Leadership
Let’s Not Trade Unity for Clicks
I’m writing this post even as I’m supposed to be writing my sermon for Sunday. But there is just something God has put on my heart and so deeply convicted me about that I have to share it. A few days ago I had a conversation with a wonderful, well-known pastor in my area. He’s…
Read MoreWhat We Don’t Want to Hear: Leadership Is Hard
We live in an age when distrust of leaders is, perhaps, at an all-time high. I don’t have any statistics to verify that. However, if my Facebook and Twitter feeds are a reasonable sample, if the blogs and columns and books I read are an indication, people today just don’t like the people who lead…
Read MoreWhat Advent is and Why We Should Celebrate
There is something really wonderful about the word, advent. When you Google the word, one of the definitions you get is: the arrival of a notable person, thing or event. We know this word from other contexts besides religions. We say things like, “Since the advent of the automobile . . . .” Or “Since…
Read MoreEvangelism as a Journey Instead of a Deal
I’ve been reading quite a few books on evangelism lately for some of my Mdiv work at Trinity. I don’t agree with all that I have read, but one of the things that I think I’m learning is the simple idea that evangelism is less of a “deal” that we must close and more of…
Read MoreThree Pitfalls for Young Evangelical Leaders
I’m young. I’m an evangelical. And I’m a leader (at least of my family, my church, and in some disconnected sense, to my small audience of readers). It’s exciting to be a leader, but it’s also sobering and carries many responsibilities. As I interact and read some of the work of the evangelicals in my…
Read MoreWhat We Really Should Be Teaching Our Kids
Last Thursday, during the Thanksgiving meal we hosted at our house, my son, Daniel Jr (age 4) had an epic meltdown over a superheros costume. My brother, Tim, was the recipient of much of this. After dealing with Daniel’s tantrum, we both went our way, sharing times with our family members, eating more pie, and…
Read MoreThe Surprising Fruit of Balance
It would be hard to find a more boring word in ministry circles than “balance.” There is a lot of talk about being “radical”, “edgy”, “relevant”, etc. But balance sounds rather unhip. But I’m finding this word may be the key to lifelong, steady, sustained ministry success. There is a part of all of us…
Read More5 Things Leaders Can Learn From the Presidential Debates
So the Presidential debates are about a week behind us. This election is heading toward it’s conclusion (Thankfully). Unlike previous election years, the debates have had a dramatic effect on the race. Personally, I have found them fascinating and interesting. And I wonder if Christian leaders can draw some lessons from these debates as we…
Read MoreWhen We Add Stuff to the Bible, We Hurt People
Orthodox evangelicals believe in something called a “closed cannon.” In other words, we believe the Bible as it is presently constructed-39 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament-are the complete, written, inspired, inerrant Word of God. This matters for lots of reasons, but two big ones: a) we have all…
Read MoreThe Echo Chamber of Leadership
Unless you were living under a rock (in which case I envy you, actually), you read, heard, or watched the brouhaha surrounding Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin, a staunchly prolife candidate who conflated issues of rape with abortion. What he said on TV was not only horrific, it offended a lot of people and essentially…
Read MoreWhat Is Your Thing?
As a pastor I meet a lot of interesting Christians. I have people who attend my church, people who call or stop by to promote their ministry in our church, and/or people who send me information via email or mail. The common theme is that every Christian seems to have a “thing.” That is to…
Read MoreFriday Five: Tyler Braun
Tyler Braun is a pastor from Portland, Oregon, where he lives with his wife Rose. His first book, Why Holiness Mattters releases August 1st. You can find Tyler on Twitter, Facebook, or his blog, manofdepravity.com. The title of your book is Why Holiness Matters, so in a nutshell, can you tell us why it matters? So many of us have whittled down…
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