Why and How I Know What I Am Preaching 12 Months From Now
According to the teaching calendar, one year from now I will be preaching a message on wisdom and how we use our tongues from James 3:1-18 in a teaching series walking through the book of James. Yes, I know what I will be preaching a year from now. Here is why advanced sermon planning works […]
The Work Does the Work of Developing
A basketball player can benefit from watching videos and going to clinics, but it is the experience in real games that forms the player. The same is true when it comes to developing young and emerging leaders, both in the marketplace and in ministry. In fact, leaders within the Human Resources discipline claim that 70% […]
The Practical Wisdom of Brother James on Addressing Our Anger
There is a gripping scene in the famous dystopian novel, 1984, written by George Orwell. There is a daily practice called “Two Minutes of Hate,” where people gather around screens, watching a video that causes them to be angry, have their rage stirred, and yell at the screen. The book 1984 was released in 1949 […]
Character Over Competence in Deciding on and Developing Leaders
Younger leaders have been passionately challenged with messages like: Don’t peak too soon. Your platform must not be bigger than the person you are becoming. Don’t let your gifting outpace your integrity. The messages are wise, good, and true. We must declare messages about the importance of character to younger leaders AND we must design […]
Why I Preached With Two Goats and Not One
Last month, I preached with live animals for the first time in my life. We were in a teaching series on anger and we began with God’s anger—as many Christians wrestle with thinking that God is constantly mad at them. The Scripture is clear that God is angered, but His anger flows from His love; […]
God’s Righteous Anger vs. Man’s Unrighteous Anger
The Apostle James wrote that “human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness” (James 1:20). There is a difference between God’s anger and human anger, righteous and unrighteous anger. Not all anger is bad. God is holy and loving and His anger is holy and loving and always good. So, there is a good anger. It […]
Israel, Palestine, Hamas and Some Things That Are True at the Same Time
Just over a year ago, just outside Jerusalem, I took this picture overlooking “shepherds field” where many believe the angel announced to the shepherds the birth of our Savior. Bethlehem is in the distance, four miles away, now in modern day Palestine. Some things that are true at the same time: Lord Jesus, we long […]
The Rewards Are Greater Than the Risk of Developing Younger Leaders
Wise leaders often think about the risk and the reward in their decision-making, and when it comes to the decision to develop younger leaders, the reward is always greater than risk. The Low-Risk The risks revolve around younger leaders being unproven and uncertain—unproven in their skill and uncertain about where they want to go in their […]
A Framework for Evaluating Risk and Reward in Decision-Making
Wise leaders often think about the risk and the reward in their decision-making. Here is a tool that I have used with my team to help frame our decision-making. Many leaders have used “risk and reward” language in making decisions, and I have simply put the sentiment into four boxes. If making a small tweak […]
Gifted From Him, for Them
Many pastors have made a distinction between abilities and spiritual gifts, that an ability is something you received at birth and a spiritual gift is a supernatural ability you received at your re-birth, when you became a Christian. The distinction can be helpful as long as we remember that both abilities and gifts are from […]