Category Archives: Leadership

Emotionally Healthy Leadership: 8 Unique Challenges

I spent most of my adult life reading great leadership books. EHS led me on a journey, however, to recognize there were unique issues to church leadership that were rarely discussed. I have identified eight unique leadership challenges, each of which is powerful and far reaching in their implications. Each is worthy of a chapter or a book itself. I have crafted them in the form of tensions that we hold as leaders. 1. Dual Relationships- Supervision and Being Friends We are a church family and we often hire our friends who then become our employees. The result is I become both your pastor/spiritual leader/supervisor and friend. Which is it? We hire people we mentor and then they become our employees with a contractual agreement and money is exchanged. We are naïve to admit that all things are equal. They are not when we have the power to fire or increase/decrease someone’s pay. The. Read more.

Autism, Slaughterhouses and the Spiritual Life (Temple Grandin)

We (Geri and Pete) recently watched a movie that we have talked about for days – Temple Grandin. The movie describes her life as an autistic young girl who courageously overcomes the limitations and severe challenges of life with autism in the 1960’s when so little was understood about it. She goes on to high school and college, and today is a professor at Colorado State University. Through the telling of her life with autism, Temple gives to the world numerous gifts. Two of those gifts, in particular, resonated deeply with two of our foundational spiritual practices. 1.We Each Need a “Squeeze Machine.” Temple created this “hug box” or “squeeze machine” to help calm her down as a hypersensitive, autistic person when overwhelmed. We too know what it is like to have our nervous system overloaded by the crisis of life. Every one of us needs a means to calm us down and to. Read more.

A Call to Learn from Leadership Experts AND the Broader Church

I am amazed at how open the church is to learn from some of the best organizations and leaders about how we can more effectively run our churches (e.g. Jack Welch, Steve Jobs, Tony Blair, Jim Collins, Patrick Lenzoni, Disneyworld, etc.). I applaud this. I believe the Leadership Summit (WCA), for example, is a wonderful event and gift to the broader church. What is puzzling, however, is how little attention is given to learn from the Eastern Orthodox churches, Roman Catholics, or the riches of church history prior to the Reformation. We have much to glean from the church fathers, for example, yet I am not sure many church leaders would flock to a conference on their insights for the 21st century church from Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, Terullian, Perpetua, Origin, Athanasius, John Chrystostom and Augustine. We joyfully embrace God coming and speaking to us through a secular business leader. I am not. Read more.

A Call to Learn from Leadership Experts AND the Broader Church

Quit Living Someone Else's Life

Toward the end of his life, Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw was asked what person in history he would most like to have been. He responded by saying he would most like to have been the George Bernard Shaw he might have become but never did. How about you? Whose life are you living — your own or someone else’s? The pressure on Jesus to live someone else’s life was enormous. Yet, by the power of the Holy Spirit and in communion with God, he stayed true to his own life and purpose, finishing the work the Father had given him (John 17:4). Four practices that provide trustworthy guidance for this journey: Discover Your Integrity The journey of living your life instead of someone else’s begins when you discover your integrity. This requires recognizing and defining what is important to you. When helping someone who is struggling with an inner conflict, I often ask, “What is. Read more.

Emotionally Healthy Preaching

During my summer vacation (or mini-Sabbatical), I had the opportunity to visit a few churches. I heard some well-delivered sermons with excellent illustrations, sharp deliveries, and technological grabbing support. I had, however, some observations that, I think, are worth pondering about what makes preaching out of a paradigm of emotional healthy spirituality quite distinct. While this is not meant to be an exhaustive list, this is what I would like to say to myself and my fellow-communicators who have the unique privilege to speak for God to His people out of what I heard this summer: 1. This is not about us or our validation. It is not about people moving towards us but towards Jesus. 2. We must preach out of deep place of prayer as foundational to our preparation. 3. Respect complexity. especially as it relates to applications. What does it mean, “God wants us to triumph?” “Position yourself properly?” Praise God sacrificially?” “Trust. Read more.

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Category Archives: Leadership

Autism, Slaughterhouses and the Spiritual Life (Temple Grandin)

A Call to Learn from Leadership Experts AND the Broader Church

A Call to Learn from Leadership Experts AND the Broader Church

Quit Living Someone Else's Life

Emotionally Healthy Preaching

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