July 2019
The False Dichotomy
Yesterday, I think something snapped in me. I had heard a particular comment exactly the number of times my heart could take it, and I decided I’m done hearing it. For all our sakes.
I was listening to an intelligent, educated young woman—a leader in her congregation who has brought life into the world, knows how to tend it, and who also knows how to tend the life ...
Leadership Lifelines: Prayer, Fasting, and Flexibility
Andy Stanley said, “Leadership is stewardship, and you are accountable,” while speaking to a group of leaders at Catalyst Atlanta in 2006. This quote absolutely resonated with me, because we can forget that as leaders we are responsible for our own leadership. Not only are we accountable to ourselves and those we lead, but most importantly we are accountable to ...
Knowing Your Emotional Triggers
I remember the scene like it was yesterday. The night before our annual fundraising banquet and auction, the phone rang. The emcee we had worked with for months had come down with the flu. He would not be able to attend the event the next night, let alone rally the crowd to support the work of our nonprofit outreach organization.
I stood in my kitchen and gazed out the window ...
Humor in the Pulpit
Preaching is a radical event. In a world moving at a breakneck pace—where most things involve a screen of some sort, and attention spans max out at 280 characters—preachers stand before a group of people who willingly choose to sit and listen for an extended period of time as we talk about an ancient book written thousands of miles—and years—apart from ...