Leadership
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When a leader fails; judgement, grace and restoration
The first elders meeting after the pastor was caught was tense. Some of the elders didn’t see why this was such a big deal, others were focused on a speedy path to restoration, while one elder believed the pastor’s actions were disqualifying and grounds for immediate dismissal. Over the course of the next few weeks…
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Immoral Pastors and Path to Destruction
Over the past few weeks several high profile Christian leaders have been forced to step down because of sins they committed with or against others. I know some of these leaders from a distance, some are acquaintances, and some are friends. Each public revelation of sin has been shocking and beyond comprehension, culminating with appalling…
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Leading Through Pain
By Sherry Surratt At 5:30 A.M. I stumbled to the bathroom, jamming my pinky toe on the corner of the cabinet. The pain shot up my leg, jarring my foggy brain into full-awake mode. As I sank to the floor, a sick feeling crept over my insides. One second ago I was thinking about the…
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Egalitarian, Complementarian, or Garden Variety Chauvinist?
I grew up in a staunchly egalitarian tradition, a term I never heard until my early 30s because the role of women in the church was never a conversation. It was as settled in our church as using Welch’s grape juice for communion. My grandmother, the first in my family to follow Christ, was saved…
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How is your leadership foundation?
Lately I’m always the oldest guy in the room when I am meeting with leaders. I’m the one who has two pairs of reading glasses in his pocket, just in case. I’m the one smiling and nodding at cultural references I don’t understand. I’m the one who never passes up the opportunity for a bathroom…
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The Lazy Person’s Guide to Leadership
Leadership is exhausting. On top of all the stuff you have to get done there’s all the stuff the people you’re leading have to get done, and all the stuff the people being led by the people you’re leading that has to get done. I need a nap just writing that sentence, but we haven’t…
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Should Women Preach or Lead in the Church? Maybe…
While being interviewed by key leaders for a teaching pastor position, an elder asked me whether I was a complementarian or egalitarian. I confidently stated that I was a complementarian, and than began down the long list of women pastors on my spiritual journey. The group looked more and more uncomfortable the further I went…
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Back to the Past: The Quick End of Innovation in the Church
About a year ago many of us were saying, “Church has changed forever, it will never be the same.” We adopted the word phyigital (which sounds like a restless physician’s ponytail to me) and we declared that we were now online churches with physical locations. About two weeks later everyone quit watching our online streams.…
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What if everything we knew about church changed? What then?
Sundays feel weird. Normally Sundays are energizing, challenging and exhausting. On Sundays we get to do the things we are wired to do; preach, lead worship, teach kids, and connect with people we love. Now a typical Sunday consists of watching a pre-recorded service and making small talk in an online chat room. When we…
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In praise of older leaders in plaid shirts
I recently heard a conference speaker lament the fact that the lead team at a majority of the churches she works with are older men in plaid shirts. She is not wrong. When I look at church websites I am always amazed at how little diversity there is at the top. Its almost always white…