Lesson #1: You need a wingman

  Note:  See December 27 entry for back story. One lesson I learned from my Argentinean driver was simply to team up. While Janet and I sat in the back, our driver brought along a helper in the passenger seat. His passenger basically acted as a wingman, dealing...

Lessons from an Argentinean driver

  “This is worst I have ever seen it. This traffic is the worst in my life.”  These were the words of our very experienced driver as we tried to make our way across Buenos Aires to the international airport. Janet and I were celebrating our anniversary in...

The high jump

Where should we set the bar in training people to do ministry? It’s tempting to set the bar too high too fast. An athlete training for the high jump wouldn’t start with the bar seven feet high. He or she would start much lower and then work their way up with...

Bring your team

I attended a conference recently where some people came as individuals and others came with teams from their churches. One group came with a team of seven people. Although they did some arguing along the way, they will go back with quite a bit of focused interaction...

The cost of release

As leaders, we are tempted to take our best people and keep them tied into institutional responsibilities, which more often than not keeps them away from the mission. We take our business people and put them on boards and committees. We enlist our artists to help...
The soapbox derby

The soapbox derby

When I was 12 years old, I wanted to build a car to race in a soapbox derby. My dad sat down with me and gave me this choice:  “You can do it to have fun or you can do it to win. If you want to do it to win, here’s what it’s going to take….” And he laid out the hours...