Practical Tips in the Search for Integrity  Hiring a new employee means understanding their character and integrity. Integrity is the most important trait you will be interested in, yet it can be the most challenging to assess. This blog outlines some practical tips for gaining clues about potential flaws in integrity. The Application  Remember that this document is designed to sell the candidate. It is written to gain an invitation to an interview.  If you are using a recruitment agency, never accept the resume they put forward. Always insist on seeing the resume that the app ..read more

Summer Term Starts at Outcomes Academy Online! Christian Leadership Alliance is committed to equipping leaders. The Outcomes Academy Online offers two professionally facilitated, 10-week cohorts this summer. If you want to develop mission-critical competencies, expand leadership capacity, and align practices with biblically influenced principles, join the Outcomes Academy Online. If you are not a current member of the Alliance community, we encourage you to join and enter into learning experiences that will transform the way you think and do the good works entrusted to you. Mark Your Calendar ..read more

Will you speak with power and authority? Peter and John find themselves speaking to the religious authorities about Jesus Christ. “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” Acts of the Apostles 4:12, NLT The setting of this verse is that Peter and John have healed a crippled man. They have made it clear that the ability to heal this man came from Jesus Christ. They invite others to follow Jesus, the only one who can give us a resurrected life (new life now, life after death later) with God forever. Reflection At this time, religi ..read more

Remember and Honor the Sacrifice O beautiful for spacious skies,    For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties    Above the fruited plain!       America!  America!    God shed His grace on thee. And crown thy good with brotherhood,    From sea to shining sea! O beautiful for pilgrim feet,    Whose stern, impassioned stress A thoroughfare for freedom beat    Across the wilderness!       America! America!    God mend thine every flaw, Confirm thy soul in self ..read more

What Does Courage Have to Do with It? So much of leadership hinges upon courage. Successful leaders routinely display it; struggling leaders find courage challenging to muster, and some, once successful leaders, fail because they succumb to pressure and choose not to exhibit courage. Nehemiah 2 captures a tremendous example of leadership courage when Nehemiah asks King Artaxerxes for permission to leave and help the Israelites. To set the stage, Nehemiah has heard about the plight of the people in Jerusalem and has just completed time in prayer to discern God’s will for how he should move for ..read more

Definition and Christian Perspective on Well-Being The Oxford Dictionary defines well-being as “the state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy.” For Christians, well-being reflects the Trinitarian life of God, characterized by flourishing within a community. This idea is deeply rooted in God’s nature as a relational being—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in perfect communion. This relational nature implies that every man and woman, created in God’s image, are designed to thrive in relationships, and without these, they experience a sense of incompleteness. Christian Community Context For Chris ..read more

Fundraising Strategies in an Election Year As we look at the year ahead, one question that is asked repeatedly is, “How will the upcoming election affect my fundraising strategies?” Although we can’t predict the future, we have been through a few election cycles in the past, and what we can say is that with strategic planning and creativity, non-political organizations can still see success in their fundraising efforts. Here are a few tactics that have helped our clients experience better results during previous election years: Emphasize Your Impact Communicating the impact of your organizat ..read more

The Third Line Matters Most You are likely part of an associational system or line in some aspect of your life. WAIT! Don’t stop reading! This statement means that the place you do business, your work in a ministry organization or nonprofit, your congregational home, your family, your involvement in a civic organization, your participation with some home-based business, and your membership in most anywhere put you in a unit of a larger whole that somehow must work together. Do you know what matters in such a case? The most familiar associational system is a franchise, with roots that go ..read more

A Polycentric Approach to Christian Mission In recent years, Christian workers have used the term “polycentric,” meaning “many centers,” associated with the Christian mission to proclaim that it should not be understood as “from the West to the rest” but rather “from everywhere to everywhere.” But what has not been discussed as widely has been the funding side of this polycentric vision. This post aims to locate biblical insights for this modern conversation. Rather than call it fundraising, I will use the NT term “participation,” which implies “people freely giving what they have.” This fres ..read more

The Path to Purposeful Productivity As leaders and executives, “I’m swamped” is far more common in our professional vocabulary than purposeful productivity. It’s a candid expression of the overwhelming flood of responsibilities that can leave us feeling like we are fighting to keep our heads above water. Yet, we can take this profound wisdom to glean from a timeless narrative that offers guidance on turning the tide of busyness into a stream of purposeful productivity. The biblical account of Jesus and his disciples caught in a storm on the Sea of Galilee (Luke 8:23-24) is a historical event ..read more