Three Dangers of Only Looking at the Present
The present reality is a strong pull on leaders. When a leader wants to rise above the day and look to the future, the urgent can quickly pull a leader back to focusing on today. The problems and challenges of today threaten to stop leaders from looking to the future, and from learning from the […]
Four Idols That Kill Leadership Development
The fruit of a leader must be another leader as leaders are ultimately the ones responsible for the development of other leaders. From a Christian vantage point, the kingdom of God has multiplied as Christian leaders have developed and deployed others to make disciples and raise up new leaders. Leaders have been given the holy […]
Seven Signs Success Has Outgrown Your Character
Success has plagued many leaders. They experience the Lord’s blessing, see the fruits of their labor, and receive recognition. And many times, the success goes to their heads and hearts and pulls them away from utter dependence on the One who gave success in the first place. King Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26) is an example: […]
Six Places Leaders Are Developed
Where does leadership development happen? What environments are beneficial to leaders in their development? From a Christian perspective, leadership development is not constrained to one environment. Because the whole world is His, leadership development can happen in a plethora of places. Because He continually matures His people, God will use anything to conform us more […]
Three Challenges of Leading a Growing Church
There are some inherent blessings to serving on staff at a growing church. The energy and excitement are high as you are privileged to see new people coming to faith, new families being served, and new people being connected. The growth creates momentum and helps cover up mistakes that are more noticeable when you are […]
Leaving a Legacy of Leadership: How Moses Developed Leaders
Leadership is always a temporary assignment—always. It is a temporary assignment because leaders do not ultimately own the teams, ministries, or organizations that they lead. They simply steward what the Lord has entrusted to their care for a season. Wise leaders embrace the temporal reality of leading, and they prepare the ministry for the future. […]
Leadership Development Is Part of Discipleship
Often ministry leaders will ask, “What do you do for discipleship?” and then a few moments later ask, “What do you do for leadership development?”—as if the two are mutually exclusive. This is a grave mistake. While it may be helpful to view leadership development as advanced discipleship or as a subset of discipleship, it […]
4 Reasons to Believe in Young Leaders
For a long time, I was the young leader. I took my first role on a church staff just before I turned 19. When I moved to Cincinnati to serve as student pastor, I flew into the airport and was too young to rent a car. I moved to Miami to serve as executive pastor […]
3 Reasons (Some) Churches Don’t Value Equipping
The biblical model for local church ministry is not that pastors would “do ministry” but that they would “equip others for ministry” (Ephesians 4:11-13). Sadly, many churches do not recognize or act on the assignment God has given pastors. For example, peruse the typical job descriptions churches give for their pastors. In many churches, you […]
3 Reasons (Some) Pastors Don’t Equip
The role of pastor is divinely designed to prepare others for ministry, not to perform all the duties in ministry. Pastors are not called to “do ministry” but to “equip believers” to minister to one another (Ephesians 4:11-13). Yet some pastors prefer to hoard ministry to themselves rather than equip others. Some pastors are like […]