Category Archives: Leadership

Reflections from EHS trip to Brazil

Just returned from an EHS trip to Brazil to train Pastors and leaders who represented over a hundred thousand people. Here are some “fun facts” and reflections. No black tea in the country. We are tea drinkers  but Brazil is the world’s largest producer for coffee of the last 150 years. We were in tea withdrawal. “Fala ingles?“ When I went to the mall looking for chocolate I could not find anyone who spoke English (I asked at least a dozen people). I bought the wrong chocolate (it was wrapped and I didn’t know it was white chocolate). Sao Paulo alone has enough cars to go around the globe twice. That explains why there are so many auto shops and why a 27 min. ride to the airport takes 90 min. in rush hour. People everywhere. Sao Paulo has 20 million people. NYC has 8 million. But Sao Paul is less than ½ the size of. Read more.

Sabbath: Resisting Powers and Principalities

Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy…Remember you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a outstretched hand. Deut. 5 This issue of Sabbath is a global problem – from Africa to North America to Asia to Europe to Latin America to Australia/New Zealand. We as pastors and leaders must come out from the slave driver, the Pharaoh, that lives inside of us and dominates our culture. Imagine the violent anxiety the Israelites must have felt for 430 years in Pharaoh’s workaholic system. They were always busy and frenetic. They constantly had to prove they were worthy of being alive based on producing more bricks. We may be free physically from Pharaoh, but he continues to live inside of most of us. Our families of origin, along with Western culture with its emphasis on “bigger and better,” keep us working faster and faster. We simply. Read more.

You-Did-It-To-Me

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ (Matt. 25:35-36). Mother Teresa lived her life by the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25:31-46) She wrote:”When Christ said, ‘I was hungry and you fed me,’ he didn’t mean only hunger of bread and for food; he also meant hunger to be loved.” She preached this whenever she could. Holding up her hand with the five fingers extended she would say these five words while closing each finger: “You-did-it-to-me.” As a leader, pastor, father, mother, or coworker, ask God for the grace today to see and treat others with the eyes and heart of Jesus. And see what. Read more.

Power and Dual Relationships

Power, along with dual relationships, is a minefield that has left countless leaders, along with their followers, maimed and disabled. The most painful lessons I have learned in my thirty-five years of Christian leadership have been around power and dual relationships. It has also been one of the greatest means God has used to mature me as a leader. Getting equipped to use our power well in order to free people, especially those closest to us, offers potential to advance Christ’s mission and release joy in ways we have never dreamed. Remaining uninformed, however, exposes us to deadly dangers –both to ourselves and those we aim to serve. I’ve been thinking on this for a number of years and am now writing on it for the book I am working on called: The Emotionally Healthy Leader (Zondervan, 2015). The following is a snippet: The 10 Commandments of Power and Dual Relationships 1. Be prudent, not. Read more.

Doing Less

“It is not how much you give, but how much love you put in the giving.” Mother Teresa Focus on love rather than on the your number of accomplishments today. Focus on how much love you can put into your activities, not how many things you get done. Our “to-do” lists are longer than what God has for us. Jesus wants our love, not our lists. It will change your day.

The 10 Commandments of Technology and Team

My good friend, Lance Witt, has written Ten Commandments for our use of technology that are well-worth disseminating to your team. He expounds on them in chapter 40 of his book, Replenish:Leading from a Healthy Soul. 1. Thou shalt not use e-mail to deliver bad news. 2. Thou shalt not put anything in e-mail that you mind being forwarded…because it probably will. 3. Thou shalt not e-mail (or chat on-line) during meetings. 4. Thou shalt not use “bcc.” 5. Thou shalt be more personal than professional. 6. Thou shalt keep e-mails short and to the point. 7. Thou shalt not text or take calls while in conversation or in a meeting. 8.Thou shalt not call or e-mail people on their day off. 9. Thou shalt use e-mail for prayer and encouragement. 10. Thou shalt give phone/e-mail/Facebook/Twitter (etc.) a Sabbath. What might you add to this list?

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