In the book of Revelation, chapter 2, Jesus makes an impassioned plea to the church of Thyatira: “Hold on to what you have until I come.” “Hold on.” Jesus was speaking about finishing. As the stress and strain of COVID-19…
Can you believe 2020 is less than three weeks away? Near the end of every calendar year, I take time to reflect and write down the two or three most important things I learned during the year. I want to…
“Hi John, I’ve got something I want to propose to you.” The words of my lead pastor three and a half years ago via the cellular airwaves interrupted my smooth-running day. What he was about to propose would interrupt more…
A couple of months ago, Laura and I helped our son Nathan and daughter-in-law Klar move into their first house. I was freshly reminded of the stress moving into a new home places on people: the boxes, the planning, the…
The most influential contributor to the growth of an organization is the growth of its leaders. When a leader stops growing, he/she limits the growth of the entity they lead. They become a bottleneck. A recent survey of business people…
If you’ve answered the divine call to pastoral ministry, you’ve signed up for both a fulfilling and stressful journey. In last week’s post 5 Surprising Stressors Pastors Face we outlined some major contributors to the stress load pastors experience: Difficulty separating…
Healthy leadership . . . so many books written. So much great information to process. But in many ways, healthy leadership is all about alignment. In a post last week, I introduced the concept of personal alignment and how it impacts…
Discouragement is universal to leadership. Every leader, no matter how seasoned or successful, faces moments of despair. “Can I get through this challenge?” “When is this tough stretch going to be over?” “Am I the right guy/gal for the job?”…
“John, I can’t take the pressure anymore . . . I’m thinking about resigning.” You’d be surprised how often those words or some variation of them travel across the cellular airwaves to me each month. Lead pastors who feel desperate, tired,…
