Thursday, January 05, 2017

On the Net: "3 Mistakes Leaders Make When Starting a New Year" and More


3 Mistakes Leaders Make When Starting a New Year

Here is a typical scene the week after Christmas...

A leader gets some rest, feels rejuvenated, and the burden to lead the team better in the New Year starts to grow. The leader reads a book, favorites a dozen blogs, listens to some leadership training on a variety of topics, and is fired up for the first meeting with the team he/she leads. In the midst of the enthusiasm, here are 3 common mistakes leaders make as a new year begins.... Read More

Five Keys for a Church Leader to Leave Well

Yesterday, I stood up before Church of the Highlands, alongside my worship and family pastor, Jonathan, and told our faith family that Jonathan and his wife are moving to New York City to join the staff of Salem Church in Staten Island. He is leaving really well, and it spurred me to write this blog post for other church staff members to learn how to leave well, too. Read More

Preaching on Controversial Topics

Answering the questions of when, why, what, and how to preach on difficult topics. Read More

The Best Encouragement to Pray

God hears prayers. It’s what He does. Read More

11 Signs You Are an Emotionally Mature Christian

Why do so many Christians make lousy human beings? It’s partly a failure to biblically integrate emotional health and spiritual maturity. Read More

Are You Overexposed and Underdeveloped? 5 Questions to Ask

I once heard Howard Hendricks say that a lot of people’s lives are like poor photographs: overexposed and underdeveloped. I think that’s true of pastors, too. Many of us are overexposed. We know many people and spread ourselves very thin relationally, but our private lives are underdeveloped.

We need to balance our lives if we want to stay in ministry for the long haul. Why? Read More

Why You Probably Don’t Need a Quiet Time

Lately, however, your devotional habits have languished. In light of the struggle, privately you’ve been doing a little spiritual cost/benefit analysis about the whole enterprise.

Relax. Why stress about it? Who wants their spiritual life to be a struggle? Let me help you see why you probably don’t need a quiet time anyway. Read More

7 Reasons to Read the Bible Today

...the Bible begins with, “Then God said, ‘Let there be light’” (Gen. 1:3), ends with “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming quickly’” (Rev. 22:20), and includes thousands of such expressions in-between. When you hit these kinds of statements, consider these reasons to read the Word today.... Read More

Must Christianity Change Or Die? Yes – If That Change Is In A Conservative Direction

A top academic has defended a five-year study that found conservative churches grow faster than liberal ones. Read More

The Revolution That Enslaves

The most far-reaching, epochal revolution in American history began about fifty years ago and is now reaching its zenith. No war has been fought in terms of military conflict, but this revolution has killed millions of unborn people. Approximately three thousand lives, in fact, will be lost to this revolution before midnight tonight. And this number does not include the revolution’s other casualties. Read More

Taking Back Christianese #7: “America is a Christian Nation”

Our purpose in this post (as in all the posts in this series) is simply to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of this phrase. We will do this by asking three questions: (1) Why do people use this phrase? (2) What is correct or helpful about this phrase? and (3) What is problematic about this phrase? Read More

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