2012
Is It God’s Will?
As a leader—of myself, of my children, of a ministry—I find no greater source of angst than making difficult decisions. I wonder and pray and talk with others about whether or not plan A or plan B or starting this and quitting that is "God's will."
The phrase itself has become so overused—and misused—that I wonder if "God's will" is just "the best plan I could think of" dressed ...
How Women Are Uniquely Gifted for Leadership
As I duck out of sight of the gathering congregation, the church's AV guy hands me a clip-on microphone. Patting myself around the waist and hip region, what I already know will be the case is confirmed: my lady clothes (ironically worn just for pulpit occasions like this one) have no belt, waistband, or pocket on which to latch or in which to drop the microphone's ...
Exciting News for eReaders
"I don't think I'm going to buy this book. I don't want it taking up space in our house."
You never would have heard me say that two years ago. I'm a book lover. I love books for how they help me learn, explore the world, consider ideas, discover new places, get inside the minds of people, and better understand my own mind. I love them for their potential—when I look at a book, ...
Leadership, the AA Way
I used to think Alcoholics Anonymous was all stale prayers and smoky church basements. I considered myself a distant admirer of the program, but even as a counselor, I didn't want to get too close. AA was a good idea for some people, but surely it wasn't relevant to my busy life of "making a difference" in women's ministry.
Last summer my stereotypes ...
Top 10 in 2011
I know it's a little late to be serving up a 2011 retrospective. The new year? That was so three weeks ago.
Well, I would have done this earlier, but we've been making a big transition here at Gifted for Leadership, and quite honestly, it's taken me a few weeks to figure out where everything is. Now that I have found my way to the computer, I'm actually ...
Fear Not the Old Testament
The Bible I've owned since college is coffee-spill-stained, underlined in a rainbow of colors, re-bound with packing tape. Margin notes sit like altars erected along the journey, commemorating encounters with God.
A curious phenomenon: pages of the last third of this book are worn, dog-eared, dingy, graffiti'd with yellow highlighter and pencil. The first two-thirds, ...
Lonely Leadership
I walked off the stage, the title to my presentation—Community in Leadership—in bold at the top of my speaking notes. I had just spent 40 minutes convincing women leaders of the power and importance of being intimately involved in community with others.
Ironically, or perhaps hypocritically, I was the loneliest, most isolated person I knew. Mentally, I knew leadership ...
New Year’s Anti-Resolution: Stop Setting Goals
My New Year's resolution this year is unusual, really more of an anti-resolution. My hope is to become less intentional.
Less intentional, you ask? Why on earth would a person want that? I'll explain.
I'm a strategist by nature. I process things rationally, assessing situations, coming up with recommendations, tinkering mentally with life issues and circumstances. ...
When the Passion Fades
I'm in the midst of leading a project I don't feel particularly passionate about. It didn't start out this way. I launched into it with great enthusiasm. I was confident I was following God's will by pursuing the project, but as time has passed and I've grown less enamored with it, I'm wondering whether I misread the signs.
Truth be told, the project ...