What Real Rest Looks Like for a Pastor

What Real Rest Looks Like for a Pastor

Resting isn’t nearly as easy as it sounds. Our traditional definition of rest is simple enough: Do less. A more fleshed-out, biblical understanding of rest, however, is a bit deeper than merely doing less. It’s really doing less to allow time and space...
8 Ways to Stop Biggering and Start Bettering the Church

8 Ways to Stop Biggering and Start Bettering the Church

Remember the Once-ler? From The Lorax by Dr. Seuss? He was a fairly normal guy who wanted to build a big business at the expense of the environment, so he kept “biggering and biggering” until all the trees were gone, the wildlife had vacated the landscape,...
Actually, God Calls the Qualified… Into Leadership

Actually, God Calls the Qualified… Into Leadership

Years ago, a sweet lady in our church handed me a little slip of paper to encourage me on my journey. I unfolded it and it read: God doesn’t call the qualified; he qualifies the called. I’m not sure who said it originally, but I’ve heard and repeated...
Spiritual Warfare and the Lives of Pastors and Church Leaders

Spiritual Warfare and the Lives of Pastors and Church Leaders

The struggle is real. When you drop the phrase spiritual warfare into a casual conversations, you often get mixed reactions. On the one hand, a lot of people are skeptics when it comes to anything invisible or supernatural. In fact, many people will believe in heaven...
3 Components of a Healthy Church Planting Model

3 Components of a Healthy Church Planting Model

We’re so “ether-or” in our viewpoints, aren’t we? We have a tendency to form an opinion, stake a position, and defend it against anything that looks different. Tension can be good. Out of tension flows a creative discussion and differences of...
Boring Preaching Is A Crime! 7 Ways to Be Interesting

Boring Preaching Is A Crime! 7 Ways to Be Interesting

No, this is not a post about the loss of our religious freedom – it’s a reflection on a quote I’ve looked at many times since I first wrote it down about nine years ago at a conference on preaching… If you think the gathering of biblical facts...
5 Arenas of Pastoral Leadership

5 Arenas of Pastoral Leadership

For about a decade and a half of my life as a pastor, I spent a lot of time focusing on being a better church leader. I read books and articles about vision, about church growth methodologies, and about leadership in hopes that I could perform my way into success the...
Great Leadership is Always About Serving Other People

Great Leadership is Always About Serving Other People

The best book I’ve ever read on leadership is – and I’m not merely trying to sound spiritual – the Bible. Jesus was the greatest leader of all time, of course, but there are also many other examples of great leadership in Scripture. Joseph was...
The Best Leaders Are Broken Leaders

The Best Leaders Are Broken Leaders

I am broken. I lead a community of broken people called a church. And we often say, unapologetically, that we are a community of the broken who have good news for the broken. Don’t misunderstand. I don’t mean that we’re “broken” in the...
How to Make Next Year Your Best Year Ever

How to Make Next Year Your Best Year Ever

Think back with me to January One of this year. What were your resolutions? And if you don’t “do” resolutions, what were your intentions? What were your goals and dreams? And how have you done with them? There is a spiritual truth I learned long ago...