Category Archives: Discipleship/Formation

Endings in Leadership

I don’t like endings.I prefer not to ask: “What is it time to let go of in my life right now? And what is standing backstage in my life waiting to make its entrance?” Endings are painful and slow. I like to know exactly what is God’s new beginning before I end something. I have written about embracing grief and loss so that God’s resurrections might come in The Emotionally Healthy Church and in Emotionally Healthy Spirituality.Yet, after 25 plus years of leadership, I found William Bridges and his book entitled, Transitions:Making Sense of Life’s Changes filled with golden nuggets around this process. He breaks down our transitions to three key elements: 1.Endings. You can’t have new beginnings without endings. Neither nature, nor God, work that way. When I have tried to keep a program, a staff position, a ministry, or a role alive when it was ending, it has died regardless. The only. Read more.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Applications for Leadership

I recently finished Eric Metaxas’ Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. It was, by far, the best biography on Bonhoeffer I have read. After pondering his life, the following were three key questions I asked myself: 1. Do I really have the courage to follow Jesus wherever He leads? Between his natural talents and upper-class, family connections, Bonhoeffer could have done anything with his life. Yet he became a pastor and theologian. When Hitler came to power in Germany, passing legislation that German Jews without Aryan blood be removed from the German Christian church, Bonhoeffer immediately saw the contradiction. He was one of the first to speak out: “Only he who cries out Jews can sing Gregorian chant.” We must “speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves” (Proverbs 31). As a result, he lost his position, his security, his reputation, his opportunity to marry the woman he loved, and his life out of. Read more.

Gordon MacDonald – Wisdom after 50 years of Leadership

I did a year-long internship at Grace Chapel when I was a seminary student many years ago. I did that in order to learn from Gordon MacDonald, the senior pastor at the time. Over the last 30 years, God has used Gordon as a key mentor in my life. (He is now 72 years). Last week, at the Germany Willow Creek Summit, we had a great deal of time together. The following are the key points of the message he delivered last week at that conference. His text was: ‘”I have fought the good fight, finished the course…”(2 Tim.4) Here are some things MacDonald said you can anticipate as a leader over the long-haul: 1. You can anticipate periodic brokenness and rebuilding. “I have been broken so badly (in leadership) it is a wonder the pieces ever got put back together again. You have a choice you must make every day. Most people will. Read more.

My Top 10 Books: Fall/Winter 2011

When I was asked recently about the best books I read in 2011, I soon realized the challenge of trying to limit it to a top ten. In my case here, I have eleven. The following list is not in order of importance: 1.The Mindful Brain: Reflection and Attunement in the Cultivation of Well-Being, by Daniel Siegel. This was impactful in understanding the neuroscience and research for emotionally healthy skills and contemplative spirituality if we are doing to do transformational discipleship in our churches. 2. Echoing Silence: Thomas Merton on the Vocation of Writing, edited by Robert Inchausti. I love writing. It is art to me, not business. His integration of prayer along with writing as a calling was a wonderful gift to me in my own efforts to be faithful to God as a writer. 3. Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke. Again, impactful for my leadership and writing. His. Read more.

Spiritual Direction for Leaders

Can we serve as effective leaders in Christ’s church who lead others spiritually without receiving spiritual direction ourselves? I do not think so. I speak here not simply from the witness of church history but also from my own journey of mistakes and failures. God has recently cemented this lesson in me as I have reflected on a recent decision I made that I wish I had more fully explored in spiritual direction. We don’t talk about the term “spiritual direction” very often in the context of leadership, yet helping people respond to what God is uniquely doing in them is one of the most important things we do. At the same time, being under spiritual direction is also critical. Eugene Peterson, in Working the Angles, warns us: “Our position requires that we act with authority; our faith requires we live in submission. While we are busy passing out the Lord’s commands in our. Read more.

The Hidden, Invisible Presence of Jesus

Yesterday, at our NLF staff Christmas party, I led a devotional around Bruegel the Elder’s Census at Bethlehem painting from the 16th century. Using Juliet Benner’s guide in Contemplative Vision: A Guide to Christian Art and Prayer, I shared out of the overflow of how God met me in this portrayal of Luke 2:4-5. As Mary and Joseph approach the village to register for the census (See her on a donkey on the center right), we see a crowd of people seeking to get into the inn. We also observe many others carrying heavy loads burdened by the harshness of their lives. Each is so engrossed and absorbed in their own affairs and activities that Mary, Joseph and Jesus are invisible to them. Would I have turned to Mary or Joseph and asked about their story if I were there? Probably not. I suspect I would have been too busy. God is so close. Read more.

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