Browsing all posts in Leadership Community.

How to Lose at Success

I twittered about something a few days ago and it generated more of a reaction than I anticipated.  This is simply what the tweet said:
The greatest threat to your dependence on God is your current success.
Most of us feel our need for God most deeply when we are up against a big obstacle.  Usually [...]

Shift Responsibility, Fuel Your Growth

So…who is responsible for your spiritual growth?
If you’ve hung around church for any length of time, you might be tempted to say “my church is”.
At Connexus where I serve, we’ve been talking about that recently.   I did a message last month about blame and responsibility that seemed to resonate as deeply as any message [...]

What Toyota Can Teach Us

I am a fan of Toyota.  I own one currently and have owned another one in the past.  They make great cars.
So it hurts me to see how they are responding to what is emerging as the greatest crisis Toyota has faced.  I want them to do better.  I want them to sell more cars. [...]

Crisis Reveals Character

I almost got into a fight yesterday.
Not bad for a pastor on a Sunday night.
The details aren’t that important, but let me just say it involved a hockey rink and another dad who started to act out toward my son.  I told him in no uncertain terms he needed to back off.  He then started [...]

What Scandalous Thing Have You Done?

So yesterday we suggested that simply reaching people who don’t go to church by nature is scandalous.  The very thought of reaching non churched people can offend Christians. It’s not we intend to offend, but the Bible suggests we just will.  Religious people get upset when non-religious people become the goal of a mission.
Today I’d [...]

Why Your Ministry Should Be Offensive

“The crowd listened until Paul said that word. Then they all began to shout…”He isn’t fit to live!”(Acts 22.22).
What did he say?  You’d think he dropped some profanity.  Nope.
You’d think he denounced Jesus.  Not that either.
What did he say?  The word was “Gentiles”.  He simply announced that he was going to work with people outside [...]

The Slow Death of Selfish Ambition

Most of us secretly want to be better known, valued and appreciated than we are.   For some of us, that’s just in a wider relational circle.  For others, it’s more public.  We long to be better known in our ministry, in our company, to see our product selling, our album get recorded, our blog get [...]

Helping in Haiti

A note for my Canadian friends…for some ways to help with the situation in Haiti click over to the Connexus Blog.
I’m grateful to be part of a generous community at a time like this.  I love people who pray and act.  Thank you!
- Carey

How Jesus Might Respond to Haiti

We’re all watching and responding to what’s happening in Haiti.  We don’t know the full extent of what the damage is or how many have lost their lives. But we’re praying for them and responding to them.  And we should.  And we will. It’s incredibly sad.  I think it’s only appropriate that our attention, hearts [...]

When The World Wakes Up, the Church Goes to Sleep…

We had a great day at Connexus yesterday.  A record or near record crowd (I don’t see all the numbers Sunday)…great feedback.  Lots of new families.  As any lead pastor, staff member or volunteer might be, I was pumped as I drove home.
But then this irony struck me – hard.  We start setting up church [...]