Tag Archives: Emotionally healthy leader

Don’t Quit on Monday!

I had a big day on Sunday – preaching three services, greeting and talking with lines of people, and participating in a lively, 3-hour marriage ministry leadership meeting with four couples till 5 pm. Geri and returned home at 6 pm. My sermon was “finished” by Thursday, but then the 5-hour rule kicked in late Saturday night when I took a final look at the message: Add 5 hours to your sermon prep after you think it is finished. That got me to bed after midnight and up early in the morning. Fortunately, I no longer want to quit on Mondays as in my earlier days. In fact, I woke up excited for the week. I dedicated the morning to a few hours of silence, praying the Psalms, and rereading my highlights of Merton’s Contemplation in a World of Action. How is that possible? I have learned a few things over the years about. Read more.

Stay in the Desert

The following is a story based on the life of Abba Anthony from the Sayings of the Desert Fathers that I have pondered for years: Abba Anthony received a letter from Emperor Constantine to visit him in Constantinople. He wondered if he should go and asked Abba Paul who said, “If you go, you will be called Anthony, but if you stay here (in the desert alone), you will be called Abba Anthony.” What makes this story so important is that it speaks to the inner anchor of a life rooted in the love of God. We assume our overactive spirituality is normal. It is not. In fact, our tendency to seize more and more opportunities for God has destroyed many a good leader. Innumerable demands and distractions confront every one of us. Doors of new opportunities swing open before us – to speak, to strategize for further expansion, to intervene in ministry problems,. Read more.

My #1 Mistake as a Leader

For the first 17 years of my Christian life I grew in knowledge and leadership experience. I worked with university students full-time, graduated from seminary, and started a church. My leadership gifts blossomed. The size and impact of the ministry expanded. The problem was that growing in love was not my number one aim. I focused on bigger, better, and faster – like most of the leaders around me. I wasn’t asking myself: Am I meeker, patient, soft, safe, approachable, courageous, kind, and honest this year than I was last year? Am I less easily triggered under stress? Am I breaking my bad habits from my family of origin (e.g. stuffing resentments, lying when hurt, resolving conflicts poorly, not being attentive)? Are people close to me experiencing me as loving? A revolution took place in my life when I read Jonathan Edward’s sermons on 1 Corinthians 13:1-3. His exegesis and insights launched a Copernican. Read more.

The Pathway to Good Judgment

Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment. –Will Rogers Every day we make many judgment calls. Some of these are larger than others. Who do I hire or invite to fill a key volunteer position? When do I launch an initiative I am passionate about? Who do I include for counsel on a key decision? When I look back at some of the judgment calls I made in my early years, I am astounded, especially as it related to hiring decisions. How could I have been so blind, so shortsighted, and so unwise? So let me encourage you: Continue your prayerful process of discernment (get wise counsel, move slowly, be clear about expectations, etc.). Do a low risk, “test “run whenever possible. Relax and don’t beat yourself up. You will make mistakes, especially in your first 10-15 years! You will learn good judgment – but it will. Read more.

My 10 Top Lessons on Writing

The Emotionally Healthy Leader was my most challenging writing project to date. It required 6 ½ years of journaling, pondering, and prayer, and 1½ years of intensive writing itself. By the time it was over, I wondered if I would ever write again. (My first draft of over two hundred pages, for example, ended up mostly in the trash. So I reread two of my favorite books about the art and vocation of writing– Echoing Silence: Thomas Merton on the Vocation of Writing and The Writing Life, by Annie Dillard. Their insights offered me, once again, both perspective and vision. They put words on the complexity of the writing experience for me. My top learnings: Why do I write? I write to become clear (Merton, 10). I find that it (writing) helps me pray because, when I pause at my work, I find the mirror inside me is surprisingly clean and deep and serene. Read more.

The World’s Most Inaccessible Church

Located in the Tigray region of northeastern Ethiopia is the Abuna-Yemata-Guh Church, rightly called the world’s most inaccessible place of worship. (I also call it “the world’s least seeker-sensitive church” as well). My daughter and son-in-law visited there last month and returned, like many before them, struck with wonder at the vitality and richness of the church and her ministry. The church is carved into the rocks (from around the 6th century) and located at the top of a mountain. The 2-hour hike involves climbing barefoot and walking along narrow cliffs. (I am told, however, that people from the village can do the hike in around thirty minutes). Consider the pictures below: Evangelical Protestantism has a very short history compared to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church that traces her history back to Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-40). Perhaps you can help me with the question I am holding before the Lord: How. Read more.

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