Several of the most famous quotes about leadership point to the paradox of embracing the challenge of the season and giving vision and hope in the midst of the challenges. Max Depree quipped: “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is…
Leadership
How an Ice-Age Context Impacts One’s Approach to Leading
When the pandemic began, Andy Crouch, Kurt Keilhacker, and Dave Blanchard insightfully gave leaders categories for how they were viewing the pandemic — as a blizzard, winter, or the beginning of a little Ice-Age. The imagery is helpful. You hunker down and wait it out in a blizzard, expecting things to return to normal pretty…
Why We Are Working More Now and the Upside/Downside of Templates
A common discussion among pastors in this season centers around the counter-intuitive bewilderment that we can be working more hours in the midst of not having physical gatherings. If you had told me that we would go months without having physical worship services, I would not have imagined I would be working more. But every…
3 Thoughts on the Differences Between “Being Biblical” and “Being Political”
Here is a frustrating reality for a pastor during a politically polarizing time: when speaking about a social issue, the pastor can be affirmed for being “biblical” by people who are politically passionate about that viewpoint and then be accused of being “political” by those same people when sharing something that is contrary to their…
Can a Constraint Be Beautiful? Some Thoughts for Leaders
We are in a season of constraint. As a pastor, we are constrained from gathering physically. We are constrained from using all the resources the Lord has given us – from the facility to the events we have had to cancel. We are constrained from lunch meetings where development conversations occur, from face-to-face counseling appointments,…
Leadership in a Crisis: Defining Reality AND Giving Hope
Napoleon is credited with the leadership wisdom of: “The role of the leader is to define reality and give hope.” This is especially true in a crisis – which is where leaders are most needed. The reality is that most organizations have gotten to a place of maturity that they can operate daily and even…
Talent Trends in 2020 For Churches
My friend William Vanderbloemen wrote an excellent and predictive piece on talent and staffing trends for church in 2020. William, if you don’t know him, is the Founder & CEO of Vanderbloemen. He wrote this before the widespread impact of the coronavirus on people and our economy, and I believe several of the points he…
Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Coronavirus, and Church Leaders
Bill Gates has expressed that the CoVid-19 may be “the once-in-a-century pathogen we’ve been worried about.” At the same time Elon Musk tweeted, “The coronavirus panic is dumb.” Both Bill Gates and Elon Musk are brilliant, extremely hard working, and accomplished business leaders. Very smart people can disagree about very important issues. Just as with…
One Thing Church and Marketplace Leaders Can Learn from Each Other
Last Friday I spoke for my friend John Townsend at a leadership event he hosted for leaders in his network. After my presentation, I fielded some questions for a few moments and was asked (I am paraphrasing), “Because you have led in both marketplace and local church contexts, what is one thing you think those…
What You Say About Your Predecessor Says More About You
Leaders who bash their predecessors, either overtly or subtly, are speaking much louder about themselves than they are speaking about their predecessors. It is a common occurrence, sadly, in leadership. You have likely seen it. A new leader arrives and starts to speak poorly about the past, even about the leader of the past. Perhaps…