Leadership
Cut the Ministry Fluff: 6 Honest Ways to Tell It Like It Is
Evangelastic: When Exaggeration Undermines the Gospel Let’s be honest. Many ministries under the banner of “evangelical” Christianity are guilty of a subtle but dangerous habit: “evangelastic” storytelling—the tendency to stretch or inflate numbers, outcomes, and spiritual wins in order to sound more faithful or fruitful than we really are. We’ve all heard it (and maybe…
Read MoreWords + Deeds = Amazing Momentum!
Words of love need to be connected with deeds of love. Human nature being what it causes us to gravitate to serving others when we reach out in Servant Evangelism but then clamming up before we explain WHY we are serving. Unless we verbalize the essentials of the Gospel of Christ we miss out on…
Read MoreLesson #13: Saying Yes Brings Life
#13: Saying Yes Brings Life Life is difficult after going through a time of death. One of the fastest ways to make forward progress is to practice saying Yes. Literally, say Yes! We need to get into the habit of telling God Yes. There are plenty of forces at work around us that conspire to…
Read MoreLesson #12: Lead with Your Strengths, Never your Weak Side.
#12: Lead with your strengths, never your weak side. Once you have been down, you tend to become more acutely aware of your strengths…and your weaknesses. God makes a deposit in us when we are at the bottom of the barrel of our own resources. Whether you’ve been through a literal near-death or you’ve gone…
Read MoreLesson #11: You Will Hear Clearly From God
#11: You Will Hear Clearly From God After death comes your way previous barriers to hearing from above will be eradicated. There are losses that happen at a time of death. You won’t stop hearing from God. Quite the opposite. As loss happens you your ability to tune into Him will increase remarkably. You will…
Read MoreIt’s About Challenge
I’m taking a break from my book for today. I was talking with a pastor friend this week about the changing face of commitment. The new reality is most of the USA is this: those who consider themselves committed to a local church will only attend once every two to three weeks. (When they aren’t…
Read MoreLesson #3: In Humbling, There Is Restoration
Lesson #3: In Humbling, There Is Restoration Once you’ve gone through a death process you have experienced the most extreme version of humbling. No one understands this sort of loss unless they too have gone through death. No one but you and God knows the depth of the pain you’ve been through. Anyone who comes…
Read MoreLesson #2: When God Shows Up Everything Is Subject To Change
Lesson #2: When God Shows Up Everything Is Subject To Change When I died I was given numerous deadly prognoses. I won’t rehearse them. It is just too painful to bring these up to save one: I was told I would have very limited lifelong mobility. Several “experts” delivered the same message: the most I…
Read MorePress On No Matter What
Rolling Stone magazine asked Bob Dylan where he stood spiritually a while back. A fair question considering the ins and outs his personal life has taken since he issued his fervently Christian albums. He hadn’t said much about Jesus for some time. The Hassidic Jews had claimed him to be one of their own after…
Read MoreSucceed by Persevering
So much is riding on our capacity to simply stick with the plan—to continue to love our city into a relationship with Christ. Success in all of this is not that difficult if we can just continue to show up in faithfulness. I am continually asked by people about new ideas for outreach as if…
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