Leaders Believe Things Can Happen
One of the most important contributions a leader can make is to believe that things can happen. When we do not, they will not. It…
Browsing: Lessons for Leaders
Articles
Use Trial Periods for New Ideas
Lovett H. Weems Jr. says using a trial period to launch new ideas is a non-threatening approach. Trial periods also encourage feedback and engagement in…
Learning to Fail Fast
While reading recent studies in leadership development trends, I was reminded of Paul’s call in Romans to be “transformed by the renewal of your minds.”…
Leadership Lessons from The Salvation Army
For most of us, The Salvation Army has been an icon of service throughout our lives. The inner workings of the Army are unknown to…
Jesus’ Lessons for Leading
Building a congregation’s life around a clear vision and purpose is easy to affirm. Aligning that purpose with biblical teaching and witness makes sense. Seldom…
Leading as Moses Led
One of the most fundamental elements of any successful organization is leadership. However, it is also one of the most misunderstood qualities as it relates…
Old Habits Die Hard
I grew up working with my parents in our country grocery store. Those were days before the advent of large drug stores with hundreds of…
Nelson Mandela — A Leader for His Time
Late last year, the world paid tribute to the remarkable life of Nelson Mandela. Some said there had been nothing like it since the death…
Leadership is Always about Others
There are many, many things about leadership that we do not know. However, there are a few truths about which we can be sure. One…
Asking Instead of Telling
You pick up some books because of the author and some because of the title. This one called to me for both reasons. Through Edgar…
Dreams Take Leadership…and Time
Will Campbell died earlier this summer. He was known as an eccentric Baptist preacher who fought fiercely for justice but was never comfortable with the…
Separating the Mission from the Medium
A year ago, Encyclopaedia Britannica announced they would cease producing bound volumes. It was a watershed moment when you consider this standard reference was the…
Determine On What Hills You Are Willing To Die
As a much younger leader, I wanted to fight about everything. Growing in this particular understanding may be more a factor of aging and maturing.…
Giving our Best to God?
A phrase made popular by management writer Philip Crosby is “quality is free.” It reminds us that efforts to ensure that work is done right…
Stop Complaining about Sunday Morning Sports
It’s a common complaint among clergy types, “Sunday morning sports are taking people away from worship!” This lament and the exasperation that accompanies it go…
A Keystone Habit for Our Time
A much-talked-about book currently is The Power of Habit. The author, Charles Duhigg, attempts to answer the questions, “Why do habits exist, and how can…
Stewards of God’s Grace
A noted British economist recently submitted to the government a review of the equity markets in England. In writing about the current situation of financial…
Continuity and Change: Two Tunes All Leaders Must Know
It is exciting to hear of the energy and vitality with which so many churches are planning for the future. Many of you report changes…
Lessons from Wesley for All Churches
Martin E. Marty once observed that between the time of Luther and Calvin and our own time, John Wesley symbolized the genius of adaptation to…
Essential Acts of Leadership
Donald L. Laurie, in his book The Real Work of Leaders (Perseus, 2000), focuses on what he calls “The Seven Essential Acts of Leadership.” Leaders…
Leading in Challenging Times
What if you knew that your congregation were on a collision course with its demise? What would you do? Whom would you tell? How would…
Picking People — Lessons from Peter Drucker
Selecting or helping to select personnel, paid staff, and volunteers is a prime task of leaders. Below are suggestions that come from the legendary management…
Relationships Are Everything
Just as all Christian leadership originates in our relationship with Christ, our day-by-day leadership depends on relationships with others that mirror the ideals of our…
Ask Bigger Questions
In June 2011, Steve Jobs made a twenty-minute presentation to the Cupertino City Council to introduce Apple’s plans for a new corporate headquarters, affectionately known…
Congregational Focus
Dan Aleshire, executive director of the Association of Theological Schools in the U. S. and Canada, went back to his home town in Ohio to…
Taking Note of Leadership Lessons
There is truth in the adage “Experience is the best teacher.” But how can we best capture the lessons experience teaches? A few years ago,…
The Culture Isn’t Killing the Church. Our Grief Is.
I recently attended a retreat with a number of church friends. We spent part of our time together looking at The problem is that while…
The Sunday Everything Went Wrong
Building credibility took time in my current congregation. I followed a well-respected pastor, and I had fewer years of experience than my predecessors. It is…
Embracing and Transforming Chaos
The story of creation in Genesis 1:1-2:4a affirms two realities of faith: the reality of God and the reality of chaos. This account of creation…
Church Leadership: Vision, Team, Culture, Integrity Revised Edition
Much has changed since the first edition of Lovett Weems’s seminal work Church Leadership appeared in 1993. But the need for clear, insightful thinking about…