Tag: leadership

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Best Five Journal Meditations Wisdom

You’re Not Finished Yet

You're Not Finished Yet
Christine Caine is an exciting contemporary leader in discipleship

Five Books for a Changed Life Pt. 4 and what a title!

From the get-go this enjoyable devotional volume exudes the attitude, energy and faith of the author, Christine Caine. She is Greek by ethnicity and Aussie by country of origin. And she draws on both to add color and authenticity to her writing. For example, after explaining that both the emu and the red kangaroo which are on the Australia coat of arms are created in such a way that they physically cannot move backwards, she writes…

The emu. The red kangaroo. And you. All created to move forward. Never backward. Let’s be who God created us to be so we can do all that He’s called us to do. (p. 9)

Now that our author has kick-started your day – pun intentional- let’s talk about the book’s organization. The book is compactly developed with one hundred numbered two-page sections. Each begins with a title and a Bible verse, then includes corresponding thoughts from the author, and ends with a relevant prayer.

A favorite

One of my very favorites was number twenty-one titled “As Sure as Seedtime and Harvest.”

The fully grown tree was always in the seed, but no one could see it until it was put in the right soil and then nurtured by the rain and the sun. In a similar fashion, the seeds in our hearts –the dreams and ideas and plans and purposes of God — grow as we …tend to the soil of our hearts, feeding them the Word of God and applying it in our lives, thus making our hearts good ground. Page 42

Her writing is pithy and frequently very quotable like this brilliant note from number 21.

Potential is the difference between what is actual and what is possible. It is the unexposed ability, the reserved strength, the unrealized success, the dormant gifts, the hidden talents waiting to be developed…It is where you can reach but have not yet aimed. Page 43

A section to help us overcome

Near the end of the book there are several devotionals on the general theme of patience and perseverance. For example, number 80 helps us understand that having faith for something does not rule out having to wait for it patiently.

There are experiences God wants us to go through that take time so He can prepare us for the future He’s designed for us. And all of it requires we walk in both faith and patience so we can inherit everything God has for us. Page 167

A particularly comforting note in this section was a reminder of God’s patience with us.

Paul wrote to Timothy and said that Jesus demonstrated extraordinary patience toward him. That’s the kind of patience Jesus demonstrates toward us as well, no matter what we’re going through. No matter how we might act out. No matter if we aren’t sure what to pray, how to pray, or when to pray. He is patient with every single one of us through it all. Page 201

Of the five books, this is likely the easiest to read, yet that does not prevent it from being deeply challenging to our spiritual walk. For example, most of us are sure that the more we adhere to our well-laid plans the farther ahead we will be. But sometimes, real progress is disturbingly counterintuitive as this excerpt points out.

When Jesus walked on this earth, he was willing to be frequently interrupted and inconvenienced. At times we must be prepared to step aside from our own plan to truly walk in God’s purpose. Miracles are waiting in the interruption. Page 49

Highly Recommend

I highly recommend this book. Whether you use it for a daily devotion or read a few devotionals at a time as I did, it will certainly enrich your life.

Five Excellent Books

This series of five book-review posts is all about five books I have recently completed that have been highly impactful. All of us are trying to scroll less and read more so this list and the accompanying reviews are intended to help you decide what volumes might be helpful to you.

  • Maxwell, John C. The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential. Center Street, 2012.
  • Weissenbacher, Alan. The Brain Change Program: 6 Steps to Renew Your Mind and Transform Your Life. Broad Street, 2024.
  • Groeschel, Craig. Divine Direction: 7 Decisions That Will Change Your Life. Zondervan, 2017.
  • Caine, Christine. You Are Not Finished Yet: Discovering Your Purpose in the Midst of Life’s Interruptions. Thomas Nelson, 2023.
  • Geisler, Norman L., and Frank Turek. I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist. Crossway, 2004.
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Best Five Church Leadership Journal Wisdom

Five Books for a Changed Life

15-Laws-of-Growth-John-Maxwell
15 Invaluable Laws of Growth by John C. Maxwell is among his top three best books

Recent reads with insightful content and powerful personal impact

In today’s world where we have so many choices, sometimes it’s good to have someone else help narrow the options.  In that spirit, I’m passing along recommendations for your reading list or your Christmas book-giving from some of the most impactful books that I have recently read. They are of different kinds, but all of them will motivate positive change in your life and in your Christian discipleship as they have done in mine.  I plan five articles in this series with each post briefly reviewing one. 

  • Maxwell, John C. The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential. Center Street, 2012.
  • Weissenbacher, Alan. The Brain Change Program: 6 Steps to Renew Your Mind and Transform Your Life. Broad Street, 2024.
  • Groeschel, Craig. Divine Direction: 7 Decisions That Will Change Your Life. Zondervan, 2017.
  • Caine, Christine. You Are Not Finished Yet: Discovering Your Purpose in the Midst of Life’s Interruptions. Thomas Nelson, 2023.
  • Geisler, Norman L., and Frank Turek. I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist. Crossway, 2004.

The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth

Recently I discovered on my shelf a John Maxwell book that I had not read. So, I began almost immediately, and, as usual with leadership expert Dr. Maxwell, I was richly rewarded for my efforts.  The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth follows the general schema of his more famous book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Thomas Nelson, 1998 by discussing one great principle in each chapter.  Some laws he covers, like the first, The Law of Intentionality, seem obvious but are definitely foundational ideas of which we need to be reminded. Maxwell says, “Change is inevitable. growth is optional.”  His overall goal is to motivate us to have a plan for our personal and professional growth which we attend to daily.  “Growth doesn’t just happen. You must be intentional about it.”

Some laws Dr. Maxwell gives us are not so obvious, like the third one.  Yet, upon reflection, they are also key.   The Law of the Mirror says, “You must see value in yourself to add value to yourself!”  Here he reminds us that negative self-talk, which comes so easily in our angry times, unwittingly undermines our self-image.  By contrast, he encourages us to learn that practicing small daily disciplines builds morale (p. 45). 

A law that I find easy to neglect is the Law of Reflection.  “Experience is not the best teacher.  Evaluated experience is!”  I learned that I should press pause more often and take time to reflect so that the lessons of experience are not wasted. 

Many of the Laws of Growth are genuinely challenging.  How about the Law of Consistency?  “Motivation gets you going, but discipline keeps you growing.”   One seminal thought reminded me of the theme of his book Today Matters: Warner, 2004. “You will never change your life until you change something you do daily.”

We all need some good coaching about handling our failures too.   With his characteristic humor, Maxwell says in his chapter on the Law of Pain, “A bend in the road is not the end of the road unless you fail to make the turn” (p. 132).   

The Law of Trade-offs helps us to be realistic about many of the decisions we face.  I remember hearing John Maxwell say in person, “You have to give up to go up!”   In this chapter this idea is applied, “You have to give up to grow up.”  “The difference between where we are and where we want to be is created by the changes we are willing to make in our lives” (p. 179).  I think most of us are uncomfortable with this truth, but looking back in my own life, I can see how true it is. 

Finally, one of the most important chapters expounds on The Law of the Ladder.  The analogy is that building our life is like ascending a ladder where the rungs represent our character.  The higher we ascend, the stronger the supporting structure, our character, must be to support us.  If our character is flawed, it is like being up too high on too flimsy a ladder.  Eventually the climber falls.  “Before you can do, you must be…Continual growth and lasting success are the result of aligning the inside and the outside of our lives” (p. 146).   

I highly recommend this book. 

I have read many Maxwell books, and this is one of the top three on my list.  It’s one of those books you will wish you had read years ago.  So now’s the time!

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Church Leadership Forward Look Journal

Thinking Ahead

This is a powerful article for today. The questions near the end could be used to help the thinking of every church leader and church council/board/session. We are coming to a major transition period when the current restrictions end. It is an unprecedented opportunity for positive adaptation to the true needs of our culture.

outreachmagazine.com/interviews/54136-the-future-is-now.html

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Church Leadership Journal Joy Notes Who Am I Wisdom

The Privilege of Mentoring

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Church Leadership Journal Wisdom

Recognizing good character in a leader

Dan Reiland has been leading and writing about leadership for many years. He is living what he is writing about at 12 Stone Church. This is an excellent short article giving 7 characteristics of a leader of good character.

Reiland article

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Journal News Commentary

Why I’m not voting for either Trump or Clinton

I protest the 2016 presidential election
I protest the 2016 presidential election

My dilemma

Most people I talk to are agreed — this is the worst presidential election that they ever remember. People aren’t for a candidate, they just hate one less than the other or think one less dangerous than the other. How is a person to decide what to do in this sorry election? Personally, I have decided to protest by not voting for either one. Here is why.

My reasons

1. I recall John Maxwell saying, “Everything rises and falls on leadership.” Conservative Christians like me are being urged to vote for Trump because the Republican platform is more to our liking, etc. But if the leader cannot be relied upon to carry out the agenda, the platform is useless. Trump reminds me of a salesman with empty words. He says himself that he tells people what they want to hear. I can’t vote for a man like that.
2. It is time America returned to an emphasis on character in leadership. Neither Clinton nor Trump are people of high character. They are the most distrusted candidates I ever remember. From the moment Trump opened his mouth in debate 1 with a modus operandi of slander, I knew his character was suspect. Normally I am a pragmatist, able to go for the better of two choices. But in this case, neither leader meets the minimum standard of good character.
3. I am not inclined to vote for Clinton to begin with because the strong pro-abortion values she espouses [among others] are not my values. I have great sympathy for immigrant rights, traditionally seen as a Democratic value, and also with the value of helping the poor, but I’m not convinced Clinton would actually work on either one.
4. It is time the parties received a protest vote. It is a protest against the lack of a viable political middle ground in 2016 American politics. It is a protest against the idea that a party can put up some reality show star who has name recognition and expect thinking people to vote for him. It is a protest that says, there is not a candidate offered that I respect enough to vote for them. As a voter, my vote has to have some integrity—some correspondence, some kinship between the values I espouse, the vision I have for my country, and the candidate I vote for.

My protest vote

So what will I do? To not vote, to not participate in the election at all, I consider irresponsible. As a citizen it is my duty to vote. So I will be at the polls, God willing and cast a vote of some kind. I will vote in all the races too. But for the presidential race, I will be writing in the name of a candidate that I consider qualified and of high character. It will be an act of protest against the quality of the two candidates we are offered by the major parties this year.

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Journal News Commentary

Debate impressions

I watched the last 90 minutes or more of the Republican debate tonight.  Who impressed me as I watched?   It was not exactly the ones I thought would impress me.   My top three were John Kasich of Ohio,  Jeb Bush of Florida and Scott Walker of Wisconsin.    They were running on solid records as governors.  They measured their words well, a trait I believe speaks for the wisdom, maturity and self-awareness of a candidate.  Each handled a challenging question very well.  My least favorite was Trump.  He is full of himself and of empty rhetoric.  He has no experience in government and said nothing of substance that I heard.  Frankly, he could not be trusted.   I could not give Rand Paul a chance because I have been familiar with his positions and he is way too libertarian for me, even though I thought he debated well.  Ben Carson is a delightful person who seemed out of his element, he should be running for Surgeon General.  He’s probably running for VP, but he would make a weak campaigner.   Huckabee is probably the best public speaker in the bunch but his rhetoric is divisive.   Both he and Cruz seem to harbor plenty of political rancor.   Rubio said some divisive things too.  He is still young.   One wonders if he is running for a VP spot.  Christie I dismissed because of the news out of New Jersey while he has been governor.

The danger in this campaign is that the conservative base is very angry at the state of the country.  Candidates like Trump, Huckabee and Cruz are great at tapping into that ground swell of anger in the Republican conservative base.   Voters in general vote their impressions and their feelings rather than looking for a strong leadership record.  Today we tend to like brash, flash and attitude.  But none of these make a good president.  I pray that voters will have enough maturity this time to look past impressions and rhetoric and look for solid positions and elect people with wisdom, steadiness, and good character, people like John Kasich, Jeb Bush and Scott Walker.

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Church Leadership Journal

A wise article about church evaluation

One of the difficult things church leaders must do is evaluate how the local church is doing.   It is not as easy as it sounds and our tendency as leaders is to fall off on either side of the middle path; either by emphasizing quantity at the expense of  discipleship or by emphasizing quality at the expense of outreach.    Here is a wise article that will help us to keep a balance.

http://www.churchleadership.com/leadingideas/leaddocs/2015/150128_article.html

 

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Church Leadership Journal

I vote for congregational engagement

Should worship planning and leadership be done to create a great performance or primarily to help the congregation be involved in what is happening?

http://worthilymagnify.com/2014/09/30/worship-at-a-crossroads-congregationalism-versus-performancism/

This excellent article explains a conflict that exists in the Christian church today.  As the author says, a performance orientation in worship services that focuses attention on what happens up front can describe either a traditional service or a contemporary one.   But I actually think what has brought the contrast the author describes into sharper focus is the modern trend to place church congregations literally in the dark as in a theater.    This trend, I believe, decreases interaction and is culturally set up for a performance mindset.  It makes the congregation feel more like an audience.

I have always taught that the most important thing that happens on Sunday morning is not what happens on the platform, it is what happens in the hearts of those in the pews.  The job of worship leaders and pastors is to suggest/guide/facilitate those responses in the congregation.    But that job cannot really be accomplished unless the Holy Spirit is allowed to work in people’s hearts.   Every Sunday morning, what the pastor and others leading worship are trying to accomplish cannot be done by human beings.  The transformation of lives, the healing of souls, the conversion of wills, the sanctifying of lives–this is all God’s work.  Whatever happens up front has as it’s only purpose to help those who are attending to connect with God and his truth and respond to it.  Focusing on performance first will not get this job done.   Being aware that congregational involvement individually and collectively in the service is essential is basic to being used of God in worship.

I need to say though that focusing on congregational response in no way means that those leading worship should settle for less excellence in what they do than those who might have a performance mindset.  Absolutely not!    God’s work is worthy of our best efforts!    God uses excellence by his servants to affect the lives of others.   Those who minister show their heart for God in their excellence.

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Best Five Journal Who Am I Wisdom

Top Ten Books Challenge

One of the first Bibles in English
One of the first Bibles in English

My wife challenged me on Facebook to list the top ten books that have influenced my life. I don’t necessarily take up every Facebook fad. But this one I consider a very thoughtful and potentially helpful exercise. One of the proverbs I heard along the way is “Leaders are readers!”   I agree totally. This challenge is also in keeping with one of the goals of my blog, to record the books I have read and comment on them. So here goes:

 

The Holy Bible – KJV Thompson Chain Reference.   I was given this for Christmas by my parents when I was about 12 years old. It represents the Bible-learning culture in which I was raised. It was my earliest textbook for studying the Bible. I still treasure it and use it occasionally.

The Holy Bible – NIV 1984. This version of the Bible became the translation that I read day after day, the version that molded my mindset and helped me communicate the Gospel to a generation that had never heard of King James of England, nor did they understand his language. Now I read and use the 2011 NIV since I follow the Reformation principle that the Bible must be in the language of the people. But the 1984 version will always be in my heart.

Growing Spiritually – E. Stanley Jones. I was in seminary, I think, when I read this devotional classic. I was captured and challenged by the practical Wesleyan theology, poignant illustration from life, and excellent thinking by one who has become one of my favorite devotional writers. This book prompted a definite step forward in my own spiritual growth.

Developing the Leaders around You – John C. Maxwell.   During my first pastorate I began to be mentored by the speaking and writing of John Maxwell. I didn’t know how much I needed it. I now have a dozen of his books that I have read and I still consider this one among his very best. I also have a shelf full of others on the topic of leadership. This book started me on a whole different journey of not just doing well myself, but enabling others to do well. This intentional focus as well as trying to teach church leaders to do the same has added untold dimensions to my ministry and extended its effectiveness many years. It has enabled me to be a factor in launching or enhancing the ministry of many others too.

Communication: Key to Your Marriage – H. Norman Wright.  With this book there was a companion volume The Pillars of Your Marriage.  They were not deep, but they were practical. They were intended for class use and included discussion questions too. I interacted with these books and other similar ones at a time in our marriage when I desperately needed to learn more about how to have a successful marriage. They were very helpful both to me personally and in my ministry over the years to others.

Secrets of the Vine – Bruce Wilkinson. Sometimes you are looking for books that will prod spiritual renewal in your life. This is such a book. I have now read the book at least three times. The first time I read it, I wrote in the cover, “I finished this book today…it was a life-changing experience.”

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership – John C. Maxwell.   This is John Maxwell’s classic. It has helped me immensely to understand leadership and learn to practice it. I am still learning and growing.   This book confirmed for me that leadership is one of the three most essential areas of understanding/preparation needed by pastors. (The other two are preaching/teaching and counseling/personal work.)

Fresh Faith – Jim Cymbala. One of the areas I needed to grow spiritually as a pastor was faith. Reading Jim Cymbala’s testimony-laced books is one of the ways God has helped me to do that. It is challenging and inspiring to read what God is doing at Brooklyn Tabernacle and it makes one pray for greater faith.

Just Walk Across the Room – Bill Hybels. Another of the great mentors for pastors today is Bill Hybels. This book is among his best. It is such a practical and everyday approach to reaching other people for Jesus.   I think it is evangelism as it was meant to be. It has helped me to look for opportunities daily to be a blessing for Jesus’ sake.

The Purpose Drive Church – Rick Warren.   I had already been a pastor for 15 years when I read this book. I immediately said that it was the best book on how to do church that I had ever read. As far as I am concerned, it has not had a rival until Andy Stanley’s Deep and Wide came out in 2012.  Warren helped me to understand that discipleship was crucial and that I needed to help people step by step to move closer to the church as a part of their spiritual journey.

I’ve read so many books over the years that I can’t be sure I haven’t missed one somewhere. I reduced my library by more than half when I moved in 2013 and I still have four floor-to-ceiling bookshelves full in my office. I have tried to choose books for my top ten that represented important areas of reading. The best books often prompt us to read more by the same author or more in that subject area. All of these books have done that. And I keep buying new books and reading more.    I admit that the time I now spend on social media has cut into my reading time, but it has not eliminated it. I am still completing new books! How about you?