How to Keep a Leader’s Brain Healthy
Leader’s need healthy brains. Whether you are a pastor, a leader in a non-profit, or work in a business, without a healthy brain, you won’t lead at your best. My friend Brian Cygan is one of the most knowledgeable guys around when it comes to the impact of exercise on brain health. He is the
Smart Leaders stay close to their Critics
MEN WANTED FOR HAZARDOUS JOURNEY. SMALL WAGES, BITTER COLD, LONG MONTHS OF COMPLETE DARKNESS, CONSTANT DANGER, SAFE RETURN DOUBTFUL. HONOUR AND RECOGNITION IN CASE OF SUCCESS. Little did those accepted for this job out of the thousands who applied realize how true those words would eventually become. Ernest Shackleton, a well-known explorer in the early
Are you a Grateful Leader? 3 Key Indicators
Jesus once performed an amazing mass healing when he healed 10 lepers all at once (Luke 17.11-19). However, what amazed Jesus most was that only one leper came back to thank him. The responses these lepers gave so astounded Jesus that Luke records three questions He asked out loud after the healing. “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are
5 Leadership Insights I Wish I Knew 25 Years Ago
I’ve been in vocational ministry over 40 years and my leadership roles have included my role as singles pastor, discipleship pastor, associate pastor, teaching pastor, church planter, and lead pastor. Although I’ve earned two seminary degrees and I appreciate what I learned in seminary, I’ve learned many key lessons that seminary never taught me. I
3 Simple Brain Boosts for a Healthy Brain
Pastors and leaders need healthy brains to lead well. A healthy brain helps us become more resilient, be more present for those we lead, think more clearly, and, well, lead better. Neuroscientists can peer into our brains and are learning what makes them tick and how we can take better care of them. Here are
Take the Gratefulness Test to Find out how Grateful you are
The Bible says a lot about gratefulness. Answer these six questions to rank how grateful you are. Gratefulness Test: Do you say “thank you” less than once a day or 2-3 times a day? Do you often spend time wishing/dreaming that things would be different or do you often thank God even in difficult circumstances?
4 Ways to Improve Focus while Preparing a Talk or a Sermon
Preparing talks and sermons is one of my highest priorities as a pastor. I’ve often said that preparing a message feels much like writing a term paper, each week. I even heard someone say that sermon preparation is like delivering a baby each week and then on Monday realizing you are expecting again. It’s hard work
How to Have a Tough Conversation with a Staff Member
Leadership often requires that we sometimes must navigate a tough conversation with a staff person. It’s easy to neglect such vital conversations for several reasons: fear, they’ve gone sour in the past, we don’t know how, etc. But to lead well, we must not avoid those talks. I’ve learned that a simple process called active
Should a Pastor be Accessible 24-7?
Accessibility. An issue that probably every pastor struggles with. Should we make ourselves accessible around the clock or should we not? Here are my thoughts and some helpful practices. I’d love to hear yours as well. I believe that pastors who make themselves accessible 24/7 can’t do the job God has called them to do.
3 Qualities Necessary to Learn from our Critics
Nobody likes to be criticized, at least not at first. Sometimes criticism is warranted. Sometimes it’s not. And sometimes it hard to differentiate between the two. The writer of Proverbs implies that we should learn from and even seek out the beneficial wounds from our critics. Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses
