In the last few months more and more people have asked me, “How can I get my friend out of the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories?” Pastor friends, on phone calls and over dinner, have asked similar questions, “What will it take to help some people come of out of the rabbit hole, and how…
Faith
A Reminder From My Stint as a Soccer Coach: From Victory, Not for Victory
When Evie was six, I coached her soccer team and I loved it. One game in particular reminded me how to live as a Christian. We were called the Soccer Rockers and it was a blast. The kids and their parents were great. Evie’s favorite game that year was the game we played when the…
Popeyes, Our Fascination With “New,” and the Exhaustion of Climbing
Because I grew up in the New Orleans area I grew up eating and loving Popeye’s Chicken (Popeyes started in New Orleans). As a kid, my parents would drive us by Al Copeland’s house at Christmas, the founder of Popeyes, because of the incredible Christmas lights he put up each year. My childhood nostalgia had…
5 Ways You (and the People in your Church) Will Grow This Year
When God wrestled with Jacob (Genesis 32), God won Jacob to Himself by making Himself weak. In His love for Jacob, He withheld His power as even a slight touch to Jacob’s hip dislocated it. God has won us to Himself through weakness too. He emptied Himself, took on human flesh, and submitted Himself to…
Answers from a Pastor to Questions About Kanye
As you have likely heard, Kanye West has professed faith in Christ and has recently released a gospel album entitled “Jesus is King.” I am late to the game on writing about Kanye’s faith, and other leaders have already written some great pieces. I found Bryan Loritts’ and Eugene Park’s thoughts to be insightful and…
Pablo Escobar and How Providing for Your Kids Is Not Enough
With the Netflix drama Narcos, there is a resurgence in interest around Pablo Escobar. The Discovery Channel just released Discovering Escobar’s Millions, which tracks two guys searching for the buried money of Pablo Escobar, who reportedly buried millions of dollars. Escobar was one of the world’s richest men as he made nearly 22 billion dollars…
Five Necessary Character Traits for Handling Criticism Well
Elbert Hubbard quipped, “To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.” Because leaders cannot afford to do nothing or say nothing, being criticized comes with the territory of being a leader. In leadership, affirmation today does not mean affirmation tomorrow. In many ways leaders face the same volatility as coaches who can, within…
Do You Want a People Filled with Gratitude?
Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, and singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with gratitude in your hearts to God (Colossians 3:16). Most church leaders long to see the people they serve become a people who teach and encourage one another in the Christian…
Trust in the Father
Jesus utilized children as an object lesson for true faith. He told the crowd of adults that they must become like children to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 18:2–3). What was His point? What was He suggesting? Children are extremely trusting, often too trusting. When Jesus invited children to come to Him, they eagerly…