One of my favorite leadership expressions says that if you think you’re leading people but no one is following, you’re not leading – you’re just taking a walk. A surefire way to get people to stop following is to be demanding and correct them constantly without offering profuse encouragement. As Mark Chanski says in his…
There are these moments. These situations where your conversation enters into the realm of debate. The disagreement is clear. Debate ensues. You hold one position, your friend another. On the inside, you are convinced of your position. You have studied the issue, read your Bible, formulated careful conclusions, and are ready to stand your ground.…
*By Dave Zuleger, lead pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church (south campus) And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor…
Recently, I was captivated with To the Golden Shore, a biography of Adoniram Judson, one of the first American missionaries. His story is rife with suffering and yet his life is still having an impact centuries later. Adoniram had already experienced the death of his first wife and three children by the time he penned…
Measuring spiritual growth appears to be an unspiritual endeavor but it is indeed spiritual and a Jesus-honoring endeavor. We see Paul telling the believers in Thessalonica to keep doing good and excel at it (see 1 Thessalonians 4:10), as well as Jesus exhorting His disciples to bear much fruit (see John 15:1-8). And the references…
After Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, the narrator in Genesis remarks, “The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, serving in the household of his Egyptian master” (Gen 39:2, HCSB). A few paragraphs later, right after Joseph is imprisoned because of false accusations against him, the narrative reads, “But the Lord…
Therefore I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.(Ephesians 4:2-3) Humility, patience, forbearance, and…
