Strategy
No More Email: A Productivity Experiment That’s Paying Off
How are you doing, really? I think if you really drilled down, you’re likely more tired, stressed and frustrated than you even realize. I get there as a leader, and as regular readers know, 11 years ago I burned out. Since then, I’ve been on a passionate quest first, to live in a way today…
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How to Respond to a Culture You Don’t Like Anymore
Ever feel like the culture is changing so much you really don’t like it? You’re not alone. The culture around us is changing. You can debate when the collapse of Christendom in the West began, but there is little doubt we are witnessing a massive shift away from the cultural consensus that existed even a…
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Why Attending Church No Longer Makes Sense
The trend is practically universal: fewer people are attending church every year. You might have even asked the question yourself. Why bother? There are many reasons why that’s happening (I outline 10 here), but I think it’s increasingly evident that it no longer makes sense to attend church. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a huge…
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5 Ways To Become a Better Leader…Today
Sometimes leadership can seem so overwhelming. In reality, though, leadership is simpler than it first appears. In many ways, great leaders master some very basic things that other people miss. The advice in this post is so simple you might be thinking “well, my mother used to tell me to do that”. Maybe that’s the…
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5 Mistakes Most Preachers Make
So maybe you’re a preacher, or you listen to preachers (or stopped listening to preachers). Almost everyone has a perspective on what makes or doesn’t make for a great sermon. I’ve been preaching regularly for over 25 years, so I know a little bit about the head games preachers play with themselves. What you do…
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3 Ways Great Leaders Handle Tough Circumstances Differently
Circumstances. You face them every day, you are always reacting to them–positively or negatively. Think about it. What situations in your life do you wish would change right now? A different work environment that doesn’t suck the life out of you Better health A happier marriage A closer connection with God A more understanding boss Less…
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9 Universal Leadership Lessons I’ve Learned From Writing, Blogging and Podcasting
Every few days it seems a leader messages me about getting started or breaking through as a writer, blogger or podcaster. I appreciate the question because for years, I wondered about what it took to write books, blog or launch a podcast. Over the last 7 years, I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to do all…
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Are You an Organizational Leader or a Shepherd? (10 Easy Ways To Tell)
So are you an organizational leader, or are you more of a relational leader—a shepherd? It’s an interesting question, and a highly polarizing one in the church today. Ditto for this blog. Just check out the impassioned comments on this post, where I argue the church today needs more entrepreneurial leaders, not more shepherds. Why…
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5 Ways To Lead When You Have No Money or Team
I recently surveyed over 1400 pastors of small to mid-sized churches to find out what they struggled with. I ran the survey to collect input for a new online course I’m releasing this fall called Breaking 200 Without Breaking You, all about breaking the 200 attendance barrier, something 85% of churches never do. (You can sign…
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How to Stop Saying I’m Sorry To Your Family
Today’s post is a guest post from my good friend, Frank Bealer. Frank is executive director of Leadership Development at The reThink Group (also known as Orange) and the CEO of Phase Family Centers. Before joining Orange, he was family pastor at Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is driven to helping leaders develop to…
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