In the beginning, God gave Adam dominion over the earth. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:28) This reflected God’s original purpose for man – that he would rule over the earth in a state of blessing, peace and prosperity. But when Adam sinned, everything changed. Man came under the punishment of sin (Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians 15:22) and the earth was also brought under the curse of s ..read more

I spent December quietly at home with the intention of getting much-needed perspective on the next season of my life. I was aware of the danger of drift on one hand, and of indiscriminately maintaining the status quo on the other hand. In the process, the key word that surfaced for me was the word intentional. Being intentional was a reminder for me to stay focused, to know what on earth I am here for, to live proactively, and not be caught up reacting to the many needs that surround me, and to live purposely the one life that has been entrusted to me, with courage and humility. At the ti ..read more

Read this Bible text, and it’s tough for any of us not to see our responsibility to give some time and attention to young persons: Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind ..read more

It seemed I was everyone’s target all evening … and not a single shot missed. I was the chair of that planning committee-meeting-turned-nightmare many years ago. One member came to me privately after the meeting and bluntly told me I was blowing it because I was way too defensive. By then I was quite ready to start firing back, but I didn’t. Why? Because I had no doubt this man really cared for me. Not trying to win an argument or show me up, he, unlike any other person in the group, said this to me out of love. I treasure my relationship with him because of what he told me that evening. Was i ..read more

Today I’m going to look at “leadership capacity” as a function of strength – strength to carry the responsibilities that we feel called to shoulder. Physiologists and fitness experts tell us that muscle pain is not a prerequisite for muscle growth. Stretching the muscle fibers – whether it causes pain or not – is what is needed. But for those of us committed to physical fitness, we take the muscle pain as a “medal of honor.” “No pain …” Well, you know the rest. This seems to be a principle of both spiritual and physical growth. In the same ways that we stretch ourselves physically, we challeng ..read more

View the latest Leadership Laughs comic from Dennis Fletcher ..read more

It’s Christmas Eve. I’m center stage at my church in downtown Minneapolis with a spotlight on me and a microphone in front of me. The track starts, the band follows, and I hear the prompt in my in-ear monitors to sing the first verse of “O Holy Night”. We’d rehearsed earlier that week, the recording had been playing in my car in preparation, and the final practice just an hour earlier went smoothly. I was ready. Until half-way through that verse when I realized how off tempo I was. I could feel the beat behind me dragging. I knew it was my fault, but as my panic increased, I knew there was not ..read more

As a leader, if you don’t understand the power of delegation, then you’ve been missing out on the single most useful strategy for both attaining your goals, and developing your people ‒ especially the next generation of leaders. For your people to have ownership in the goals you’ve set, they must have real responsibilities delegated to them. Delegation is a form of leverage. It accesses talents, creativity and time that the team has in its pool of resources. Not delegating is a waste of those resources and will make reaching your goals that much harder. Delegation is also the number one develo ..read more

I can still recall walking out of the leadership meeting, feeling deflated and invisible.  They just don’t get me, and what I’m trying to do, I thought to myself.  I felt frustrated, indignant, and angry. And then I did the exact same thing to a group of younger leaders.  I neglected to value and honor their voice and contribution, and saw the negative impact it had on them. As leaders, we will all fail and disappoint others at times.  And we will feel let down by those we respect.  So how do we handle that?  Here are couple of things I’m learning to do: Exp ..read more

Most changes we contemplate and enact aren’t poorly designed. When change goes sideways it’s likely due to poor presentation and communication. We can’t forget that our people love yesterday; yesterday is safe. Tomorrow is scary. Let’s consider forging the link rather than emphasizing it. Questions: What’s different when you present change as yesterday evolving into tomorrow, when yesterday’s values, vision and purposes are sacrosanct, when yesterday’s successes have provided the foundation, and thus the impetus for how we’ll tackle the future? Can you stress that we’re not turning our backs o ..read more