Tag: Leadership Development

Do we need to re-humanize the leaders and spokespeople in our lives?

What is your response to Jesus’ invitation to embrace the kingdom of heaven and follow Him?

How do you find joy even through the difficult times of ministry?

Do you know that the Lord Himself finds joy and satisfaction in His people? God’s people give Him pleasure! He joys over us with singing and takes delight in us. The new creation that is the church is a foretaste of the New Heavens and New Earth. While awaiting that glorious future God Himself says that we ought to rejoice in the people He has created. Enjoy the fruit of the ministry. See what the Lord has done and be glad in it!

This is a precious story written by a Chinese leader during a time of deep trial and brokenness in her life.

When you woke up this morning, did you get pumped that you could have an encounter with Christ, that you could meet the Spirit of God to see Him living through you in a supernatural way? Or did you go back to the flesh-and-blood stuff again?

The long view, a generational view, is the kind of view that provokes patience and compels us to initiate collaboration with the generations before and after us in accomplishing Kingdom work. God has included in the assignment of each generation, the intentional sowing into those who are coming up after us.

I still laugh at when my dad built a birdhouse and put it up in his back yard. Thoughtfully, he stuffed the cute little structure with twigs to help the birds with their nest-building. Watching one day he saw a bird go inside the birdhouse and come out with a twig in her mouth, take it to a tree and return, only to get another twig. That resourceful mother bird had found a great cache of perfect twigs to build her nest somewhere else!

Most of us would like to think we are open-minded about our hiring, promotions, development, team-building, etc. And I would never suggest hiring someone based solely on their gender, ethnicity or other external factor. But even healthy leaders can fall into the trap of familiarity, when the talent and competence they need may be lying untapped in the unfamiliar.

As leaders, we are responsible for the vision of our organization. But how do we know what is a healthy or unhealthy vision? In this interview, Jenni answers that question and more.

Here are three constructive things we can do at a moment’s notice … without “taking sides” on polarizing topics.

In light of recent violence in worldwide news, here are two simple leadership skills that will help us to communicate respectfully.

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.

Change is so complex and depends on timing, who is involved, how the process is designed and how the spiritual aspect is integrated (at least with Christian institutions). The Space for Grace Learning Centre has many articles that provide useful tips on understanding Organizational Development change processes and how to manage or support such processes.

I hope you realize that you have less time ahead of you than at any point in your life. So, let’s talk about time.

As a senior leader myself, I know I play a unique role in our organization, but I also know I’m not the end-all. In fact, by God’s design, each of our giftings is accompanied by built-in limitations. We need each other, and we’re better together. Here’s why I think having appropriate staffers participate in board meetings is healthy for your organization.

While not difficult to understand, reconciliation can be a difficult word to put into practice. It can be very difficult to get two family members who are at odds to be reconciled. And it can sometimes seem very difficult for us (or for others we know) to be made right with God.

None of us can forget that we aren’t just the list of tasks we do, we are the collective difference we make for those we serve.

I don’t feel qualified to speak to the general group psychology of the entire generation of Millennials, but I have spent most of my time for the past decade or so around Millennial Christians, and I think the nasty caricatures of them are just not true.

A pastor recently contacted me to ask if there was any hope for his church to survive. The few people in his church were aged, and the church was slowly but surely declining in numbers. My answer shocked him. I said there was great hope for him and his church ‒ because the Father was already at work in his town.