Leading through Covid
I’m delighted to share a guest post today from my friend, Courtney McBath, who is the Senior Pastor of Calvary Revival Church (CRC) in Norfolk, Virginia. He also serves as the leader and founder of Calvary Leadership Network, a group of pastors and leaders serving the church globally. He is a teacher, mentor, coach and
Is Skipping Church Good for your Soul?
I’m a pastor. Pastors are supposed to go to church. So I go to church, several times each week. I’ve done that for decades. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve missed church by choice. But one weekend I added to that handful of misses. I skipped church. Was skipping church that
9 Things Great Leaders Do
The book of Acts describes the amazing story of Jesus’ work through the Holy Spirit in the early church. With an explosive start, problems were certain to surface. And they did. In the first example of internal dissension the Apostles displayed great leadership. The church had grown so rapidly that some of the widows were being overlooked
The Sleepy Leader’s Brain
God created sleep not only to cure sleepiness, but to serve our bodies and brains in many beneficial ways. Unfortunately, many leaders, especially pastors, try to lead without getting adequate sleep and live with a sleepy leader’s brain. When we don’t get enough sleep, our brains don’t work as well. Thus, we don’t lead at
4 Things I Wish I Could Do Over as a Parent
We have three grown kids, one grandson and two granddaughters. We love all of our kids and they love us. As I reflect over my parenting years, I’d give myself a solid ‘B+’ in the parenting department. But, I would also would have parented differently in several ways. In a recent family service at our church,
4 Ways to Stop REACTING!
One of the greatest strengths a leader can posses is his (or her) ability keep his emotions in check, to stop reacting. However, when we feel rejected, hurt, or fearful, we often react, get visibly angry, or becoming defensive. Those responses can hinder God’s work in our lives and hurt our leadership. So what can
6 Tips on How Pastors can Help Others Discover their Spiritual Gifts
The more we pastors help people discover, develop, and deploy their spiritual gifts, the healthier our churches become. In this post I suggest 6 tips that can help others discover their gifts. 1. Ask, “What do I enjoy doing/what do I do well?” A good indicator of where a person’s giftedness lies may be found in activities that
3 Morning Habits Guaranteed to Boost Brain Power
I have a passion for the brain and how applying newly discovered brain science can impact leadership and spiritual growth. I even wrote a book about it. Now into my sixth decade of life, I want to maximize my brain power as I (and everybody else) faces inevitable cognitive decline. In this post I share the
The “Measure Up Mentality” in Today’s Church
I’ve served in full-time ministry for over 38 years in churches in many places in the U.S.: the south, the southwest, the far west and the mid-west. I now serve as lead church in Ontario, Canada. I’ve noticed that a church’s expectations of a pastor varies depending on the region. And when that church, culture,
The Well Placed Question – an Often Overlooked Leadership Tool
As a pastor and a leader I guide the process to help our church set and accomplish goals, move us forward into a preferred future, and make progress. And it seems like I do a lot of telling. I wonder if we leaders sometimes miss how a well placed question can enhance our leadership. Consider these thoughts about leadership and asking
