A few years ago, God used the death of a friend—an everyday evangelist—to spur me to talk with strangers about Jesus. Even though I’ve grown in initiating conversations with others since then, I’ve periodically asked God if it’s just a phase. His recent answer bellowed to me from Scripture. I was reading Luke 5, where […]

As Christian leaders, we believe our hearts are postured toward the Lord. We’re eager to engage with our teams in worship and in the Word. Or are we? We made a recent board decision to rotate leadership for our engagement with God at board meetings. We want each board member to share in leading this […]

As leaders, we want to be directed by the Lord and not distracted by the enemy. But when the pressure’s on, it can be hard to tell the difference. Let’s learn how. Recently, I became increasingly uneasy regarding two different ministry situations. Initially, I wasn’t sure if the enemy was just piling on, wanting to […]

There’s a tender phrase in The Message version of Psalm 23 that we leaders need to hear. It says, “You let me catch my breath.” I can just picture Jesus seeing how hard we’ve been working, and saying, “Slow down. Take a break. Rest for a while.” We’re in an unusually full stretch of months […]

It happens all the time in leadership. You have to make a critical decision in the next hour or the next day. Either way, there’s pressure to decide quickly. So how do you do that? It’s tempting to go with your gut—to do what feels right in the core of your being. We’ve all done […]

Good leaders are good shepherds. They genuinely and actively care for the people they lead. They shepherd well because they’re Shepherded well. If you’ve read my blogs recently, you know God led me out of my “God chair” and into the great outdoors. He’s used the open surroundings to open my spirit to His in […]

As leaders, we listen to important words day in and day out. If we’re not careful, though, we can be deaf to the most significant words of all. Let’s learn to tune in. Creation is constantly pouring forth knowledge about God (Ps. 19:1-2). There’s no lack of words on God’s part; just a lack of […]

We’re familiar with this slogan regarding real estate, but let’s apply it to our spiritual lives. Specifically, the physical location where we regularly spend time with our heavenly Father. In any season—whether literal or figurative—let’s pay attention to where He wants to meet with us. Our staff recently enjoyed a paid personal day with God […]