A strong work ethic is always admired and respected. We all appreciate anyone on the team who works hard. We value people who truly help lift the load, but “How hard do they work?” isn’t a good question. The better question is “How much pressure can they...

Have you ever led someone you felt was a difficult person? Of course you have! This article offers helpful practices that will help you lead better in tricky situations!Loving and Leading Difficult People If you’ve been leading for longer than a week or two,...

What emotion have you most experienced today? Was it joy, frustration, or perhaps impatience? As a spiritual leader, you no doubt experience a number of emotions each day and yet are required to be self controlled, kind and even gentle! (Galatians 5:22-23) That’s...

All leaders communicate. Not all leaders communicate well. Communication is a broader topic than just your Sunday morning or weekend messages. Much of a leader's most important communication takes place in one to one conversations or in small group meetings. But in...

Take a close look at customer service in your church and hopefully take it up a notch or two.On a recent Delta flight from Atlanta to Sacramento, I met a wonderful person named Esther. She was the flight attendant aboard our 4½ hour non-stop flight. I was jazzed...

Do I believe in miracles? The answer: yes! Of course! Then why not pray for miracles more often? If you think about that much, it will quickly challenge you about what you really believe, too.Every summer my family and I read a book together. We've been doing this...

I love baseball. From the crack of a great hit when the ball hits the bat at 95 miles an hour to the smell of a stadium hot dog, baseball is truly one of the great American pass times. Last Friday night (August 2012) Pastor Miles Welch, who oversees our intern...

When I walk through the offices in any church, it doesn't take long for me to have gained an accurate sense of the staff's morale. Volume is usually my first clue. Ok, I'm kidding, but only a little! Teams with high morale don't behave as if they are in a library...

Three things I think are true about a leader in full time ministry. 1. We are called and love what we do. 2. We want to get better at what we do. 3. We need coaching in order to improve. One major problem that prevents church leaders from improving is that we...

You can have anything you want, just not everything you want. That's the mantra our staff hear me say every year as we begin the process of budget construction. It's a true statement, and yet loaded with tensions, and with what can seem like contradictions. Most...

Your church isn't growing and you can't figure out why. That's always a tough place to lead and live. You aren't alone. In fact you may be among the majority of churches in the U.S. that are struggling to grow. For some, on the surface, all seems well. Of course...

If you'll forgive the analogy, I've often thought Easter is a little like Thanksgiving dinner. There is a huge amount of preparation, a big build up, we eat and then it's over. The next day, Christmas decorations are coming out!! Was that really it? It's over?...