Two are better than one

Leadership

Lately I’ve been struck by how important it is to have a ministry partner, especially if you’re leading a ministry. It’s not healthy to be by yourself and constantly giving out without receiving. We each need someone to share the load with, someone who is equally as...

How to contextualize training

Leadership, Training

Lately I’ve been working on putting together missional coach training for a couple of different groups. I’ve done quite a lot of these types of trainings over the years, but no two are ever quite the same. Even when two different groups need and want the same basic...

The choice for irrelevance

Leadership

I am 58 years old (soon), and this morning I am speaking to my peers in my own age group because we have an important choice before us. The old ways are no longer working. Church is no longer attractional: “If we put on a really good service and offer really...

The power of modeling

Leadership

A man has been leading one of the 10-week groups we’ve been doing in the transition center. The other day he told me that last night he had one of the residents—a woman in recovery—leading it. “I didn’t tell her that’s what she was doing, but she was leading it. She’d...

Recovery from wounds

Leadership

How do you recover from the wounds received when people hurt you?  Too often people—including Christian leaders—let the wounds fester until they become infected.  Here’s a different strategy.  Although the medicine may taste bitter, it leads to long-term healing....