Serving Bread

Although I’m an extrovert, I do a lot of reflecting, thinking, and strategizing on my own. I can not only come up with new ideas, but I can inspire myself for those ideas and my personality type allows me to put together a plan in executing those various ideas. I can function as an internal [...]

One leadership insight that I have observed over the years is that leaders will hold vision for the ministry differently than others. There are many things on my heart and mind that I hope for the community and for the individuals I lead. I’m not sure how much of that is out in the open, [...]

I don’t think I’ve enjoyed college sports like I have in the past two weeks. Watching the CSUN basketball team win the Big West title and almost upset Memphis in the first round of the NCAA tournament are highlights that I will remember for many years to come. I’ve been excited for a bunch of [...]

Setting goals is an important function of leadership in any arena. Most successful companies set various goals for the month, quarter or year as a way to motivate employees and execute the vision of the organization. I have found that Christians in various ministries tend to question whether goal-setting should be an important element of [...]

After a six month Sabbatical, I was eager to hear of the state of our ministry. At the front end of my Sabbatical,  I had created space in my heart to anticipate fantastic progress along with some disappointments. In the past five days, I have been spending time praising God for the ways that he [...]

(During this Sabbatical season, I have had the privilege to study and learn from one of my historical mentors, John Wesley. I will be posting some of those lessons as part of my reflections on leadership) Though Wesley had grown up in a Christian home and had a noteworthy ministry prior to 1738, he claims [...]

I came across a study in the upcoming issue of The Atlantic Monthly that looks at why leaders matter and more importantly, why some leaders are more effective than others.  Those who have spent any time in a leadership capacity may intuit the researchers’ argument which is that leaders who know their industry operate at [...]

There are many working definitions for “leadership.” I recently heard a leader defined as someone who has both the capacity and responsibility to lead. I find this to be a helpful expression of what leadership entails. Dr. Clinton at Fuller Seminary defines it as, “A leader is a person with a God-given capacity and a [...]

So much of what is written about leadership development has been about gaining certain values, doing certain strategies and believing certain assumptions. You can’t really practice leadership unless there are some outward manifestations of our leadership. Our presence in the life of people matters. But leadership doesn’t just happen in our presence but also in [...]

I don’t get sick all too often. I usually get sick once a year for a 24 hour period. That has usually been my flirtation with a cold, flu or viruses in general until the past twelve months. I have crashed with a fever three times in the past twelve months. Some of that probably [...]