Words that have impacted my life and leadership

1. “START AT THE TOP AND WORK YOUR WAY DOWN. THEY MIGHT SAY 'NO' BUT THEY COULD SAY 'YES'."

Dr. Robert Clinton, a former professor of leadership at Fuller Seminary had five principles of mentoring. His first principle; it is the mentee’s responsibility to find a mentor. This could be interpreted as the principle of attraction.

CHRISTIAN ATHEIST: Is a person who believes in God but lives as though God doesn’t exist or is largely irrelevant to the everyday business of living.

The term CHRISTIAN ATHEIST is a figure of speech called an oxymoron in which seemingly contradictory terms appear side by side. Other examples of oxymorons that perhaps you have used are:

I was most interested to learn from a family in my church about their recent holiday in another state. Even more so when they had taken the time to visit a very well known church in that state. I asked them what was it that impressed them most about the church and what could we learn from them.

There is much to suggest that the church in the west is living in a post-Christian generation. Evangelism has fallen on hard times, and ironically it seems that seminars to help people learn how to share their faith are doing no better.  And yet our denominations, although aware of their continued decrease in numbers, seem largely unmotivated to address the real issue. If ever there was a time to get back to basics, then surely it is now and I would like to suggest that the following 10 keys will give you a platform on which to build a fruitful church that will reach lost people. These 10 keys will help you to take evangelism in your church from being an optional extra to an important priority...

One of the wisest persons in the Bible wrote the following words that have served me well in my life of ministry:

“The righteous choose their friends carefully, But the way of the wicked leads them astray.”
— Proverbs 12:26

So important was this principle for his readers to take to heart, that he repeated it in varying ways through the book of Proverbs. “Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.” Proverbs 13:20...

An important leadership lesson: What do you do when your mates desert you?

It can be lonely at the top. Like the time the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy from a damp, dark prison cell, on trial in a Roman court, believing that the time for his departure was near. As I recently read this story, I couldn’t help being reminded of one of the great challenges that leaders need to be ready and equipped to face at critical times in their ministry. That being, what to do when your mates desert you? Paul describes this situation in 2 Timothy 4:16-17. “At my first defence, NO ONE came...

Testimony after testimony from the 4th graduating cohort in Bangladesh revealed several common themes. It was encouraging hearing their reports as several were chosen to share what God had done in their lives over the last two years. Common themes included how much they had learned about their identity in Christ. Many had gone through seasons of pain, difficulty, and challenge but each of them could see how God shaped them during the course of their lives, even through the difficult seasons...{addthis off}

Have you ever failed at something? I have. Many times! I believe a key part of life and leadership is navigating, walking through and bouncing back from failure. I’ll never forget not making sports teams as a young person and how I responded to those situations. Those were great learning experiences for me. Later, in other school situations, I didn’t do as well as I had hoped and people told me: “Maybe you should consider a different career.” OUCH! That one hurt. Later still I was being encouraged to try other posts in life and several times I was told “No”. Again, big learning experiences for...

Today we experienced a powerful celebration as we commissioned our newest country in SE Asia and honored one of our senior leaders who is transitioning into a new ministry role. As we look to leadership in the current era, we see great wisdom in the way that geese fly in formation. Leadership is done best by working in teams and when one leader needs to rest another takes the helm but the point leader...

My son, John, and I had the privilege of attending a seminar with Trey Hillman, LA Dodgers bench coach and former Japan world series manager for the Sapporo Fighters. Trey sprinkled his presentation with several powerful principles of leadership as he spoke to a mostly Japanese speaking audience at Union Church in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo.

I was very impressed with what Coach Hillman shared:

First, he shared how he learned to respect Japanese culture...