Crossing i’s and dotting t’s
Meticulous but misdirected. This happens far too often in leadership. We get myopically focused on the wrong things and what appears to be a concern for doing it right misses the point entirely. If you are determined to dot all your i’s and cross all your t’s you better make sure you aren’t getting it […]
Identify The Hats Only You Can Wear
There are too many distractions in life. It is so easy to shift our time and energy to things that we don’t need to be engaged in. Often the things that get neglected are the things that only we can do. One of the things I ask myself from time to time when considering tackling […]
Has Studying Replaced Doing? Our Evangelism Problem
I have a shelf full of books on evangelism but that doesn’t make me evangelistic. We have a problem if we have read more books on evangelism than the number of people we have studied with. I am convinced that you don’t have to be an expert or know the latest (fill in the blank) […]
Your Heart is Only Functioning at 50% – Bad news or Good news?
That is bad news in a doctor’s appointment but for many churches, if half the members were involved in ministry it would be a miracle. The church is a body and bodies are made to work. They are made to move and function in an integrated and self-dependent way. Bodies are autonomous to others bodes […]
Wineskins Church of Christ Ministers’ Health Survey Results
Here are all four posts summarizing the findings from the Church of Christ Ministers’ Health Survey. These results look at physical, mental, ministerial, relational and spiritual health of our ministers. Please pass this along to ministers and elders you know. The results had some bright spots but also some places we need to shore up. […]
Confusing our Comfort and Our Calling
Throughout scripture the Holy Spirit was at work gifting and empowering people to do the tasks God put before them. Even in the midst of Holy Spirit empowerment and direct divine intervention and calling, there were still people uneasy with their assigned tasks. Gideon was hesitant even though he was directly commissioned by an angel […]
The Moment the Trunk Splits
I have slowly been cutting up a fallen tree in the woods behind our house. The city will take debris up to six feet long so I have been cutting it up into 5-6 foot sections and slowly removing it from the woods. I don’t have a chainsaw. I just have my old trusty axe […]
Intentional
I remember opening up my very first iphone new in the box. It was a 4. Everything was crisp and clean. It was very simple. It almost felt like I was opening up a tiny work of art. Everything had its place. It was just so. I had opened up phones and computer boxes before. […]
The Institutional Suppression of Confession
When Colin Kaepernick took his stand, well really his kneel, during the National Anthem, it was a classic case of our post-modern temptation to blur the lines between categories. When I watch football, I don’t watch it for politics. I don’t watch it to relate to the players or to learn how to be a […]
Being Direct
Every eldership I have ever worked with I have told up front that I will trust them and that I expect for them to tell me anything I would need to know including any criticism that they are directing toward me. This is a very important thing to establish in any important relationship. Often we […]