Follow Jesus. Lead the church. Change the world.
In her book, The Organic God, Margaret Feinberg talks about the abundant kindness of God. She writes … I must not just accept that God is kind, I must embrace his kindness as my own. Feinberg says that kindness is largely learned: God displays his kindness through people who give us mini lessons of kindness. … Read more
Several years ago, the “Herding Cats” commercial (for EDS) caught my attention as a great description of leadership. The one-minute commercial is jam-packed with language and imagery about leadership and mission (see complete transcript below). Transcript: This man right here is my great grandfather. He’s the first cat herder in our family. Herdin’ cats … … Read more
In July, we began meeting with our covenant groups (that are meeting together), which is a requirement in the ordination process of The United Methodist Church. Meeting every other month, we met for the second time earlier this week. First, we discussed the leadership paper we’re required to write for the Board of Ordained Ministry. … Read more
A few months ago I wrote that I would read Eugene Peterson during Lent. Unfortunately, my reading got pushed out for a while out due to the work we had to do for commissioning (as Provisional Elders) and I’ve just recently gotten back to reading Peterson’s Eat This Book. Usually, I read a book as … Read more
One of my favorite books on leadership is Next Generation Leader (by Andy Stanley), which I read several years ago. The book focuses on five key areas: competence, courage, clarity, coaching and character. On character, Stanley writes … Your talent and giftedness as a leader have the potential to take you farther than your character … Read more
I have written about a couple books that we read awhile back in our D.Min. program at Asbury. I want to write about one more: Missional Church: A vision for the sending of the church in North America (Darrell Guder, editor). Ever since I read the book in 2004, I have been using the word … Read more
On Sunday, I challenged the people at Centre Grove to give up something (e.g., sweets, TV, etc.) or take up something (e.g., a spiritual discipline, etc.) for Lent. I’ve decided to go with a taking up practice this year, namely, reading Eugene Peterson, perhaps best known for his monumental work, The Message. I discovered Peterson … Read more
One of the books I read for two of my D.Min. classes was Leadership and Self-Deception by the Arbinger Institute. It’s a must-read for leaders. In the preface, the authors assert that while “leadership is about making matters better,” “self-deception” is “central to leadership” because it tends to “make matters worse” (viii). The authors use … Read more
Robert Schnase, bishop of the Missouri Conference of the UMC has written a book called Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations that’s making waves in the UMC. At Centre Grove UMC, our church council is beginning to work its way through the book and I’ll be blogging about the journey. The book focuses on five practices … Read more
Yesterday, while Ethan and I were looking for some books in our personal library (too many are *still* in boxes!), I pulled out another book (a book by Kevin Lehman) that might be good to have on hand in the days to come. Fortunately, it’s not a book we’ve needed too much yet, but you … Read more