5 Practical Ways to Drive Values Deeper
I recently met with all the managers and directors of the Resources Division at LifeWay, the division I am responsible to lead. We have nearly 650 employees in the division, and they all report to the leaders who were in that room. At the beginning of each calendar year, I remind our team of our […]
The Pain of the Game of Telephone in Leadership
When we have a lot of people around a table for a meal, my daughters often like to play a game of telephone. They find it very funny to start a message and see how it is distorted and changed by the time it makes its way around the circle through multiple people. While a […]
3 Misconceptions About Joining Church/Ministry Staff
Often godly marketplace leaders have wondered what a transition to some type of ministry role would look like. In the last decade I have had countless conversations with these leaders who have wondered what their lives would look like if they transitioned to a church staff or other ministry role. When I served as an […]
What Are You Really Saying When You Call Something a “Sacred Cow”?
If you have been serving on the staff of a local church, you have likely heard and even used the phrase “sacred cow.” This was the topic of a recent Five Leadership Questions podcast, where I joined Todd Adkins and Barnabas Piper to discuss how to navigate “sacred cows” in ministry. As we began, we […]
Who We Are
In Unfolded, the men’s Bible study I was honored to write, we walk through the Story of the Bible in eight weeks. Each week there are daily devotions, along the storyline of Scripture, that dive into different passages. Here is one of the devotions from week seven. Persecution of Christians was very intense during the […]
A Helpful Framework for Teaching in Ministry
When you think about presenting or teaching or delivering a message, is there a helpful framework that guides how you structure the message? Preparing content is critical, but so is preparing how you will deliver the content. When I was serving as a student pastor and driving to seminary on my day off (long before […]
Aristotle, Ministry, and a Microphone
Because speaking is both powerful and fearful, a plethora of “speaking resources” have flooded the market to help some maximize their speaking and to help others overcome their fear of it. If you type in “public speaking” at Amazon.com, nearly 25,000 books are offered. While many of these books may be helpful, the first classic […]
The Power and Phobia of Public Speaking in Ministry
“I know that men are won over less by the written than by the spoken word, that every great movement on this earth owes its growth to great orators and not to great writers.” The above statement, written by a renowned leader, is a strong declaration on the power of public speaking. He wrote the […]
My 3 Goals in Preaching
In the last decade I have invested a lot of time in public speaking. With employee meetings, plenary sessions, breakouts at conferences, consulting ministry leaders, and speaking on books I have written, I have given hundreds and hundreds of leadership and ministry presentations. I have also preached weekly for the last several years as teaching […]
6 Types of “Dangerous Charisma”
“He has a charismatic personality.” “She is such a charismatic leader.” Those phrases are often credited to leaders whom others line up to follow, who are seemingly able to alter any room they enter, and who are able to quickly rally people around a vision or direction. Charisma is often defined as “compelling attractiveness or […]