Category Archives: The EHS Course

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.

The Emotionally Healthy Leader: More Than a Book

I wrote The Emotionally Healthy Leader with one primary goal in mind – to profoundly transform the leadership culture in our churches. Why? Long-term, sustainable, and effective mission in the world requires a deep spirituality which informs the way we: build cultures and teams, engage in planning and decision making, handle power and boundaries, and do endings/new beginnings. For this to take place, our leadership teams need time to talk about the core concepts from The Emotionally Healthy Leader for our specific leadership contexts. Towards that end I wrote a free EH Leader Study and Discussion Guide and now have recorded 3-8 minute video introductions on each of the chapters as you launch into the discussion of the book. (These have been immensely helpful for us in our New Life Staff Team discussions). Introduction to the EH Leader Chapter 1: The Emotionally Unhealthy Leader The Inner Life Chapter 2: Face Your Shadow Chapter. Read more.

Patience and the 4-Year Rule

When we take on a new role or position, it is helpful to remember Tertullian’s (155–222 AD) wise counsel: “It is God’s nature to be patient. One of the signs the Holy Spirit has descended is that patience and waiting is always by its side.” A few years ago Bobb Biehl, one of my mentors, shared an application of this principle that has served me well. It is the 4-year rule: When you take on a new position or role, it will take you 4 years to learn it. (This applies even if you have been in the organization for 20 years yet are moving to a new role). Year 1: Orientation – It takes one year to adjust to your new role. By the end of the 1st year, you are beginning to understand where things are, how to relate to co-workers, the strengths and weaknesses of the ministry, etc. Year 2: Experimentation – By the. Read more.

EH Leader Podcast: Embracing Silence

I seriously embraced the spiritual practice of silence 13 years ago, and my relationship with Jesus began to deepen and widen in ways that I never could have imagined. This podcast is our invitation to you to seriously consider deepening your practice of being still before Him (Ps. 37:7). For as Isaac of Nineveh (7th century) said so eloquently: If you love truth, be a lover of silence. It brings you a fruit that tongues cannot describe. In the beginning we have to force ourselves to be silent. But then, a certain sweetness is born in the heart and the body is drawn almost by force to remain in silence. Click the video below to watch or the link to listen to the audio file. LISTEN HERE

The EHS Course – One Answer to the Crisis of Discipleship

A few weeks ago, I posted a blog on the crisis of discipleship in our churches… …based on the recent Barna Report on The State of Discipleship. It discovered, for example, that only 1% of church leaders believe “today’s churches are doing very well at discipling new and young believers.” Moreover, participation in discipleship activities in our churches is as low as 20%! We currently emphasize numbers, and keeping people connected/active. The problem is that, not only is this not changing their lives, but is resulting in minimal missional impact. A transformation discipleship model, however, is quite different. It gets beneath the surface in people’s lives, but results in a greater, long-term impact in the world. Their lives become so filled with Jesus that it cannot help but overflow to others. The EHS Course is the fruit of 20 years of wrestling with the problem of superficial discipleship. We have seen its power. Read more.

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