Christian Leadership Alliance
My wife and I are currently teaching one of our sons to drive. Quite frankly, it has been terrifying! I’ve come to the realization that teaching from the passenger seat is actually pretty difficult. It takes patience. And it’s all about balance. When should we speak up or just let the new driver figure it … Continue reading Leading When You Aren’t in Charge
As leaders, God entrusts us to build flourishing organizations through flourishing people. The idea of “flourishing” suggests continuous and intentional learning, growth, and change. In addition, learning requires effective communication. As the ancient proverb states, “Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance.” (Prov. 1:5) Creating an organizational … Continue reading Creating a Learning Culture
Do you remember the 1980s advertising campaign with the slogan, “Not your father’s Oldsmobile”? Hoping to catch the attention of the next generation, the automaker created a snappy slogan to shake the dust off their well-known name. For those of us serving in legacy ministries, change can be hard, uncomfortable, or even seem impossible. We … Continue reading Cast Your Nets!
We needed a win in a bad way. In my first year as CEO of a small nonprofit, we faced financial, staffing and program challenges. Global Mapping International (GMI) provided research products and services for global missions (the organization is now closed), and thankfully the former CEO had proactively commissioned a study on how nonprofit … Continue reading Mindsets for Innovation
When planning the next big innovation for your church or ministry, do you approach it like a NASA engineer preparing for a moon shot? Or are you more like one of the explorers of the sixteenth or seventeenth century? NASA mission planners spend untold hours and countless dollars to anticipate everything that could go wrong … Continue reading Take the Right Next Step
Recently I returned from a trip to the Horn of Africa to meet with persecuted Christians in Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia. Followers of Jesus in these countries routinely face attacks from Islamic militants, government officials and even family members. One woman I met had been jailed three separate times – for a total of eight … Continue reading The Freedom to Worship Jesus
As I’ve reflected on my work in the pro-life movement, I’ve been struck by how the right to life is embedded in the very documents Americans hold most dear in the founding of the nation. The Declaration of Independence states that we have three unalienable rights that have been given to us by our Creator, … Continue reading The Freedom of Abundant Life
Recently, Greg McKeown of Stanford University, convincingly re-established the case for essentialism. Essentialism argues that the disciplined pursuit of less will accomplish more. Long before McKeown, Jesus lived out this counterintuitive principle by leading small to accomplish greater influence – greater influence, in fact, than any leader in history. He modeled a leadership that had … Continue reading Increasing Influence by Leading Small
And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them. (Psalm 78:72) David blew it. It sounded like a good idea. How was he to make good strategic plans if he didn’t know how many men he had? Surely all the other kings knew how many men they had, why shouldn’t … Continue reading The Heart and Hands of a Leader
The long-term success of all organizations can almost always be traced back to the ability of the leaders in the organization to effectively lead through critical inflection points. This may sound like a bold statement, but over the past 30-plus years in both business and ministry, I’ve come to believe it, because I’ve experienced it … Continue reading Critical Inflection Points
