The pressure to present an image of ourselves as strong and spiritually “together” hovers over most of us. We feel guilty for not measuring up, for not making the grade. We forget that not one of us is perfect and that we are all sinners. We forget that David, one of God’s most beloved friends, committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered her husband. How many of us would have erased that from the history books forever lest the name of God be disgraced? David did not. Instead, he used his absolute power as king to ensure the details of his colossal failure were published in the history books for all future generations! In fact, David wrote a song about his failure to be sung in Israel’s worship services and to be published in their worship manual, the psalms. Can you imagine doing that with our sins! David knew something about the power of brokenness. Read more.

I went to great lengths to prepare myself for leadership as best I could. I accumulated knowledge, skills, and experience from a vast array of Christian arenas. My hope was that no person, trial, difficulty, or circumstance would break me, regardless of the force of the hurricane. I sought to live in the reality that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead was now in me (Eph. 1:19–23). I reminded myself that greater is he who is in me than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4). I prayed like David, “With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall” (2 Sam. 22:30). I was determined to remain stable, firm, consistent, and faithful. I was going to be a warrior, a soldier, and a servant for God and his church. My preparation, however, both formal and informal, left out one of the. Read more.

Your leadership role brings along with it lots of stress and anxiety. So how can you move away from the anxiety caused by the pressures around you to a place of relaxation and trust in Jesus? Our ability to relax is likely directly related to our ability to release control and surrender in full belief and trust that Jesus has the control, not us. In the gospel of John the word “belief” can best be understood as “relax in” or “trust.” How do we get there? We move towards expressing our intent to relax and surrender our will to God’s presence through times of silence and stillness with Him. Listen to Pete’s message based on John 6:16-21 and learn to relax. Blessings, The EH Discipleship Team Help your people learn to cultivate their own deep relationship with Jesus. Live Stream Training Aug 30 @ 1PM ET. Only a few days left to REGISTER.

Being a leader is knowing what to do next, why it’s important, and then bringing the right resources to bear that will make it happen. But sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way. Think of the times where you experienced such great difficulty in your life, ministry, or leadership, that the situation seemed problematic beyond your understanding. As a leader, you may not have reached for the words “I don’t know” or “I don’t understand” as the go-to response to what was happening at the time. And yet a core part of discipleship is being able to say, “I don’t understand, Lord.” In this message, Pete shares why it’s necessary for each of us to go through “Dark Nights of the Soul” where we don’t know what’s going, because these are moments where God pulls us into deeper discipleship with Him. Blessings, The EH Discipleship Team We help church leaders make mature disciples.. Read more.

With the demands that come with leadership, considering how well we are loving our staff, ourselves, and even our families may not be at the top of the “to do” list. It’s so easy to do life without thinking about loving. In this podcast, Pete shares how the truths of 1 Corinthians 13 and learning to really love others impacted him personally, radically changing his leadership and the discipleship culture at the church. As you listen, consider how well are you loving others in your life and leadership. Blessings, The EH Discipleship Team We help church leaders make mature disciples. Learn how. Live Stream Training with Pete August 30th at 1 PM ET. Register here.