Let’s talk about the role of your emotions in your leadership. In my experience, this isn’t something we talk about much as leaders, and when we do, it seems like we often go to extremes: we either talk about trusting our emotions (“trust your instinct”, “trust your gut”, etc.) or trashing them (“what would Spock…
Listen, I know the title of this post might sound calloused, like I’m just glossing over the devastation and death cased by COVID-19. Believe me, I’m not. My dad died because of COVID. There were complicating factors, but in the end, it was really COVID that took his life. I miss him every day, so…
It was no silent night There was a war cry A shot in the dark at the heart of the dark It was a war cry The gates of hell are trembling ‘Cause they heard the war cry A volley of light that shattered the night It was a war cry
We hear a lot about priorities these days and their importance in leading healthy lives. But as Greg McKeown points out in Essentialism, the concept of “priorities” (plural) is an oxymoron (you know, like “jumbo shrimp” or “a new classic”). For 500 years after its introduction to the English language, the word was always singular…
I’m not the first person to ever say this, and I’m confident that I won’t be the last, but here it is anyway: balance is a myth. More critically, it’s terribly misunderstood. As we talk about it in Christian circles, this elusive thing we call “balance” seems to mean everything in our lives getting equal…
It’s been a few weeks since I’ve posted here, not because I haven’t been learning lots about leading a mega-church, but just because leading a mega-church is far more demanding and time-consuming than I could have ever anticipated. But as Coletta and I were talking this morning after a workout, I shared something I’ve come…
One of the clearest things I’ve been learning during my first few weeks here in a mega-church concerns the power of touch. I’m not talking about physical touch, though I do think there is great power in a quick, entirely chaste, touch on someone’s shoulder. I’m talking about the power of gently touching an idea…
Some people want to know “what’s it really like becoming the lead pastor of a mega-church?” In terms of meeting all the people and trying to learn names and who’s who, here’s what it’s really like: it’s like standing in front of an avalanche, trying to catch individual snowflakes…and even when you manage to snatch a…
A couple of weeks into this thing and I’m realizing that yes, as I mentioned before, a mega-church isn’t just a larger version of a small church, but also that there are some fundamental similarities. For instance, one of the challenges of any church is striking the balance between the past, present and the future.…
Well, I made it through my first full week as the senior pastor of a mega-church. And, in spite of more preaching, team meetings, lunches, dinners, consultations and “I just need a minute”-moments than I would have thought possible to fit into a single week, I even managed to finish up this coming weekend’s sermon…so…