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Stupid things christians say

Some years ago after my family had gone through a relocation we hadn’t lived in the house for 15 minutes before we met our new next door neighbors, the Abbate Family. We would quickly learn about the loss of their son Luke, who was a sophmore at Harrison High School when he passed away 5 years ago as the result of being a passenger in tragic car wreck.

Before moving to Atlanta, we spent the previous year walking with some dear friends as their 5 year old daughter battled for her life against cancer. In fact I have previously blogged about the ongoing story of Kate McRae and her family.

More recently my family has been going through our own little mini-crisis, as out of the blue we discovered that we were going to be transitioning and have been looking for new job. Hardly comparable to the thought of potentially losing one of my children.

Through all of these moments and more what has amazed me is how inept so many Christians seem to be at expressing real heartfelt love and concern. I mean of all people who should know how to walk with and care for the hurting and the suffering it should be Christians right? I’m not saying they don’t care. And I’m not saying there haven’t been moments of genuine and at times even extravagant expressions of love poured out. But the reality is a sad majority of Christians honestly just don’t know what to do when others around them are going through crisis, and so they do nothing. Or worse they say something stupid. Here are my top 5:

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Posted in Family, Leadership

0

Is Vision a Team Sport? Part-2

Just like you, I’ve heard countless talks about vision. Volumes have been written on the topic and blogs buzz every day with seemingly “new ideas” about vision. Google the topic and you could spend the rest of your life reading the content that comes up. So why add to the noise? Because as I was looking through some notes the other day, I came across one of the most actionable and energizing talks I’ve heard about the aspect of team and vision (by Jeff Henderson) and I wanted to share some of the key ideas with you.

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Posted in Leadership

3

Is Vision a Team Sport? Part-1

Just like you, I’ve heard countless talks about vision. Volumes have been written on the topic and blogs buzz every day with seemingly “new ideas” about vision. Google the topic and you could spend the rest of your life reading the content that comes up. So why add to the noise? Because as I was looking through some notes the other day, I came across one of the most actionable and energizing talks I’ve heard about the aspect of team and vision (by Jeff Henderson) and I wanted to share some of the key ideas with you.

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Posted in Leadership

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What does my Pastor want from me?

Ask a Church Staff Member what they want out of their Lead Pastor, then turn and ask the Lead Pastor what they think their Staff wants out of them and you just might be surprised at the in-congruence of the answers; then again, maybe not. I recently taught a couple of breakouts at a conference where I had the opportunity to interact with a bunch of Ministry Staff Members. Many of them were quick to identify what they were hoping to get out of their Lead Pastor. We were even able to build a quick grocery list of their top frustrations they had with their Lead Pastor. However when the table was turned and I asked the question, “What do you think your Lead Pastor wants from you?” it was easy to see that most Ministry Staff Members haven’t spent much time wrestling through the idea. As a Ministry Staff Member, have you ever stopped to consider that other than keeping numbers going up and to the right and keeping complaints about your ministry to a minimum, that your Pastor may actually be hoping to get more from you than what’s on your job description? You may have never thought about it much…but below are four things that your Pastor is hoping to get from you:

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Posted in Leadership, Staffing

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What your pastor isn’t telling you

Most Lead Pastors come off as having it all under control. Never let ‘em see you sweat right? Nothing could be further from the truth. More often than not it’s more like the proverbial duck that on top of the water looks calm, cool, and collected; all the while under the water his little feet are frantically paddling for dear life. If you’ve never been a Lead Pastor before let me take a moment to help you understand what it’s like to live in their shoes and what often times is going on in their heart. My hope is that you’ll remember these truths the next time you get frustrated and are tempted to become critical of your Lead Pastor. And instead of pouring salt in a wound you’ll be the kind of Staff Member or Church Member who holds your Lead Pastor’s arms up and lightens their load.

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Posted in Leadership, Staffing