Four Mistakes Leaders Make When Handling Conflict
Conflict is going to happen. After sin entered the world through the disobedience of Adam and Eve, God told Eve that the relationship with her husband would no longer be perfect: “Your desire will be for your husband, yet he will rule over you” (Genesis 3:16). Scholars have pointed out that the same wording of […]
Four Questions to Spot the Difference Between Healthy Tension and Unhealthy Conflict
There is a difference between healthy tension and unhealthy conflict. Wise leaders attempt to foster healthy tension where team members who love and trust one another sharpen each other and where ideas get matured and developed through robust discussion. Just as tension in exercise makes a body stronger, healthy tension can make a team stronger. […]
Three Common Idols in Churches
Hezekiah is affirmed in Scripture as doing “what was right in the Lord’s sight” (2 Kings 18:3). The next verse details what Hezekiah did: “He removed the high places, shattered the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake that Moses made, for the Israelites burned incense to […]
Four Imperatives for Wise Stewardship of Time
We only have a brief amount of time on this earth and a brief amount of time in the roles in which we are serving. All of us are interim leaders. We steward our responsibilities only for a brief and fleeting season. One day someone else will lead the teams we are leading. One day […]
Three Warning Signs You Are Wasting Time
Moses prayed, “Teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts” (Psalm 90:12). Our days are short. We are like a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes (James 4:14). David prayed, “LORD, reveal to me the end of my life and the number of […]
Two Opposite Errors Committed by Church Staff
If you lead a ministry (kids, students, groups, connections, worship, etc.) in a local church, you are given responsibility for a significant ministry in the church, and yet you are also part of a larger body of believers. You steward a part of the whole, and in this, you must care deeply for that which […]
A Sobering Reality Leaders Must Recognize
Leaders have major impact on the teams and organizations they lead. Their leadership impacts the direction and the future. Their leadership attracts the type of people who will join the team, and greatly influences the culture. Even the expressions and mannerisms of leaders are often picked up by others throughout the organization. Leaders have a […]
Five Ways Leaders Lose Credibility
In The Leadership Challenge, researchers and authors, Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner claim that the most important leadership characteristic is credibility. Based on extensive research over two decades, they write that “more than anything, we want leaders who are credible. People must be able to believe in their leaders.” Without credibility a “leader” won’t be […]
Three Differences Between Busyness and Productivity
There is a mammoth difference between teams and leaders who run around being busy and those that are truly productive. Busyness can give the allusion of productivity as people are doing things, as meetings are happening, and as emails are being sent and read. But not all busyness is valuable. In fact, busyness can mask […]
Three Ways Your Spouse Can Make You a Better Leader
I don’t claim to be a great leader, but I am much better than I would be because of my wife, Kaye. God has used her and continually uses her to make me better. The relationships the Lord gives us are given to us, in part, for our own sanctification. God puts people around us […]