January 2015
Has Accountability Disappeared from the Church?
Merriam-Webster defines accountability as “the quality or state of being accountable; an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one’s actions.” As we watch the news today, it appears as if no one wants to be held accountable. Sadly, leaders in the church are not excluded. I have heard friends discuss their need for accountability, ...
Lead Me On: When Stephen Colbert Says That’s Not Good Enough
Leading up to his last episode of The Colbert Report, more than one million viewers tuned in nightly to laugh at Stephen Colbert.
His Emmy award-winning jokes were fired at viewers fast and easy. However, Colbert recently told a Slatepodcast audience that those jokes represented long days of hard labor with his writers. Colbert said he and his staff forced themselves ...
Tips for Preventing Suicide
Unfortunately, there is no miraculous human intervention that resolves suicide risk. But there are specific actions you can take to prevent suicide, actions that become more extensive with increasing risk. Following are several ideas for pastoral care, which is different from mental health counseling, an important distinction that argues for referral to mental health services. ...
Why Care about the Global Church?
Hindus attack Christians in India. Chinese believers are imprisoned for taking a stand against their government’s position on house churches. Venezuelan Christians are reeling from a perpetually downturned economy. Many West African Christians were suffering from lack of infrastructure when Ebola hit, making a bad situation worse.
Overwhelming? Definitely. If you ...
Don’t Be Okay with Quitting
My husband has been in the SEAL teams for sixteen years. Over the ten years Steve and I have been married, I’ve heard great stories about his job. My very favorite, though, is a story from his days as a BUD/S student.
During the infamous “Hell Week,” the guys are intentionally sleep deprived and then made to accomplish physical tasks, usually in some ...
No Turning Back
When aspiring to lead, when entrusted with a leadership role, when seen as a leader, each one of us faces a huge temptation. It’s the temptation to believe leading is the goal.
For generations, our church culture has elevated leaders, counting them higher than the “average” person, determining each leader’s level of eminence by the number of followers ...
3 Ways to Fight Back with Joy as You Lead
What begins as a gift soon becomes a grind.
Endless demands. Pressing deadlines. Unexpected interruptions.
The pressure to perform and produce can leave us feeling weary in the marrow of our being. The joy designed to grow into sweet plumpness soon shrivels. Smiles become forced. Sparkling eyes grow dim.
Those closest to us see the shift long before we recognize it ...
Top 10 in 2014
Happy New Year!
Let me be among the first to welcome you to 2015! None of us can know what this year holds in store, but we can all know that God has gone before us and has good plans for all of us. Today I pray that you are walking forward in the confidence and hope that comes from knowing the one who holds the future.
In keeping with our custom at this time of year, ...
When Pastors Pray, Part 2
Pastors now wear so many hats, they have only small “windows” of time to pray, give attention to the ministry of the word, and tend to the sheep.
When pastors are spread paper-thin, the place we think they would go for help is to their knees. But sometimes they feel this response is insufficient. Therefore, they spend enormous amounts of time trying to resolve ...
