“Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable” Dwight. D. Eisnehower “Winging it” is not an acceptable ministry strategy. Show me a leader who doesn’t spend time planning and I’ll show you an ineffective leader. Planning is one of the most effective uses of a time for leaders because it sharpens their focus on what is … Continue reading Leaders Plan
Weekly planning is one of the keystone habits for a productive life. Why? Because you will either be a slave to your calendar or a slave to the chaos. A chaotic life is one lived without intention, thinking about how you will use your time. Such chaos often leads us to pass our days living … Continue reading How To Plan Your Week
So much of Christian leadership is just doing the basics. So much of success in life is just doing the basics. For example, we all know that we need to get a good night’s sleep in order to do good work and be effective. Yet people can neglect their sleep, watching Netflix in bed on an … Continue reading The 5 Essentials Habits of Christian Leadership
Cal Newport contends that “following your passion” is bad advice. Why? Because many interesting careers have complicated origin stories (13). It’s not just, “Hey, I loved doing this, and then found the perfect job which matched my love. Often, people stumble into a field. Being passionate about often takes time and mastery (17). Telling people … Continue reading So Good They Can’t Ignore You
Being productive is not easy these days precisely because it’s easy to misunderstand what productivity really is. When you hear the word “productivity” might just think of getting a bunch of stuff done really fast (efficiency). You might think of shooting off and replying to emails. But I think a focus on efficiency or just … Continue reading How I try to be productive (my productivity system)
A couple weeks ago, I wrote about what I think “secular” means. Today, I want to explore the concept of our country being “post-Christian.” The idea that America is now “post-Christian” gets thrown around a lot, but what does it actually mean? I think there’s a lot of confusion about our current cultural moment because … Continue reading What Does “Post-Christian” Mean Anyways?
The New York Giants have just fired another coach after two years. Unfortunately, the team’s recent cycle of hiring and firing coaches is tied directly to a deeper cycle of leadership incompetence at all levels of the organization. The Giants have lost 100 games in the last 10 years and have been the second worst … Continue reading Cycle of Incompetence: Learning from the New York Giants
Christians and Jews have long recognized the Song of Songs to be one of the most mysterious books of the Bible. One medieval Jewish commentary, Saadia, claimed the book was like a lock whose keys had been lost. When reading the book, a host of questions arise like, “How ‘literally’ should the book be taken?” … Continue reading How do you actually outline the Song of Songs?
1. Be humble. It is an honor to be in a leadership position. Your team is counting on you to make the right decisions. 2. Don’t act like you know everything. You don’t. The team knows that. Ask smart questions. 3. Listen. Ask for advice and heed it. 4. Treat people with respect. Regardless of … Continue reading Jocko’s 12 Rules for Leadership
The crisis of leadership in our churches, businesses and governments is largely due to this one dilemma: men have been given power, but they are unprepared to handle it. The time of ruling is a tremendous test of character, for the king will be sorely tested to his influence in humility, for the benefit of … Continue reading When a Crisis Is Not a Crisis, But Sin