Why Leaders (or anybody) Burn Out Faster Than They Expect
Burnout rarely announces itself. It creeps in quietly. Psalm 127 opens with a warning: “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain.Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.” (NIV) Then it adds: “In vain you rise early and stay up late…” (v. 2) The repetition of in
A God-Centered Way to Interrupt Rumination, Anxiety, and Self-Talk
Psalm 19 begins big. David looks up at the skies and says creation is constantly preaching the glory of God. Then he looks down at the Word of God and says it revives the soul, gives joy, and brings clarity. But he doesn’t stop with theology. He ends the psalm with application—personal, searching, and surprisingly
Are you Known for Flattery?
Leaders Who Flatter Fall Flat Psalm 12:3 Psalm 12 is not a reflective psalm written from a quiet place.It comes from a moment when David felt surrounded—by voices he could not trust. He describes a culture where truth had thinned out. Faithful people were disappearing. Words sounded polished, but motives were not. What hurt most
I’m Back!
Hi Friends, It’s been some time since I last posted (lots of reasons), but I’m back. I plan to post weekly. This morning in my devotional time I read Psalms 7 which really spoke to me about self-assessment and leadership and its value. So, here you go:) When God Does a Leadership Assessment Psalm 7:9
9 Ways Great Leaders Communicate
Great leaders are great communicators. Communication certainly includes making a great speech, or for pastors, delivering a compelling sermon. That kind of communication is important, but it’s less so than communicating well one-on-one. I recently finished reading neuroscientist Andrew Newberg’s book, Words Can Change your Brain. His book suggests 12 key neuroscience based communication practices. I’ve included nine here with
The 3 Kinds of People in Every Church
In Judson Edward’s book, The Leadership Labyrinth, he describes 21 paradoxes in ministry. He defines the ‘relationship paradox’ in this way: the people who like you the most will be the ones you try least to please. He then writes that these three kinds of people fill every church. His insights are quite helpful. The energizers: their very
How to Deal with Ministry Pain
We all carry baggage not only from our family of origin, but also from our previous ministry experiences. For some, that baggage may feel like a light daypack. For others, it may feel like a 100-pound duffle bag. How can we deal with this pain so that it doesn’t affect our families, ourselves, and our
8 Decisions Leaders Should Make During a Crisis
One of the best books I’ver every read on leadership is A Failure of Nerve by Edwin H. Friedman. It’s a challenging read, but well worth it. The author was a Jewish counselor who wrote extensively on a counseling philosophy called Bowen Family Systems. The more I read about this way of looking at church leadership through ’systems’
When a Leader Spirals Downward
An aviation term called a death spiral describes what can happen to a plane in nighttime or poor flying conditions when a pilot loses his sense of the plane’s horizontal orientation. The plane can begin to spin uncontrollable. Unless the pilot pulls out, he can spiral out of control and crash. In ministry, leaders can
10 Subtle Signs You Have Hit your Stress Red Zone
The Red Zone: unsafe areas in Iraq after the 2003 invasion, a region of France decimated during WWI, the area on the field between the 20 yard line and the end zone in American football (source: wikipedia). The term Red Zone is a fairly well understood term that designates either a problem area or a