Follow Jesus. Lead the church. Change the world.
Throughout most of my life, I’ve known I need to learn how to manage stress. While I am aware that I need to take care of myself and my relationships (with God, family, others), I also know there’s lots of room for improvement. I’ve always said, I do well with vacation time, okay with days … Read more
Both in churches and in denominations, such as The United Methodist Church, in need of transformation and turnaround, it’s easy to focus on fixing the church. Our job is not to fix the church but simply to make ourselves available to God! We place too much emphasis on gifts, skills, and abilities, and not enough … Read more
Yesterday, I wrote 5 Ways Leaders Avoid Stagnation. It was a post about self-leadership, which can be some of the most challenging leadership of all! But that got to me thinking about how leaders, and particularly, pastors, help others from becoming stagnant. Here are 5 ways leaders help others avoid stagnation … 1. Model discipleship … Read more
Several years ago, in a class led by Dr. Russell West at Asbury, I shared my fear of becoming stagnant and losing my passion to keep growing. Because of the human tendency to settle, preventing this fear from becoming reality requires intentionality and constant awareness. Here are five ways leaders avoid stagnation … 1. Follow … Read more
I’ve written about my long-time search for a better way to manage time and tasks: Task Management, Task Management 2.0, and Time Management. My latest stop on this journey is the iPad app, 2do. As I’ve stated before, my journey started with a Franklin Day Planner when I was in college. Over the years, I’ve … Read more
Recently, I’ve written a couple posts on The Circle Maker (see 1.0 and 2.0). One particular section made me think about shaping culture. Batterson writes about “spiritual priming” (127). In it, he talks about the importance of the primer in painting. He states … It may seem like the primer is unnecessary … but it … Read more
I recently asked, Are You Honing Your Craft? The question forces you to narrow your focus and to name your craft. While there are several things I’d like to be good at, I realize I only have enough time and energy to focus on a very few number of things to develop at any given … Read more
A few weeks ago, hours after preaching on persistence, interestingly enough, I read a great story about the diligence of Steve Martin. In it, the author begins with a quote of a 2007 interview of Martin … I remember getting my first banjo, and reading the book saying ‘this is how you play the C … Read more
Last month, Joleen and I celebrated 18 years of marriage (Really?!). It’s been quite an adventure. Everyone has challenges, and we’ve certainly had ours! The first 9 years of our marriage were intense enough—married in 1994, graduated from seminary and moved to PA to co-pastor a small, dying church in 1995, moved to Williamsburg to … Read more
Recently, I’ve written multiple posts on Mike Slaughter’s presentations at the Bishop’s Retreat (here and here) as well as a couple of his books (“Change the World” and “Momentum for Life”). Here’s one more post with some final reflections and a list of personal commitments. 5 specific commitments I’m making … Dream daily. I’ve always … Read more