As a part of my Master’s in Organizational Leadership from Eastern University I am to conduct a qualitative research project. I wrote about the master’s program in yesterday’s post. Read it HERE. I decided to survey the spiritual health of our church by asking a cross-section of people questions about their own spiritual maturity and growth.
I think Paul is saying to the Corinthians, “You see the immoral culture around you. You don’t have to participate. You can’t choose to be different. You have the ability to flee temptation.” I believe we can love the people of the culture without falling into the sins of the day. It’s a challenge, one that I struggle with daily, but one that is made possible by Christ’s power working in us.
As a leader, I have learned that there are times with the criticism is dead-on and something I need to hear and other times when I need to dismiss it and continue in the direction I feel God has led me to go. Knowing when to accommodate the critic and when to ignore the criticism is a careful balance leaders face often.
Jesus told this parable, not so much about a boy, foolish in his youth who squanders away all his wealth and then comes cowering back to an expectant father. Even though that is what occurs in the story, this story is about you and me.
An often-confusing term concerning the Biblical character of David is the term “man after God’s own heartâ€. Have you ever wondered what that really means? What does that kind of heart even look like? This morning I read a verse from the writings of David that I believe perhaps best captures the meaning behind this phrase.
I have known so many people who claim to be leaders and are hailed as great leaders in their profession or organization, but who have family lives that are a mess. Sadly this is true in many churches also, which is where most of my leadership focus is aimed. Again, it is a matter of opinion, but I have a harder time celebrating a person as a great leader if they have no ability to lead in their private life. At our church, when we are hiring a staff person, we always consider the person’s spouse and children in the equation. It is not only Biblical, but it is also practical.
Even today God knows that there will be times in our life that cause fear to be our lead emotion. He sees the trouble before it comes. The One who MADE the disciples get into a boat and face the raging sea often allows the storms to come in our life.
Tweet Good reminder for me today…how about you? But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It’s…
In a marriage for example, some people keep bringing up the same issues and repeating same mistakes and so they fail to initiate change. Sometimes a spouse refuses to tell the whole truth and so bad news keeps coming out, opening new wounds each time. The marriage never improves until everything is on the table, there are no more secrets and the bottom is found.
This is hilarious. CNN put together a story working with Career Builder on the funniest or weird things people said during job interviews. What’s funny is that during the nervousness of something like an interview most of us are likely to say something we don’t necessarily mean to say. Hopefully most of us are not this bad.
Most Christian parents want to encourage their children to mature spiritually, but they do not know how. I am not an expert at this and I am still learning, but my boys are incredible men of God and they sincerely seek after Christ into their young adult years. Here are some thoughts for producing children who desire to grow spiritually:
Last Friday night Cheryl and I were invited to dinner at a woman’s house that attends our church. She had previously attended The Gathering in Nashville, but the drive was wearing on her each week, so she was excited to find a similar church closer to home. She wanted us to meet her former pastor and his wife, David and Paula Foster. I cannot accept every invitation, simply because there are too many in a church our size to accommodate them all, but I am glad I accepted this one. David is a great leader and church planter. I had met David several times, but never spent any time getting to know him.
Taylor, one of my 18 year-old son Nate’s best friends, is going to Wheaton University this fall. I am excited that he will be an hour away from Nate who will be at Moody Bible College. I wrote a blog about their friendship a couple months ago. Read that post HERE. I had coffee this morning with Taylor, because he is leaving this weekend for an extended and unusual college orientation.
Bear with me through a little Bible pilgrimage to illustrate a point about grace.
As an avid user of social media in my work, people seem to enjoy sending me negative articles on the rise of social networking and its negative impact on our culture.
