Category Archives: Prayer

Remember the Loaves: A Leadership Team Experience

At our New Life staff retreats, and occasionally at our staff meetings, we create “being” experiences with God before our “doing” of the actual work. This importance of grounding our doing out of our being is so critical we look for as many creative ways to keep ourselves grounded in Jesus. I have received many requests over the years from teams for this material. In response, I provide a sample called “Fire” in The Emotional Healthy Leader book in the “Culture and Team Building”. The following is another that I have used multiple times over the years and am planning to speak on at our upcoming Emotionally Healthy Leadership 2016 Conference on April 20 and 21. Feel free to use this personally and with your leadership team. The miracle of Jesus’ multiplication of the loaves and fishes is the only miracle, besides the resurrection, that occurs in all four gospels. It is that important!. Read more.

10 Reasons We Don’t Let Go

Jesus models for us a letting go of control, earthly power, and reputation. He empties Himself at the cross, trusting in the goodness and love of the Father. God intends that we follow the same path. Yet, in situations both the large and small, we find this incredibly difficult. Why? I have been wrestling with our dilemma for months. Last week I preached a message on this entitled: The Cross: The Deepest Wisdom of God. Afterwards, I found myself listing the top reasons why I, along with so many others, continue to resist the very thing (our need to let go of control) that is the rich source of so much life and power. The following are my top ten reasons: Fear. Is it any wonder God says to us over and over again in Scripture—Do not fear? Things will fall apart. That is true – at least the things that God never intended. Read more.

The 10 Laws of Respect

In our early years of equipping marriages at New Life, Geri and I regularly used a very helpful curriculum called Third Option. We soon discovered, however, that a few of their concepts also were applicable beyond marriages for the reshaping of the culture of our family and teams at church. This included a definition of respect as “how we treat each other” (over against how we think or feel about a certain person at a given moment). Initially, we kept these “Bill of Rights” posted on our refrigerator to serve us in the first steps of our journey into emotionally healthy spirituality. These are the simple “Respect” guidelines: I, and others, have a right to: Space and Privacy Be Different Disagree Be Heard Be Taken Seriously Be Given the Benefit of the Doubt Be Told the Truth Be Consulted Be Imperfect and Make Mistakes Courteous and Honorable Treatment Imagine how our churches, families, and. Read more.

The Challenge of Culture and Team Building

Creating healthy cultures and teams are among the most important tasks for every leader, especially Christian leaders. Why? The kind of cultures God has called us to create and develop is radically different than that of the world. Next week on Tuesday, March 8th, I will be offering a free Webinar on this theme. Click HERE to register. While building culture is more an art than a science, a few characteristics are indispensable to emotionally healthy culture and team building. Work Performance and Personal Spiritual Formation are Inseparable The Elephants in the Room are Acknowledged and Confronted Time and Energy are Invested in the Team’s Personal Spiritual Development The Quality of People’s Marriages and Singleness is Foundational What I love most about these live Webinars is the time dedicated to real life case studies and Q & A. It takes beyond the main points written into the crucible of nuanced. Read more.

The 5 C’s of Emotionally Healthy Hiring

Hiring is, perhaps, the most challenging tasks of leaders. Why? Poor discernment in this area results in stalled momentum, lots of extra meetings, and, often, hurt relationships. I am not an expert on hiring, but I have made plenty of costly mistakes over the years. 5 C’s summarize what I call “emotionally healthy” hiring: Competence. This is on every list of hiring – and should be. Does the person have the skills, knowledge, and ability to do the job? I overlooked asking hard questions in this area for years when I had great “chemistry” with the person, had history or friendship, or had become impatient waiting for God’s provision. I have never made a good hiring decision under pressure. Calling. Does this potential person discern God is in this for the next step of their journey with Jesus? As we pray, do we believe God is in this? What does their spouse hear from. Read more.

The Good Gift of Our Masculinity and Femininity

One of our most challenging tasks of leaders is to apply the revelation of God in Scripture, both clearly and pastorally, to the burning issues of our day. Gender, sexuality, and marriage are among those issues. From the Supreme Court to the White House, from entertainment to business, from education to communications, a massive shift has taken place in our culture. At New Life Fellowship last week, Geri and I preached on “Becoming a Good Gift in Your Masculinity and Femininity.” We are not same-sex attraction or gender identity experts, and we continue on our own journey of study and reflection. Yet we felt the urgency to begin addressing these themes for both our marrieds and singles more strongly. So, with humility, we offer this sermon to you for your prayerful consideration. Click below to watch the sermon or listen to the audio link. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN P.S. The following is an. Read more.

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