“They killed the boy.” That was the explanation a Bible professor once gave me for why Jesus wasn’t a good model of leadership. The Christian scholar had been describing how, many years before, a subordinate had proposed holding a pastor’s…
Emotional intelligence as a leadership strategy
Emotional intelligence is crucial for achieving leadership success. It enables us to truly connect with our teams. Without emotional intelligence, we may overlook many unspoken cues. As defined by Mental Health America, emotional intelligence refers both to comprehending your own…
A call for the church to reclaim biblical leadership
When U.S. President Donald Trump called Christianity Today a “left-wing rag” in December 2019, he was responding to an editorial by Mark Galli titled “Trump Should Be Removed from Office.” Trump fired back, claiming, “I have done more for the…
The inevitable invisibility of aging women in the church
In a 2019 essay for The Atlantic, Akiko Busch asks, “How might a woman’s identity evolve when she can go unrecognized, when she is no longer under the gaze of others?” The essay asserts an ultimate freedom of choice: because…
I just left The United Methodist Church for an Alliance of Baptists congregation
Those of us in the Mainline Protestant traditions who still find community in church settings often feel an allegiance to whichever denomination we were raised in. In my case, I was baptized and confirmed in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and…
Little League coach’s speech: Home run, foul or something else?
If the speech were a hard-hit baseball, it was high, deep and down the baseline. Some say it was a home run. Some say despite feeling and looking great to many of the “home-team fans” (aka Christians), it went foul….
The leadership house is on fire …
… And it is a good idea to allow it to burn to the ground. Then we can stand around its ashes in solidarity as we work to allow the emergence of a new way to practice the important craft…
Six things I’ve learned in 30 years as a pastor of a good church
Last summer, Alexander Lang created something of a stir in the world of vocational clergy when he published “Departure: Why I Left the Church” to tell his story of stepping away from parish ministry. BNG readers would find points of…
The 1 percent church
Last week, I shared my story about serving as a megachurch pastor. This week, I’d like to tell you about my experience leading a small-membership rural church. The two pastorates could not be more different. Most of my 40-year ministerial…
Don’t call it burn-out
Earlier this month, Alexander Lang’s blog post “Departure: Why I Left the Church” lit up clergy social media. To date, it has garnered north of 380,000 views. The day it hit, I saw it on the Facebook feeds of three…
I left the pastorate while still loving it
Leaving the pastorate of my congregation in June was the hardest vocational decision I’ve yet had to make. After reading Alexander Lang’s recent article, “Departure: Why I Left the Church,” I wanted to write about leaving my church while still…
Why I’ve stayed
On Aug. 27, Alexander Lang preached his last sermon at First Presbyterian Church in Arlington Heights, Ill. A few days later, he wrote a column titled “Departure: Why I Left the Church.” Since then, I have seen Lang’s column shared…