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…
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5 Ways Thinking “Work-Life Integration” Has Helped Me
In recent years some consultants and counselors have encouraged people to stop thinking “work-life balance” and start thinking “work-life integration.” While some say this is semantics, others believe the language represents a fundamental shift in thinking with “work-life balance” as a view of your life as having disparate parts (work and life) and “integration” as…
Day Off for Ministry Leaders: a Case for Mondays and a Case for Fridays
“Why do you take a day-off during the week? The devil doesn’t take a day off!” said one cranky old man to a young pastor. “Because I am not trying to be like the devil” quipped the pastor. Well done, pastor. Well done. Ministry leaders must take a day off each week or they lack…
Links for Leaders 6/1/18
How to Get the Most Out of a Day Off—Elizabeth Grace Saunders The idea of “vacation” often conjures up thoughts of trips to faraway lands. While it’s true that big trips can be fun and even refreshing, they can also take a lot of time, energy, and money. A lot of people feel exhausted just…
Links for Leaders 3/23/18
Having Your Smartphone Nearby Takes a Toll on Your Thinking—Kristen Duke, Adrian Ward, Ayelet Gneezy, and Maarten Bos “Put your phone away” has become a commonplace phrase that is just as often dismissed. Despite wanting to be in the moment, we often do everything within our power to the contrary. We take out our phones…
Links for Leaders 12/8/17
How to Bounce Back When Your Leadership Has Been Rattled—Scott Cochrane No leader is immune to having their confidence shaken. And when it happens, depending how hard you’ve been rattled, it can cause you to begin second-guessing your leadership. Decisions can become more difficult. You begin to feel unsure of yourself. How do you get…
5 Consequences Leaders Face for Not Resting
A trick many employ in a job interview when asked, “What is your biggest weakness?” is to give a weakness that many don’t view as a weakness, such as “I am so driven that sometimes I fail to stop working” or “I own my responsibilities so much that sometimes I can’t let go.” The person…
5 Reasons We Struggle to Rest
July is often a time many ministry leaders rest. For years it has been a time when I have taken some extra time to slow down, read more, vacation with my girls, and not go to the office as much. Whether you rest in July or not, you do need to rest. Rest is not…
Links for Leaders 1/27/17
“Rules and policies are good most of the time. There are legal, ethical, and moral reasons we need them. But when policies and procedures become a barrier to organizational growth, someone needs to step up and challenge them. When rules are allowed to go on without review, an organization can quickly move to a compliance…
Links for Leaders 1/20/17
Leadership has its challenges, and they are diverse. One of the more difficult experiences as a leader is watching good, hard-working people decide they would rather work somewhere else than at your church or organization. But why do people leave? Selma Wilson shares five of the more common reasons people leave an organization “True identity…