Mar 28, 2019 | Abuse, Calling, Criticism, Difficult people, Leadership, Ministry Leader, Missionary, Pastor, Relationships, Uncategorized
Difficult people go to church. I wish it wasn’t true . . . but sadly, it is. Not all people who go to church are difficult. The vast majority are not. But the few who are can make life miserable for a leader. I graduated from Oral Roberts University a...
Jan 31, 2019 | Anger, Difficult people, Ministry Leader, Pastor, People-pleasing, Uncategorized
Have you ever been in a meeting where people were talking (and maybe even shouting), but no one was communicating? I recently sat through one of those . . . it was ninety minutes of sheer torture. Multiple people talking over each other, not listening to each other,...
Aug 23, 2018 | Abuse, Anger, Anxiety, Burnout, Depression, Difficult people, Emotional Health, Pastor, Stress
In 1992, I was the lead pastor of a growing church. We were having a banner year. Highest attendance ever. More people committing their lives to Christ than any year prior in our tenure. Record financial giving. We were in a wonderful stretch of organizational...
Jul 19, 2018 | Abuse, Anger, Bitterness, Depression, Difficult people, Disappointment, discouragement, Emotional Health, Family, Forgiveness, friendship, Loneliness, Relationships, Stress
“Lord, I’m hurting this morning.” Ever prayed that prayer before, or some version of it? I’m not talking about physical pain here—rather, about emotional pain. Especially the variety that issues from disappointing relationships. You know, the kind of pain that feels...
Jun 14, 2018 | Anger, Bitterness, Depression, Difficult people, Emotional Health, Family, Forgiveness, friendship, Relationships, Uncategorized
Do you struggle with the F-word? The last two weeks we’ve been looking at the subject of getting a grip on our anger and learning how to express it in a healthier way. You can’t talk about anger very long without wandering into the minefield of forgiveness. Ugh....
Jun 7, 2018 | Anger, Bitterness, Depression, Difficult people, Emotional Health, Forgiveness, Relationships
We live in an angry world. The age of outrage. In last week’s blog, 5 Things Everyone Needs to Know About Anger, we considered five basics we have to understand: Anger is part of the human experience Anger often involves emotional residue Anger can be the right...
