The work of teaching and preaching is one of the most important skills of church leaders. But these days, many preachers seem to invest more energy in the external, rather than the internal. It’s easy to obsess over finding the perfect illustration, crafting a catchy “one-liner”, and developing your unique style and voice. In my early days of preaching, this was my story as well. But over time, I realized there were several other deeper components to a sermon that few people were talking about. While the externals are important, it’s the internal work that has the power to transform lives. Today, I’m going to share with you an excerpt of an interview I recently did for Preaching Today. In this interview, I share 6 questions that you must ask if you want to learn how to preach from the inside out.

I want to share something with you that I believe is timely… As a leader, you MUST be aware of the forces coming at you from our western culture. Specifically, there are 4 great temptations you face, each with the potential to sabotage your life and ministry. Every day, leaders are taking the bait. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Today, I share an excerpt from a chapter in my recent book, Emotionally Healthy Discipleship, called “Follow the Crucified, not the Americanized Jesus”. It’s one of the most important chapters in the book. Within it, I explore four temptations from the Evil One that come to all of us –  regardless of our culture, country, age, demographic, or ministry. Only when we recognize and resist these temptations and allow Jesus to meet us, will we be able to lead churches that stay true to Jesus’ mission to make disciples in the whole world.

As a leader, you want a surefire way to know if you are making a difference. But this last year, all normal measurements went out the window. It has been nearly impossible to measure the true impact of our ministries. While counting attendance, online views, and dollars is important, these metrics don’t always tell us if we are hitting the mark and making disciples. Our old scorecards have left leaders disoriented and quite honestly… disappointed. Moving forward, we need to ask different questions in order to measure true success. In today’s episode, I offer a NEW scorecard with 7 new metrics leaders MUST begin to measure. It’s likely you won’t hear about these 7 things in leadership books or church growth conferences. But if you want to lead in a way that actually makes disciples of Jesus, you cannot ignore them. Listen to this episode, to discover 7 questions to measure leadership success.

Culture-making is one of the primary responsibilities of leaders. But changing an existing culture is no easy task. Every family, church, denomination, and nation comes with a deeply ingrained culture that must be addressed head on, in order to create lasting change. In today’s episode, I come at this complex issue by sharing real leadership case studies. I address specific problems and obstacles submitted by 7 church leaders around the world. One by one, I offer practical wisdom for what needs to change in each culture in order to experience true transformation. The details of these stories might be unlike your ministry context, but I guarantee there are great learnings for all of us!

Our lives are a series of endings and new beginnings. Every time something comes to an end we can rest assured that God wants to birth something new. Last year, COVID-19 brought many changes, turns, and endings to life as usual. As we transition into a post-pandemic world and continue to navigate uncertainty, we have the opportunity to turn our eyes to the new work of the Holy Spirit. In today’s episode, I share a message from Acts about how the early church also was confronted by endings and new beginnings. Their secret was not moving forward in their own strength, but rather, trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit. This episode starts with two important questions: What is it time to let go of in your life right now? What new chapter is God wanting to write with your life?   Pete’s hope today is that you would be encouraged to know that. Read more.

The last two years have been a series of cascading crises with no signs of abating. From the pandemic to social justice movements and continued political polarization – our world has only accelerated in terms of seismic change. This creates an incredible amount of pressure for leaders of all kinds – especially in the church. To be leaders who flourish in the future to come, we must step into several important practices and paradigm shifts. In today’s podcast, I explore 3 critical shifts that must take place in order for us to not buckle under the weight of unrelenting pressure.