
When Ministry is Difficult
Ministry has difficult seasons. There is always an ebb and flow related to leading and dealing with people. Take time now to consider what kind of leader you will be when you enter the dry season. Prepare now for those times. Don’t wait for them to catch you all off guard. When those times do come you will be able to lead the team through them easily.

100 Years of Monkey Business
It is fascinating that so many people do not know the longstanding impact of the Scopes Trial in 1925 in the town of Dayton, TN. This month marks the centennial anniversary of one of the most impactful trials to have occurred in the history of the United States. Ultimately, the trial had its genesis as a publicity stunt but would end with a schism that has not managed to heal a century later.

Without Love
Love doesn’t show up the way we tend to think it should, or always does. True biblical love might require a different way of acting, or thinking.

I AM
The four Gospels in the New Testament give accounts of Jesus’ earthly ministry and teachings. They are internally consistent though much different in focus, audience, and end goals. Three, known as Synoptics, look to be more chronological accounts. And then there is John’s gospel. In a sense, John’s gospel stands alone from the other three.

Creating Healthy Conflict
Tension and disagreement are inevitable in the workplace. And there's a difference between healthy and unhealthy conflict. Healthy conflict is vital towards a team’s maturity and growth. The team is better when the members can engage in healthy conflict that allows them to voice their honest thoughts, disagreements, and helps everyone move forward together. Here are ways to encourage productive healthy conflict on your team.

Making the Most of Communication in Marriage
Previously we discussed four types of communication that belong in a healthy and growing marriage. You can’t leave any of them out. Time and again couples focus on the first two or three and stand by while things slowly dry up and distance becomes the norm. As you approach any of these types of communication there are some simple thoughts to help make the most of any conversation. Take a look below.

Becoming a Better Leader
Leadership is a developable skill. It is not static and if left ignored it will erode away. It will atrophy. Good leaders are able to see the big picture, model desired behaviors, and challenge others to be the best version of themselves. Great leaders understand that they can continue to improve these skill sets.

Coaching Your Team Through Conflict
No team avoids all conflict. A bit like the married couple who “never fights”, a team without conflict is likely an unhealthy team. Good teams deal with conflict. Great teams engage in healthy conflict to better the team as a whole. As the leader, if your team is not dealing with conflict you have a serious problem, and might just very well be you. It should be noted that this conflict is not aggressive, or mean-spirited.

Hearing God
Life is an adventure. It is an extremely difficult adventure without a guide. Hearing God in the moments of decision, both large and small, is vital to experiencing the depth of God’s peace in your life.

Habemus Papam
We have a pope! Well, maybe not we. I am admittedly not Catholic. Having spent the majority of my ministry journey in the Southern Baptist realm I did not have the seat of Peter in leadership structure. However, there were plenty of individuals that wanted, and tried, to be a sort of Baptist pope. But I digress. For the first time ever there is United States born pope.

The Hidden Powder Keg of Insecurity
Simmering under the service of many people is a steadily building pressure of insecurity. Every person deals with a level of uncertainty, or self-doubt. Those are pretty normal parts of life. Will this new recipe taste good? Will my meeting with this potential new client turn into a sale? Insecurity goes well beyond these sorts

Three Rules for Life
We are limited people. An individual person simply cannot accomplish everything there is to do and certainly is not able to survive where everything is urgent, or important. It is a reality of the world in which we live. We all have limitations.

Leading Through Uncertainty
The past several years have been anything but stable. The entrance of COVID into our vocabulary, the political swings, financial pressures, and so much more have seemingly redefined life as we know it. Life appears to be marked by a feeling of anxiety, or of a general sense of unsettlement.

When Marriage Isn’t Fun
Happily ever after, right? Marriage was supposed to be all rainbows, puppies, and roses. The two of you are going to wake up every morning at the same time, with great smelling breath and stare googly-eyed at each other. But marriage will go through seasons. Marriage is a man and woman who are broken in sin covenanting together to work through all the seasons together.

Decoding Discipleship Myths: Grow on My Own
Far too many myths exist within the church about what it means to grow spiritually and how a church facilitates that growth. The goal of these articles is to identify those myths and give thought to how to possibly overcome those myths within your organization.

Fighting Mission Creep
Left to its own devices, any organization whether for profit or non-profit, will drift off its center line of mission. There are instances where that drift is ultimately positive because of advancements in the industry, or changes in the market.

Decoding Discipleship Myths: Sacred versus Secular
We have become a compartmentalized people. We have lost in many the classical educational truth of the interconnectedness of things. We separate the parts of our lives into different areas. Perhaps it is rooted in the Greco-Roman Hellenistic grounding of our society, or the lightning rod belief of separating church and state.

Decoding Discipleship Myths: Knowing Scripture is Enough
Far too many myths exist within the church about what it means to grow spiritually and how a church facilitates that growth. The goal of these articles is to identify those myths and give thought to how to possibly overcome those myths within your organization.

Decoding Discipleship Myths: Your Sermon is Enough
It is often innocent enough as an assumption, but that is exactly what it is, an assumption. The senior pastor assumes that all the people of the church just need the sermon for spiritual growth. So groups are given discussion guides, or a series of questions, to come together in their small groups to talk about the sermon from that Sunday morning. Of course, the expectation is that every group member has seen/heard the sermon to some capacity, which is rare.

A Quiet Soul
We have stopped living in a quiet world. Now, that doesn’t have to mean sound in our lives. Take stock for 10 minutes of how many notifications come across your phone. How many emails? How many messages? How many news updates? How many dings, pings, and vibrations happen in your life in any given amount of time. Our world has become loud.