Leadership

Many years ago, I found myself in what felt like an impossible leadership situation. Almost ALL of my problems came down to one insecure leader. And I felt like my only solution was to quit. I mean, I felt like I had tried EVERYTHING; yet, nothing was working! So, one day, I was whining to God…

Have you ever had a “Holy Hangover?” “What is it?” you ask? Well, it’s a numb euphoria mixed with exhaustion and shepherding stress. For years, as a senior pastor, I used to hate Easter. Part of it was because every year our church would experience record lows in attendance on Easter – partly because 70%…

Over the last 2 decades of full-time ministry, I’ve made a lot of leadership mistakes!  There are messages I wish I could take back – meetings that I should have never called.  There are some days when I’m totally amazed that anyone has stuck with me over the years… including my wife 😉 For example,…

Have you ever wondered why some people can say “difficult” things and people receive it, while others simply open their mouths and people freak out? Over the years, I’ve noticed that two different people can share the exact same truth to another person; yet, to the one people respond with anger and rebellion and to…

We love to hate healthy people, don’t we? Whenever my wife judiciously orders a salad at a restaurant, it reminds me that my triple-patty bacon burger is a heart-attack waiting to happen. And studies show that the same is true with generosity… yet, we rarely admit it. It’s no secret that most people hate greed.…

A new Harvard study recently found out that I’m awesome. What I mean is, the study found out that sarcasm appears to have some fascinating scientific benefits. And because sa rcasm is one of my spiritual gifts, I’m freaking amazing. (And by the way, I’m being sarcastic – for those of you who have special…

If you had to choose between truth or happiness, which would you prefer? A recent study at the University of Texas asked this question. Interestingly, 58 percent chose happiness and 42 percent, truth. I.e., the majority of people would rather be blissfully ignorant and happy. And honestly, I can relate to this. For years, my…

When I gave my life to Christ, I experienced a deep sense of joy and freedom in knowing that I was loved by God and forgiven for all of the less than perfect things I had done. Truly, repenting for my past mistakes was exhilarating; knowing that I received God’s free gift of grace made…

We all want our jobs to get better. And according to research, autonomy (the ability to govern oneself) is one of the higher predictors of job satisfaction – especially in creative or problem solving jobs. When people have more control over their schedules, deadlines and work-hours, it can have a significant affect on your stress.…

Growing up, I never really had any “enemies.” Sure, I got into a few scraps; but, I never had people who hated me. For the most part, I tried to value people even if they were a bit strange – & share my opinion with humility. So you could imagine how weird it was when…