I was in Memphis one snowy morning recently. A CRM teammate we affectionately call “Hound Doggie” and I were designing curriculum for the upcoming reFOCUS:Atlanta conference when his cell phone rang. “Hi Honey… OK… Are you OK? Are the kids OK? Don’t worry about a thing. Stay put and I’ll be there in ten minutes.” […]
Squared off to Bunt (part four) Read More »
This is the 50th blog entry on distinctions I often make in coaching. For close to a decade, it’s been my privilege to coach pastors, primarily. Invariably, our conversations center on leadership. And, because of the inseparable link between the two: on character. Pastors who lead well do so because of who they are. Who
Squared off to Bunt (part two) Read More »
In many quarters of the Church, the contemporary understanding is that Christianity is lived in the passive voice. Wikipedia says: “the passive voice denotes the recipient of the action (the patient) rather than the performer (the agent).” The assumption is that the Christ-follower empties herself of all ambition and self-determination and simply waits, patiently, for
Which Will? (part six) Read More »
How does a minister develop tenacity … particularly when the surrounding culture is increasingly committed to relieving tension—in the short run—without regard to the long term consequences? Tenacity is defined as the capacity to stick—like super glue—to one’s commitments. The word comes from the Latin tenere which means “to hold”. In a culture that, over the
The Long View (part three) Read More »
We’re considering the importance of sustained commitment; commitment to vision borne of God though impossible to be actualized in the here and now. Our example is the Duomo di Firenze: an architect’s vision of a majestic cathedral with a dome so immense that it could not have been built when he conceived it. At 142
The Long View (part two) Read More »
As a coach to pastors and Christian influencers, I’m sometimes surprised at the vacillating commitment of we who claim to be Christ’s. I completely understand that life gets tough … so much so that, at times, I want to tear the hair from my head. What I struggle to appreciate is the apparent over-arching power
The Long View (part one) Read More »