Little Things Matter
Just finished watching Apollo 13 for the nth time a few days ago. I usually brag to my boys during the movie “I remember watching that story as it happened in sixth grade.” Yes… I am old. On the evening of April 13, 1970 when the crew was 200,000 miles from Earth and...
Disappointment or Divine Appointment?
Disappointment is a universal emotion. Disappointment is the distance between our expectations and our reality. The gap between what we think should happen and what actually does happen. Disappointment rears its head everywhere. We experience it in sports (I’m a...
Smelling the Roses
Do you ever arrive at mid-afternoon and feel like your brain has turned to jello? Your gray matter is sucking air and running on fumes? You feel this inner urge to slow down… but suffer guilt because of the pile of work on your desk? Laura and I recently concluded a...
The Beauty of Pressure
Laura and I just returned from Montana where we had the privilege of teaching/training in four churches in four cities. If you’ve never been there… allow me to let you in on a little secret… Montana is beautiful. The mountains are spectacular… so gorgeous that they...
Passion… or Adrenaline?
Last week I posted the following question on Twitter and FB: “At what point does passion degrade into an adrenaline addiction?” Here is a sampling of the responses I received: “An indicator may be when we are unwilling to turn it off for necessary, non-adrenaline...
The Big Four-Zero
In 1900, the Ford Motor Company commissioned a series of tests to determine how long a workweek should be to optimize productivity. Ford discovered the "sweet spot" was 40 hours per week. Sara Robinson, in her article Bring Back the 40 hour work week, relays the...
Are You a Transitional Leader?
“It is a scenario familiar to long-suffering wives everywhere. Hopelessly lost on a country road, the man behind the wheel refuses to ask directions, grits his teeth and drives even faster into unknown territory. But while the reluctance of male drivers to accept any...
Forgive? Yeah, Right!
One of the hardest things to do in life is to forgive a person who has deeply wounded you. Forgiveness is usually not the first thing on our mind when we’ve been hurt. We’re more likely to nurse a grudge… become bitter… or plot our revenge. Our initial response to the...
Running on Empty
Ever run out of gas? Had to hike to the service station, grab a rusty gallon can and then hike back to your disabled car? Or the yellow warning light on your gas gauge lights up and you start praying you'll have enough fuel to get to a gas pump? Running on empty is a...
Helping the Little Guppies Navigate the Fishbowl
Today we welcome another voice to the Converge Coaching Blog... Jaime Hlavin. Jaime is a wife, mother to two young girls, and a good friend. Hope you enjoy her contribution ~ John I grew up in an electrician’s home. With that came so much unwanted responsibility....
The Jerkometer
Have you ever made a mistake of gargantuan proportions? About 20 years ago I was trying to fill a critical role on my team. I had interviewed 4 candidates with no progress, and was getting a bit panicky. In front of me was Candidate 5... a person with an impressive...
The Age of Rage
We live in an angry world. Road rage stories grab front-page headlines... and for some commuters are a daily reality. Angry mobs protesting in Ferguson Missouri dominated the nightly news for weeks last fall. Stories of children abused by angry parents never seem to...
A Pastor & His Marriage
Today we welcome a fresh voice to the Converge Coaching blog... Dave Barringer. Dave is a husband, father, a new friend of mine, and the pastor of a growing church. Hope you enjoy his contribution ~ John It was May '99 and I just completed my second year of ministry....
3 REASONS YOU NEED A DAY OFF
When I ask pastors about their day off, I'm often greeted with a blank stare followed by uncomfortable mumbling. Some report they haven't taken a day off in years. And even worse, a few of them are proud of it. They wear their busyness as a badge of honor. Many...
Uncorking the Leadership Bottleneck
The most influential contributor to the growth curve of an organization is the growth curve of its leaders. A recent survey of business people from both large and small organizations revealed that the vast majority of those polled encounter company bottlenecks on a...
Charisma… or Character?
Have you ever noticed that our culture attaches itself to charismatic personalities like seagulls to a bag of french fries? Our national obsession with charisma has a long history. Maybe we need a new obsession. Recently I was thinking back to the 1980s (yes I'm...
The Dilemma of Being a Pastor’s Wife
Today we welcome a fresh voice to the Converge Coaching blog... Mary Selzer. Mary is a life coach, a good friend, and a pastor's wife. Hope you enjoy her contribution ~ John One of the unsolved mysteries in ministry is why God gave specific details for the role of a...
When Life Ends Too Soon
Earlier this week a pastoral colleague went home to be with Jesus (way too soon). I knew Mark from a distance. We weren't close friends; just acquaintances. I taught at his church about 2 years ago. In the few hours I spent with him, I came away impressed with his...
3 Things God Wishes Every Christian Knew
The mantra "You are what you eat" became popular in the 1960s. If true... in light of the recent holiday season... I'm about to morph into a mound of sugar. When it comes to our relationship with Jesus... we really are what we eat. In Psalm 63 King David wrote: "You...
Tortoise… Or Hare?
Most of you know the popular fable of the Tortoise and the Hare. The tortoise challenged the hare to a race that by all odds, the tortoise had no chance of winning. When the starting gun fired, the hare began with a sprint... the tortoise with a slow shuffle. Everyone...
Life’s Not Fair… And I’m Glad
Joseph, the step-father of Jesus, is one of the most interesting people in the Christmas story. He was both a righteous and kind man. An excellent and rare combination. When he learned of Mary's pregnancy, he did not want to disgrace her publicly... so he planned to...
There’s Something About Mary
Christmas arrives in fourteen days! Today my mind is drifting back to the story of Jesus' birth. And my thoughts are on Mary, the mother of Jesus. In Luke 1 we read: "The angel answered Mary, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will...
Christmas: Material or Miracle?
Black Friday... Small-Business Saturday... and Cyber Monday... all have come and gone. I for one am grateful. Don't misunderstand... I like giving and receiving gifts as much as anybody. But I wonder... in the middle of the annual buying frenzy... how many of us...
Nuking the Moon
According to the website todayifoundit.com... the United States once planned on firing a nuclear bomb at the moon. The motivation behind this insane idea was the desire to one-up the Soviet Union during the 1950's space race. Fortunately, the idea was abandoned due to...
The Aptitude of Gratitude
Gratitude and contentment are not natural responses for most of us humanoids. Something in our psyche seems to be wired to default to complaining and negativity. Even the Apostle Paul said: "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances." And a bit later he...
Good vs. Evil
"Woe to those who call evil good and good evil." When the prophet Isaiah spoke those words 2700 years ago, it seems he was speaking directly to our generation... although history teaches us there were former generations who fit this description as well. I don't have...
Living In Between
The Opalewski family is in the middle of moving to a different house for the second time in nine months. Bring on the boxes... the planning... the long hours painting and cleaning... the overall disruption that moving your home inflicts on you.Moving can be...
Are You Busy… or Productive?
2 Chronicles 23:6 says "... all the other men are to guard what the Lord has assigned to them.Assignment... a critical word for a leader. One of the most relentless challenges of leading is staying on mission. Much of the work that confronts a leader pulls him or her...
Forecasting Your Future
"He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm." Proverbs 13:20 (NIV). When my boys were young, I would repeat the mantra... "Your friends are your future... your friends are your future." I made a few unwise friend choices in my early...
The Perfect Job?
It is the dream of many Americans to make a living doing what they love. When you find yourself working in an area that fits your gifts and passion... it can be exhilarating. It can also be exhausting. In the Old Testament, God promised Joshua that He would give the...