Complexity
The wise acknowledge complexity and talk carefully, but fools ignore complexity and talk carelessly.
Backdoor Arrogance
I used to think that pride and arrogance were the same thing. But they aren’t. Don’t get me wrong, they’re very similar. From the outside, it’s pretty hard to tell them apart, and pride can certainly lead to arrogance. But I don’t think they’re the same thing. Recently, I’ve come to understand that arrogance is…
What’s Your Wallet? (5 Leadership Lessons I Learned by Ditching my Billfold)
(Yes, the title of this post is a deliberate play on the Capital One campaign!) I’m been thinking about ditching my wallet for a long time. I haven’t really carried cash for years and I only use a couple of cards on a regular basis. Nearly everything else that fills my wallet has just been…
“We Can Do That”
I asked a simple question, but I got a profound response. I’m out of town, but I wanted to Facetime with my creative team to go over the message for this weekend. My friend, Mike, texted back “we can do that.” I looked at those four words and realized those are just about my all-time…
A Sobering Observation
Read the Gospels carefully and you’ll see that Jesus’ most contentious relationships were with the religious leaders of his day. For those of us who believe that Jesus was God incarnate, that leads to a sobering observation: those who claimed to know God best turned out to be the worst at seeing Him in their…
Lampstands and Lethargy
(excerpt from a recent message at Mission Hills. You can view the entire message here) Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to…
The Venn Diagram of Leadership
I think every leader feels the same tension. On the one hand, there’s the things we want to be doing for the organization. Thinking about the horizons, anticipating new obstacles, planning for new opportunities. On the other hand, there’s the things we need to be doing for the organization. Offering encouragement. Developing new leaders. Having tough…
The Opportunity Equation
It’s a pretty simple formula: humility + ability = opportunity. If you don’t have the ability, there are simply some opportunities you’re not going to be offered. Maybe you need to work harder or maybe you need to come to grips with what you’re wired for. But if you’re not an effective leader of 5…
Facing the Future
Our church just celebrated its 75th anniversary. That’s a big deal to me, but maybe not for the reasons you suspect. What I love about my church (Mission Hills) is that we see all of God’s past faithfulness as a reminder of His future faithfulness. We see the past as a foundation for the future.…
Can we really “build” God’s Kingdom?
I get asked this question pretty frequently, usually in response to me challenging Christians to live missionally and be involved in “building the Kingdom.” It’s a very reasonable question, and a humble one. The heart behind it is basically “It’s God’s Kingdom, so isn’t in arrogant to think that we can build it? Isn’t that…