Periodically I find it necessary to take a step back and reflect on my life, my goals, and the direction I’m heading. Over the summer can be a great time to do that. Get away to the woods, the mountains, the ocean, the lakes… wherever is peaceful enough for you to...
What would you be willing to change? If God wanted you to– say– change the structure of your ministry, would you be willing to do that? What about changing your role in the community or the people you work with? Often in ministry, growth– and even...
Experience isn’t just a matter of having done a lot of stuff or lived a long time. For experience to actually matter, we need to take time to reflect on what has happened and what we’ve done. Effective leaders take time to reflect on what’s going on in their...
As I’ve written about previously on my blog, we always open our gatherings by asking, “How did you experience God this week?” Recently someone responded by talking about how she experienced God by looking back on her life… thinking about the challenging points in her...
Yesterday I wrote about how your greatest strength can also be your greatest weakness. How can that principle apply when you’re trying to help someone else address their area of weakness? I’ve found it works best to first start by using yourself as an example before...
The more you mature as a leader, the more challenging it is for growth. The issues God wants to work on are deeper and not as obvious. Counter-intuitively, the more we grow, the more intentional we need to be about taking time for reflection. How can we do that? We...
Real change and real ministry starts with the leader. That’s you. Are you doing what God would have you do? Are you serving as the hands and feet of Jesus? Is your heart broken for the poor and for the lost? If you are not living into that yourself, with your own...
Quite a few years back when I was finishing up a big project, someone pointed out to me that my drivenness to get the thing done was wearing others out. That comment caused me to reflect on my workaholism and perfectionism and make some adjustments. I recognized the...
This is a question I’ve been hearing others ask of me lately. What’s with all this missional stuff? What’s wrong with the way you were doing ministry before? Yet when I reflect on what I’ve been saying for years, I don’t see any big disconnect. I’ve always said, “Have...
