Category Archives: Leadership

Let’s talk a little more about power. In the secular world, most fights are about money, sex, or power. I asked the elders at Tulsa what the church fights they’d seen are usually about — not what those involved say they … Continue reading →

Disciples So what’s a disciple? (John 13:34-35 ESV)  34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  35 By this all people will … Continue reading →

How do we do this? Teach Jesus. Jesus is the missing piece. Teach Jesus as our ultimate example, as our model, as who we were meant to be like. John Howard Yoder demonstrates in The Politics of Jesus that every … Continue reading →

It’s easy to get caught up in the details and miss the big picture. Feed the sheep what? What’s a “green pasture”? Elders are to be examples of what? I think the answer — or the most important part of the … Continue reading →

We church leaders have a language problem, I think. I mean, we’re just so bad to use words that aren’t very well defined, as though everyone knows exactly what we mean. Recently, the elders at my church and the staff … Continue reading →

[The following is NOT an attempt to replicate the class but to present the same material in a blog format. I’ll expand on the material quite a bit to include some thoughts we didn’t have time to cover. This will be a … Continue reading →

Here are links to the materials I referenced in my Friday lectures: Order CDs of the three classes Ray Vander Laan audio lectures (free download) Faith Lessons (7 DVD Set) Ray Vander Laan The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership … Continue reading →

I’m on the way back to Tuscaloosa from Tulsa. I spoke for nearly three hours yesterday to a room filled with elders. It was a delightful experience to spend so much time with men filled with such passion for the … Continue reading →