Photo by nowpublic.com I love Pandora. For those of you who have not tried it yet, you should. It is free music on the internet. I always have it on as I am working on my laptop. In fact, I have about 50 different stations that I have created over the years. The […]
Should We Be Controversial?
Photo by NYTimes Bill Ellis writing for ASSIST News Service wrote an article that asks the question, “Should the Church and its Ministers be Controversial?” Now, I know that there are pastors and church leaders who are controversial for controversy sake. They experience great joy from inciting controversy and “ticking” people off. Then […]
Is Boo-ing Allowed?
Photo by Kentucky Sport Radio Recently, one of my church members forwarded an article to me that drew my attention. The article is titled, “Why Not Boo?” It was written by Terry Teachout, a drama critic for the Wall Street Journal. He was writing how at the famous Metropolitan Opera House in New […]
Some Observations about Twitter
Photo by Twitter I don’t know how many of you are fans of Twitter, but it is taking the social network by storm. I have a feeling that it might supersede Facebook one day – kind of like what Facebook did to Xanga… if you are still using Xanga, I really don’t know […]
Lessons from St. Patrick’s Day
History.com Photo It is amazing how many people were out and about today because it was St. Patrick’s Day. One of the staff pastors told me that he even saw a long line outside a bar in downtown Ann Arbor at 6:15AM as he was driving to morning prayer. Then when we went […]
Leadership Lesson: Glamour, Gain and Glory – 3 Servant Killers
Photo from “The Passion of Christ” Ever since 1996, I have been trying to teach the members in our church the importance of servanthood. This entails serving God with humility and constantly checking our motives for doing what we do. A lot of times when we examine our hearts, we have to confess […]
Leadership Lesson: Why is Change So Hard?
Photo by Zazzle Albert Einstein coined the adage “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” The reality is that people love the status quo. It is usually correlated with our love for comfort. This is why sometimes, as people get older, it is harder to change […]
The Last Sermon
Photo from FBC website In light of the tragic death of Rev. Fred Winters of First Baptist Church in Maryville, IL, it is hard to believe we have come to a point in this world where people are being gunned down in churches. Even though this is not the first time a gunman […]
Leadership Lesson: Truth Always Helps
Photo by BusinessWeek One of the principles that I have been trying to teach our members is: “You will only be helped to the extent you tell the truth. In fact, this principle can be applied to many other areas. Whether it is on opposite-sex relationships, addictions or even accountability, unless a person […]
Leadership Lesson: Leadership is about Influence
Photo by Livesteez I don’t know how many of you have been keeping up with the news, but the situation with the Republican Party’s Chairman, Michael Steele and talk radio host Rush Limbaugh is good material for lessons on leadership. In the wake of Michael Steele’s interview by CNN’s D.L. Hughley, Steele tried […]
Leadership Lesson: Making Wise Decisions
Photo by entrepreneur4life Every leader has to make decisions. Leaders lead, therefore decisions have to be made by the person leading. But all leaders know that there are times when decisions are not so easy. Sometimes decisions are complex. Sometimes decisions will entail a win-lose. Sometimes decisions will hurt others. Sometimes decisions will […]
Leadership Lesson: The Discipleship Cycle
Photo by Apprenticeship Advisory Committee There is a principle that is espoused by many leadership and discipleship gurus. It is simply – I do, you watch; I do, you help; You do, I help; You do, I watch; You now show someone else. It is a pretty easy concept but many people fail to follow […]
Anger Can Kill You (Literally)
Dr. Rachel Lampert from Yale University recently did a study that appeared in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. In her study, she gathered 62 patients who had some sort of heart disease and implantable heart defibrillators (ICD). She had the patients recount an angry moment in their lives […]
Leadership Lesson: Walking in Their Shoes
Photo by Felix Carroll It is interesting to me that today it was announced that President Obama would authorize deploying “more than 17,000 troops to Afghanistan.” Barack Obama during his presidential campaign was strongly in favor of bringing the troops back home from Iraq, but now he will be sending some […]