When Leadership is Broken, Chapter 6

(this is the book I’ve been writing…) (Links to Intro, Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four, Chapter Five) The essential quality that can produce healthy leadership or restore healthy leadership when it’s been broken is character. The absence of character in leadership will make a mess of anything and everything else we might attempt. When character is present

When Church Leadership is Broken, chapter 5

(Links to Intro, Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four) CALLING There’s an old joke about a farmer who is feeling unsettled in his work. A church going man, he feels like God has something more planned for his life than what he’s doing. As he prepares for harvesting his soybean fields he prays

When Church Leadership is Broken, chapter 4

(Links to Intro, Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three) “The Essential Thing” There are a lot of needful things when it comes to leadership, especially when it’s broken, but there is only one thing that is essential. Over the next three chapters I want to unpack the three qualities that can produce healthy leadership or

When Church Leadership is Broken, chapter 3

(Links to Intro, Chapter One, Chapter Two) “Awakening From the Western Dream.” The easiest answer to broken leadership is to blame the bad actors. If we can eliminate all the bad apples, we eliminate our problem. However, once we count all the bad apples we have to consider the orchard might just be toxic. When

When Church Leadership is Broken, chapter 2

“Breaking Leaders” Introduction here, Chapter One here. I had only been following Jesus for a few weeks when I felt called to go into ministry. In the church I was in, at the time I was in it, the starting place for ministry was Bible College. Off I went, with no idea what I was

When Church Leadership is Broken chapter 1.

“Let’s Blame Bad Pastors” It was the last session of a youth workers conference when I first woke up to the reality that we are not all pastors for the same reasons. A psychologist was on the platform. He had just published a new book on why teenagers act the way they do. But instead

When Church Leadership is Broken

INTRODUCTION – Doing life together as the Church is challenging because it involves other people. And people are complex. Sometimes the very thing they want to do, they don’t do. Sometimes the one thing they don’t want to do is all they can think about. Often their stated reason for doing a thing is far

Growing Healthy

“Healthy things grow!” is what church growth experts have said. And if you could listen inside my head you’d hear, “and so do cancers.” I want to tell you what I think healthy looks like and how I think we get to healthy in a local church. I spend a lot of time reading about

Carnivorous Pastors

I am introspective by nature. Ask me what I think and I will take a few minutes to answer. Ask me what I feel and I will have to get back to you in a few days. Turning inward is my “go to” move. As a pastor of a local church I know that I

Church Planting Secret Sauce

You know how magicians supposedly get really mad at magicians who share the secrets behind magic tricks? I’m going to tell you a secret, as a pastor, that is behind every successful church plant. This is THE secret behind every successful church plant. And I’m not going to charge you anything for it. This is