Category Archives: discipline

Prayers and Reflections in a Tumultuous Season, Part II

September 6th, 2024 |

As we navigate the raging waters of a surplus of instant information and deficit of deep wisdom, I hope the following will calm our hearts, enlighten our minds, and strengthen our hands for service to God and our communities.

“Lord, help me displace outrage with obedience, and instant reactions with intercession. Help me stand for truth with tears and pursue peacemaking as your child. Please continue your delivering, healing, and reconciling grace in my life and empower me toward victory over sin and all the schemes of evil. Jesus, you are Lord over all creation, including all powers of injustice and oppression. Thank you for your love and power. Amen.”

Isaiah 44:19 is a great verse for today’s hyper-reactive public square. As the prophet repudiates idolatry and the folly of using the same wood for a cooking fire and an idol, the little phrase, “no one stops to think…” leaps from the page. Pausing, considering context, and reflecting are lost arts in our pursuit of clicks and likes. As we necessarily debate issues, let’s stop and think and then share in a way that makes our world better.

“Loving Lord, awaken us to your pathos for the hurting, your providential care in our lives, and your power to help us walk in holy love. Holy Father, bring your divine embrace to the vulnerable and your wise discipline to the haughty. Jesus, as you were sent, so send us to share your light and love. Sovereign Spirit, unite your church in faith, hope, and love. Help us edify, not efface, the beauty of your church. Amen.”

There is a need for fresh intellectual leadership. The late Dallas Willard, renowned Christian author, shared with leaders that he longed for the day when pastors and local churches once again were the intellectual leaders of the community.

A special thank you to all faithful scholars. You pursue your fields with dedication and discipline and your discoveries help us understand world better. Yes, you have some dishonest and intemperate colleagues, but your efforts to learn and then teach remain important to our world. Throughout history, church and society have kept learning alive through much tumult. Always position your work as service and remember your good influence.

Friends, as we go forward, let us do so with passionate prayer and principled thinking, with a desire for all to meet Christ and a willingness to cooperate with people of conscience.

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21st Century Leadership, Part 2

August 19th, 2023 |

Years ago, John Blanchard said that much of global leadership is plagued by, “a dearth of depth and a surfeit of the superficial.” So much of what passes for life and leadership seems content with surfing on the surface of things. We can do better, first in ourselves, then in what we expect of others.

Leadership excellence begins with being a person of outstanding character. Goodness, integrity, and personal wholeness are essential qualities for women and men that aspire to lead others. With character as foundation, developing managing one’s charisms becomes important so that there is a good fit of person and the tasks at hand.

There are two more facets of leadership to explore here. The first is competencies. These are the necessary interpersonal and professional skills for the task. Please note the two categories here. Character is underneath the interpersonal competencies needed to lead others. This included emotional and relational maturity, along with intercultural competence. So many problems in leadership come from a breakdown in people understanding each other. Professional (including technical) skills seem obvious, but there are times when skills and tasks do not align well.

Leaders must have communication and managerial skills, with particular ability to lead their organizations and teams in a VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Chaotic, Ambiguous) world where much can change quickly. This is why the communication, interpersonal maturity, and adaptive skills matter so much.

The final facet is understanding capacity. This is not just the number of people or the size of the budget, but understanding the boundaries of one’s leadership and being a woman or man of faith, focus, and follow-through. As one sage said, “Under-promise and over-deliver.” We live in a world filled with exaggeration and over-hyped expectations, so good leaders must have the humility to see what is ahead, focus tasks well, and fulfill promises in a timely manner.

One of the most important ingredients in being an effective and praiseworthy leader is understanding that today’s discipline is tomorrow’s destiny. Doing today well is vital for tomorrow’s expansion of influence.

The “4C Leader” – a woman or man of deep character, clarity about their charisms, growing on competencies, and both staying in their lanes of capacity while expanding influence – is needed today more than ever before.

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