The Unreasonableness of Being Reasonable (part four)

Christian Leadership, Courage, Leadership Skills, Leading, responsibility, Uncategorized

Leadership Courage Series # 28 Within a larger conversation concerning courageous leadership we’ve been examining the outworking of placing “an unreasonable faith in reasonableness” – a central tenet of much of post-Enlightenment Christendom in the West.  I am indebted to Edwin Freidman’s A Failure on Nerve for illuminating this characteristic of the anxious, shallow, quick-fix […]

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The Unreasonableness of Being Reasonable (part three)

authenticity, Christian Leadership, Courage, integrity, Leader Development, Leadership Skills, Leading

Leadership Courage Series # 27 Pastor, who you are is more important than anything you say. Who you are is more important than everything you say! This Leadership Courage Series is a call to the courageous, risky life leaders lived in the Church of the New Testament.  It stands in glaring contrast to the lifestyle

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The Unreasonableness of Being Reasonable (part two)

2 Comments / character development, Christian Leadership, Courage, Emotional Maturity, Leadership Skills, Leading

Leadership Courage Series # 26 Edwin Friedman in his stellar work A Failure of Nerve challenges his readers to “disengage from an unreasonable faith in reasonableness.” It seems that the Church in North America is reasonable if it is anything, and that reasonableness has got us stuck. “Syncretism” is what scholars call it. I call

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The Unreasonableness of Being Reasonable (part one)

Christian Leadership, Courage, Leadership Skills, Leading

Leadership Courage Series # 25 For a number of months we’ve been looking at Christian leadership from what I hope are refreshing and resourceful perspectives. The genesis of this entire series is A Failure of Nerve by the late Edwin Friedman.  I am again indebted to him for sparking today’s thoughts with his charge to

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Undermine the 80/20 Rule (part three)

character development, Christian Leadership, Courage, Emotional Maturity, Leadership Skills, Leading, responsibility

Leadership Courage Series # 24 Here’s a final look at the 80/20 Rule and its connection to the culture of cowardice in the North American Church.  And, it may be hard to hear. Could it be that a distorted substitute for biblical grace has taken the Church? Consider how little the Church asks of Christians…

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Undermine the 80/20 Rule (part two)

Change dynamics, character development, Christian Leadership, Leader Development, Leadership Skills, Leading, responsibility, Strategy

Leadership Courage Series # 23 We’re looking at another characteristic of the culture of cowardice that’s become normative in North American Christianity: the 80/20 Rule is flourishing!  As senior pastor, elder, or lay leader, what can you do to Undermine the 80/20 Rule in your congregation? One: Think like a people-developer, not a gatherer of

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Undermine the 80/20 Rule

3 Comments / character development, Christian Leadership, Discipleship, Emotional Maturity, Leader Development, Leadership Skills, Leading, Strategy

Leadership Courage Series # 22 Why is it that 20% of the people in our churches are doing all the giving, all the serving, all the ministry? What if we who lead have actually established the culture that reinforces 80/20? What are we communicating such that the vast majority of church dwellers feel great about

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The Adventurous Life #3

2 Comments / character development, Christian Leadership, conflict, Courage, Emotional Maturity, Leader Development, Leading, responsibility

Why is it that the Christian life is such an adventure? What has your experience been, following hard after God, as best you know? In my life, I repeatedly find myself in dilemmas that are completely beyond my ability.  This was far less common before I surrendered my life to Christ.  Now, it seems, the

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