Tag: Charles Stone

In Psalm 15:1, King David, poses a question about character, “God, what do You look for in those who draw close to You?” As Christian leaders, we need to always be assessing our character to make sure it is of a heavenly standard.

A very successful businessman inadvertently taught me a lesson about paying attention to other people’s needs … with macaroni and cheese.

The story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), one of Jesus’ most famous stories, describes the power of true love. In this story, Jesus contrasts those with big heads (the priest and the Levite who had heads full of Bible knowledge) with one who had a big heart, the Samaritan. This story also offers clues about leaders with big hearts. Read that passage and then ask yourself these five questions based on the story and evaluate your own leadership heart.

Leaders fall into two categories ‒ those who flourish and those who don’t. What are common traits of flourishing leaders? I believe what happened in the early church gives us clues to traits of a flourishing leader.

Christian leaders, or any leader for that matter, face a kind of fatigue that can rob our energy and diminish leadership effectiveness. “Decision fatigue” refers to the way decisions degrade in quality after a long string of successive decisions. In other words, the more decisions you make, the more the quality of those decisions declines.

Every leader at times has probably reacted defensively to another. I have and I regret every single time I did. Leaders naturally face situations that can easily provoke a defensive reaction. But seldom does defensiveness move our churches and organizations forward. So how can we avoid defensiveness? I suggest five proactive ways.

Humans make dumb mistakes. With more than 33 years in ministry, Charles has committed his share of dumb mistakes, as have we all, without ill will or an evil heart. Even so, these mistakes are … well, just dumb.

What do you do when your plans get interrupted? Fume … fuss … cuss? I tend to fume. I recall two experiences that interrupted my well laid-out plans. In the process, I also learned a few important life lessons.

I’ve experienced one that I believe often trips leaders up. It’s called the confirmation bias. It’s a thinking bias that looks for information that supports our preexisting attitudes, beliefs, and actions. So, how can leaders counter the confirmation bias?

In the Leadership Labyrinth, Judson Edwards describes 21 paradoxes in ministry. He defines the “relationship paradox” in this way: the people who like you most will be the ones you try least to please. He writes that three kinds of people fill every church. Would you agree with his assessment?

Water can do a lot of damage to rocks and roads as this view of Bourke’s Luck Pot Holes in South Africa reveals. Everyone knows what happens when you slam into a pothole. It could be the same when you encounter a pitfall in a new leadership position at a church. When a pastor moves to shepherd a new church, some unhealthy patterns may emerge, and some members may have unrealistic expectations of their new pastor. Charles suggests some ways to avoid the pitfalls and some questions to ask the church leaders to better shepherd the congregation.

We have three grown kids, one grandson, and one grandchild on the way. We love all of our kids and they love us. As I reflect over my parenting years, I’d give myself a solid “B+” in the parenting department. But, I also would have parented differently in several ways.

Unfortunately, leaders can talk too much, not necessarily by monopolizing conversations, but by giving too many answers. So, how do you know if you are a leader who talks too much and what can we do to stop?

The book of Acts describes the amazing story of Jesus’ work through the Holy Spirit in the early church. With an explosive start, problems were certain to surface. And they did. In the first example of internal dissension the Apostles displayed great leadership. The church had grown so rapidly that some of the widows were being overlooked in the regular distribution of food (Acts 6.1-7). And murmuring began that potentially could fracture the church. However, they led the church well and model for us nine things great leaders do.

Hebrews 11 lists several faith heroes from the past and includes details about their lives that evidence great faith. We often refer to this chapter as the “faith” chapter. It offers leaders profound insight about faith that we must believe and embody to effectively lead. I suggest these six faith qualities every leader should embody.

If you are a leader, you will face turbulence in your ministry or organization. Sometimes the turbulence feels so intense that leading seems impossible. Here are four essentials for leading through the turbulence.

Wise leaders and pastors understand that lasting change requires individuals to change first before an organization will change. Your change won’t last or will disrupt your church unless those in your teams personally embrace the change first, at least at some level. So it behooves us to first understand why most people initially resist change.