Blueprint for Discipling People with Wisdom
The apostle Paul described his ministry as skillful building in response to and empowered by God’s grace. He said, “According to God’s grace that was given to me, as a skilled master builder I have laid a foundation” (1 Corinthians 3:10). In other words, the apostle Paul did not just “wing it” or “go with […]
Five Resources on Multiplication
Each month, in conjunction with the Creature of the Word book that I wrote with Matt Chandler and Josh Patterson, we list questions and action items for church leadership teams to consider on the Facebook page. We recently listed some of our top resources on multiplication. Here are several that have impacted me: The Master […]
Not Smelling Our Own Stench
In The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg tells a fascinating story about the launch of Febreze. The researchers and product development team at Procter & Gamble really believed they had developed a product that consumers longed for—a product that would eliminate, not merely mask, bad smells. During the product development phase, people expressed a deep […]
Three Responses to a Fading Spotlight
In the landscape of ministering to the church, the tide of a leader’s influence often rises and falls. From an eternal perspective, the Lord uses different messengers in different seasons to accomplish His purposes. From a human vantage point, some leaders experience seasons of great influence: people read every word they write, they speak at […]
Dieting and Church Strategy
There are many different diet strategies that work. For example, one person may use the Weight Watcher program—counting calories and increasing fruit and vegetable intake—and see great results. Another person may go the low-carb route, an entirely different approach, and also see great results. The key, of course, is picking a strategy and sticking with […]
Offensive vs. Defensive Discipleship
There is mammoth difference between offensive discipleship and defensive discipleship. And a leader’s approach reveals his theology about the heart of people. Defensive discipleship plays to not lose the hearts of people to the world because defensive discipleship believes the hearts of people are pure. Consequently defensive discipleship focuses primarily on protecting people from influences […]
Five Time Stewardship Practices
The wise stewardship of our time is a very spiritual matter. The Lord has graciously given us a predetermined amount of time, and we are responsible to utilize it with wisdom. As Oswald Sanders points out in his classic work Spiritual Leadership, each of us has the same amount of time each day as the […]
Four Leadership Lessons from Nehemiah (Part 2)
Yesterday I shared two leadership lessons from Nehemiah 13. The final chapter in the Book of Nehemiah gives us a picture of how a great leader responded when there was a major drift among the people he led. I will pick up where I left off yesterday… 3 – Confront problem people. Vision is translated […]
Four Leadership Lessons from Nehemiah (Part 1)
The Book of Nehemiah is often used as a case study for visionary leadership, and for good reason. His leadership was formed by a God-induced burden for his city and the people within it (Neh. 1:4). He increased urgency by creating dissatisfaction with the status quo (2:17), rallied people around a shared vision of rebuilding […]
Budgeting Tension: Growth and Shrewdness
Budgeting is a great time to develop a plan, with the right leaders, for spending. I prefer approaching budgeting with a growth mentality. If you do so, your budget will be bigger than it was the previous year. A growth budget is a step of faith, but wisdom will require you to have a plan […]