In an age of platform-seeking celebrities, it’s easy to overlook this reality. Both inside and outside of the church, nobody is the person they are without the investment of others. A glimpse in the rear-view mirror of life will reveal that the mysterious hand of God’s sovereignty often worked through the love, investment, and sacrifice of others. We are who we are because of other people.

This is a return to something people understood before the global and digital age distracted us. Something in all of us wants to be connected to a place and the people who live in it. Those in our neighborhood and city are longing for it. From cafes to civic clubs to neighborhoods a collision of something beautiful is happening in our world that we, as followers of Jesus, cannot afford to miss.

Some gaps, like holes in rocky cliffs, cannot be closed. However, gaps in leadership competencies can be closed. Jesus’ model of investing in leaders worked. Sam shares three observations of how leader development tuned toward leaders’ own context increases effectiveness, which makes it an excellent investment.

Because all of us are prone to idolatry, we are likely more prone to one expression of sin than the other. If you are prone to laziness, you likely enjoy comfort and leisure more than accomplishment and the grind. As I have offered four ways to fight being a ministry workaholic, here are four ways to fight being lazy in ministry.

In the desert with little water and scarce food, it is a struggle to survive, and that can lead to discouragement. God never wanted life for Jewish leaders to be such a struggle when they came back from Babylon, but they were measuring their problems against their own puny strength rather than measuring them against our mighty God. They forgot God is much bigger than any struggle we face.

How bad was my living nightmare? No sleep for two weeks, and being terrified of the quiet at night and the sunrise next morning – that’s how bad! Anxiety and depression hits leaders disproportionately. A leader who suffers with this affliction, especially in isolation, is a person at risk. However, biblically, this kind of weakness can lead to finding great strength in God.

As Rick James once wrote, “Effective leadership is not simply about skills, qualifications, titles, positions or even responsibilities; it is actually about who we are and how we relate to God and to other people.“ What kind of leader are you?

Burned out and frustrated Christian leaders are now recognizing that they have been absorbed in His work more than in His Person. Our training programs might harness the latest and greatest of human wisdom and methods, but if we do not bring our emerging leaders into face-to-face encounters with the Son of God, lives will not be changed. Healthy leader development must be entirely Christ-centered, Christ-focused, Christ-absorbed. The Son of God is all in all!

Check out what I’m growing in my garden this year. And in my leadership.

I still remember the first worship service I attended more than 40 years ago. I understood very little of it, as I was not yet a believer. Over the last several decades, though, here are some things I’ve learned about worship.

God really loves me! Really, He does. When was the last time you contemplated that truth? In this article, Matthew reminds leaders that Jesus loves them always, and a strong illustration of this is when Jesus told His disciples to abide in Him. He also outlines a few practical ways to receive Jesus’ love every day, and to enjoy Him.

During a recent trip to Cuba, I was able to spend time with local leaders. All together, we served about 150 pastors that represented conservatively over 8,000 people in their churches. Here’s what I learned.

The challenge is to create time without having your team feel like you hit the “pause” button. For many, “pause” creates inertia that's tough to break.

Here are ten tactics used to avoid accountability for mistakes, poor practice, dysfunction, and outright deviance.

Visionary leaders create hope and possibility. They appeal to people’s dreams and goals. They define a preferred future. The better a leader is at casting a compelling vision, the more influence they wield.

I could write for a week on this topic, but these four thoughts are enough to ponder. Examine your own life to see if you are drawn to power, or people. I hope it’s the latter.

When the pressure is on and there is a lot to do, in the very time we need to be intimately connected to God and depending upon His Spirit, we as Christian leaders tend to cut back on quality time with God and end up “running on battery.” Sadly, what usually starts out as a temporary measure often becomes a dangerous habit. Before long, we find ourselves operating in our own strength and wisdom, and not in God’s.

Just a little rain transforms an arid desert into a magnificent blooming garden. That rain changes the arid environment and draws life from dormant seeds. The same can happen when we face changes in our lives. Sam experienced not one, but four painful organizational changes in his 24 years with World Vision. He said, “I was laid off once, resigned once and ‘stormed out’ once.” Sam outlines some growing lessons from Psalm 37.

Here’s the problem ‒ at least in my own life. The log is so hard to see. No one should miss a log hanging out of their eye, much less be able to notice the meager speck in someone else’s. But we do it all the time. Why? Why is the log of my own sin so hard to see?

Organizations and communities offer tremendous opportunities to share and give of our talents, time, financial and other resources with each other. We know that the sharing begins with love. The Bible exhorts us to share generously and give cheerfully. Each of us has so much to give.