Archive for December, 2006

Fearless Leaders

Fearless leaders are not those born with no fears at all. Courage belongs to those who have not avoided their fears but walked right through them with boldness. Organizations that have fearless leaders have a natural environment of confidence and belief in the efficacy of God’s work within them. Fearless organizations require fearless leaders throughout […]

You Are Making a Difference

Every man should seek to be all he was made to be. Matt. 25:14-30 contains the story of the talents. The villain of the parable is the man with one talent of gold. He was afraid. And fear never has impressed God. The warning is that we don’t need to increase our talents but we […]

Speaking as a church consultant I have become acutely aware of unsuspecting dragons often found in church leadership.  Personality disorders are on the rise and the church has not been exempt from the challenges. One Harvard Medical School scholar (Martha Stout) reports personality disorders have doubled over the last fifteen years!
I used to think […]

Be an influencer

II Cor. 6:14….”Don’t be unequally yoked together”
The word here for unequally is a word that’s root means “imbalance” The idea is something like the scales of justice. The message is don’t get in a relationship with someone who shares differing values  in a manner that you are the "influencee" and they are the influencer.
I […]

Where are they?

I continue to put a great deal of thought into why we are apparently going backward as churches and denominations.
1. The truth, if we use "real numbers," is we are only holding steady in Sunday attendance.
2. My contact with hundreds of churches and leaders each year is that the frequency of attendance has dropped […]

I Peter 1:2 "…[T]he sanctifying work of the Spirit…
Sanctification means to be set apart for specific purposes. And to be special in behavior and make up as a result. If you are sanctified you are different.You march to a different drum.  
When we are good when we don’t mean to be that is the sanctification […]

Addressing depression, pt. 2

Every church should have some sort of reliable way to identify and help depression sufferers.
Churches should also watch their leaders for signs of depression. Leaders should be accountable to others to assess their vulnerability depression.  Serious manifestations can be avoided with preventive care.
As a pastor I have seen many lives tubed by depression. […]

Addressing depression

Depression is a serious issue that is so easily resolved in our day. I speak sometimes with the National Association of Mental Illness. I am usually speaking on how churches can link up with mental health professionals and help people get spiritual and medical help when they are sufferers of depression.
It is my educated […]

18. Egalitarianism: Women are still second-class citizens in church work. We have to end this and release women to be vital and respected leaders.
19. How the great commission works: Churches have to believe they can be part of changing the world. Too many churches are too busy fighting to survive to help others. Seeking […]

More the things Christians should know…
15. How to Manage and order their time by His mastery: People are time starved. We need to teach them to ration and protect their time according to their true priorities.
16. How to experience freedom from fears: Fear is the destroyer of faith and we must defeat it in […]

These are things I tell church builders I consult with that Christians should know:
 
11. How faith works and grows: Faith is major act of grace in our lives and few people know how to feed it.
12. How to remember: We need to be taught what to remember at all times. Things like the fact […]

More of the guidelines I share with church builders:
5. How to give thanks: Thanks is the core of all worship.  And thanks is the driving force of all faith.
6. How to disagree: We were taught to play fair as kids. But we forget it when we come to church. I wrote a book designed to […]

These are guides I share with church builders. As a leader, I take my own advice to heart and review this outline often. You can likely improve on this scorecard or add one or two of your own.  We do need to make certain we are assessing our role as leaders and communicators and teach […]