Teachers live in duality with their students. The students either love or hate the teacher, depending on how the teacher is perceived. Some of that is well earned. Teachers have the power to make or break students. They can be…
Loving Accountability
We might think of accountability in one of three ways. A politician speaks before ravenous reporters and promises that “going forward there will be greater accountability.” We like the idea, and our community’s anger may be somewhat mollified, but deep…
The secret to congregational vitality revealed
The secret is really not a secret. It is well known by many congregational leaders. But, they do not accept it because they are looking for a magic act that brings quick vitality without deep commitment and persistent action. Too…
3 Leadership lessons from Mark Driscoll
Seattle megachurch pastor Mark Driscoll announced he resigned as the senior pastor of 13,000 person Mars Hill Church. This announcement comes after months of a leave of absence and years of controversy. Driscoll’s rise to fame in the Christian world has…
Great Commission and Great Commandment without synergy?
Do you remember where you were and what you were doing on the morning of September 11, 2001? I do too. That is a morning very difficult to forget. I was sitting in the lobby restaurant of a hotel in…
The shocking un-truth about church budgets
By Amy Butler This is, hands down, the least favorite time of year for pastors everywhere: church budget planning season. Nobody likes budget planning, from the tedious work it entails to the way in which money necessarily informs the work…
When pastors live out the mission and vision of their church . . .
. . . it is a thing of great beauty. Recently I spent a couple of days with Samuel Tolbert, the pastor/teacher of Greater St. Mary Missionary Baptist Church in Lake Charles, LA. [See the church at www.gsmmbc.net.] I have…
Texting and discipleship
By John Chandler An extensive Expedia “Road Rage” survey this past spring revealed that seven of 10 American drivers rate their fellow drivers who are texting, emailing or talking while driving as among the most irritating motorists on the road….
Ice bucket do-gooders
By Mark Wingfield Americans have heated up the Internet with the Ice Bucket Challenge in the last two weeks. Unless you’ve just flown in from the Arctic, you know exactly what I’m talking about: The social-media-fueled fundraising phenomenon that’s benefitting…