n<p>&ldquo;Is there anything I can do; any way I can help?&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n<p>&ldquo;No, Bill. I have a great doctor on this, so I&rsquo;m good. Thanks, though.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n<p>&ldquo;Well count on my prayers and let me know if you need anything. And I mean anything. Alright everyone, we have some other business to attend to.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n<p>When a leader deliberately makes someone else a priority&mdash;even for just a moment&mdash;it places a permanent handprint on that person&rsquo;s heart. Why? Because to notice and acknowledge communicates a desire to care. That brief exchange, which lasted less than 90 seconds, has shaped more of my own leadership and relationship decisions than any other moment in my adult life.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Excerpt from the book <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/dustjacket.com\/product\/showup-book-david-staal\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Show Up: Step out of your story and into someone else&rsquo;s <\/strong><em>(Dust Jacket Press, 2016)<\/em><\/a><em> by David Staal.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"is-style-article-bio\">David Staal serves as the president of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kidshopeusa.org\/Brix?pageID=420\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"bio\" rel=\"noopener\">Kids Hope USA<\/a>. He also chairs the advisory board for a nearby college, and served 10 years in leadership for a local church following a corporate career.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leadership starts and stops with people. To lead well is to treat folks well. A permanently swollen list of pressing issues, priorities, and problem-solving leaves little space for the softer sides of leading people&mdash;also known as personal attention. But must this be true? When a leader helps people feel individually cared for, a highly committed <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/\">Read more&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":3084,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"tax_ctp_authors":[1351],"tax_ctp_books":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[142],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[131],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3548,3559,3613,3648,4043,4264,4351,4608,5046,5226],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-3083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tax_ctp_authors-david-staal","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-caring","tax_ctp_tags-character","tax_ctp_tags-church-leadership","tax_ctp_tags-compassion","tax_ctp_tags-generosity","tax_ctp_tags-integrity","tax_ctp_tags-leadership","tax_ctp_tags-pastoral-care","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-formation","tax_ctp_tags-values"],"acf":{"scripture_references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Treat Folks Well - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What a bout with cancer taught me about caring for the people I lead.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Treat Folks Well - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What a bout with cancer taught me about caring for the people I lead.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-10-04T09:05:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/73231.jpg?resize=1200,628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Staal\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@CTpastors\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CTpastors\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"CMS Admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/person\/85018388509706870f1ad6829069e1a3\"},\"headline\":\"Treat Folks Well\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-10-04T09:05:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-10-04T09:05:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/\"},\"wordCount\":643,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/73231.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/\",\"name\":\"Treat Folks Well - CT Pastors\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/73231.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-10-04T09:05:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-10-04T09:05:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"What a bout with cancer taught me about caring for the people I lead.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/73231.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/73231.jpg\",\"width\":1240,\"height\":697,\"caption\":\"Farmer's hand watering a young plant\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Treat Folks Well\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"name\":\"CT Pastors\",\"description\":\"Timeless wisdom for pastors with forward-thinking solutions\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Christianity Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"caption\":\"Christianity Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CTpastors\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/person\/85018388509706870f1ad6829069e1a3\",\"name\":\"CMS Admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b746e0581dc75423e361301b595167f5234d819bbff5b0a82621db777cbfeb9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b746e0581dc75423e361301b595167f5234d819bbff5b0a82621db777cbfeb9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CMS Admin\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Treat Folks Well - CT Pastors","description":"What a bout with cancer taught me about caring for the people I lead.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Treat Folks Well - CT Pastors","og_description":"What a bout with cancer taught me about caring for the people I lead.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/","og_site_name":"CT Pastors","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors","article_published_time":"2016-10-04T09:05:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/73231.jpg?resize=1200,628","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"David Staal","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@CTpastors","twitter_site":"@CTpastors","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/"},"author":{"name":"CMS Admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/person\/85018388509706870f1ad6829069e1a3"},"headline":"Treat Folks Well","datePublished":"2016-10-04T09:05:00+00:00","dateModified":"2016-10-04T09:05:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/"},"wordCount":643,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/73231.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/","url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/","name":"Treat Folks Well - CT Pastors","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/73231.jpg","datePublished":"2016-10-04T09:05:00+00:00","dateModified":"2016-10-04T09:05:00+00:00","description":"What a bout with cancer taught me about caring for the people I lead.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/73231.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/73231.jpg","width":1240,"height":697,"caption":"Farmer's hand watering a young plant"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Treat Folks Well"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/","name":"CT Pastors","description":"Timeless wisdom for pastors with forward-thinking solutions","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization","name":"Christianity Today","url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg","caption":"Christianity Today"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors","https:\/\/x.com\/CTpastors"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/person\/85018388509706870f1ad6829069e1a3","name":"CMS Admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b746e0581dc75423e361301b595167f5234d819bbff5b0a82621db777cbfeb9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b746e0581dc75423e361301b595167f5234d819bbff5b0a82621db777cbfeb9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CMS Admin"}}]}},"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Treat Folks Well","url":"http:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/treat-folks-well\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/73231.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/73231.jpg"},"articleSection":"Uncategorized","author":"David Staal","creator":"David Staal","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"CT Pastors","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2016-10-04T09:05:00Z","datePublished":"2016-10-04T09:05:00Z","dateModified":"2016-10-04T09:05:00Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"Treat Folks Well\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.christianitytoday.com\\\/pastors\\\/content\\\/treat-folks-well\\\/\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.christianitytoday.com\\\/pastors\\\/content\\\/treat-folks-well\\\/\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.christianitytoday.com\\\/pastors\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/19\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/73231.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.christianitytoday.com\\\/pastors\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/19\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/73231.jpg\"},\"articleSection\":\"Uncategorized\",\"author\":\"David Staal\",\"creator\":\"David Staal\",\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"CT Pastors\",\"logo\":\"\"},\"keywords\":[],\"dateCreated\":\"2016-10-04T09:05:00Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-10-04T09:05:00Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-10-04T09:05:00Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/christianitytoday.com\/p.js"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/73231.jpg","byline":{"writer_byline":"David Staal","writer_byline_override":""},"primary_category":null,"secondary_categories":[],"featured_video":null,"related_articles":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3083"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3085,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3083\/revisions\/3085"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_authors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_authors?post=3083"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_books","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_books?post=3083"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_categories?post=3083"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory?post=3083"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_field_guides","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_field_guides?post=3083"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_format?post=3083"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_multimedia","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_multimedia?post=3083"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_point_editor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_point_editor?post=3083"},{"taxonomy":"tax_publications","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_publications?post=3083"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_tags?post=3083"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_topics?post=3083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}