Blog

Beauty in the Chaos

We moved when I was 11 years old. We moved from one region of the US to a completely different one. While not a country change, it felt in many ways as if we had been flown to an unknown part of the world and left to find our own way. The accents and idioms…
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Fast Food Churchianity

So much has been said already about Covid-19. I still chuckle when I read news stories that call it “the novel Corona virus.” Not too much is novel about it now! With some loosening of restrictions having taken place, I’ve been able to get back out on the road and into our churches and meetings…
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There Are Worse Things Than Dying

Some time ago on a mission trip to the Copper Canyon of north-central Mexico, I met an old man named Condalario. As a young man he had lost part of his arm in a mining accident. He got by doing odd jobs, lived in a cave, wore sandals made from old car tires, and nearly…
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What Followers Need From Their Leaders (pt. 3)

Reliable and copious research shows that followers need four things from their leaders: Trust, Compassion, Stability and Hope. In this tumultuous season when we might be tempted to hibernate (or if we’re like Jonah, board a ship headed in the opposite direction,) our churches instead need our Stability. Your stability–your strength to stand firm–is vital…
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What Followers Need From Their Leaders (pt. 2)

The first one is Trust, with its counterpart, Suspicion. (Read more about that in last month’s newsletter.) According to Gallup, the second element followers need from their leader is Compassion. This research applies to all organizations–including both ministry and business–and reveals compassion as key to employee engagement, and ultimately a fat bottom line. We Jesus-followers have a different…
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What Followers Need From Their Leaders (pt. 1)

Most leaders think that if their vision is clear, their people will follow. But that’s just not true, and the stats prove it. Research juggernaut Gallup finds that in order to consistently respond to a leader, a follower needs four things from that leader. We will explore each of the four components in the next…
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