The company I work for was started by Joe D. some 75 years ago. By the time I was hired, the baton had been passed to Joe’s son, Jim D. Jim was a slight, white-haired man. He was extremely nice, a great storyteller, and a talented networker. Mr. D. had powerful friends all over Texas.Continue reading “Organizational Leadership: Pray for Pastors! Judges 1.”
Category Archives: Leadership
Leadership is a Group Project. Deuteronomy 1.
Image from an article on Medium.com: https://kevin-gordon.medium.com/hierarchy-of-leadership-f5a82b589342 Leaders like to complain that it’s lonely at the top. We think a leader is a one-man band. A single conductor leads the entire orchestra. A single quarterback leads his team. A single pilot flies a plane. A single teacher leads a classroom. Nations are often led byContinue reading “Leadership is a Group Project. Deuteronomy 1.”
City Planning. Nehemiah 11:1-2.
Image: New York City by Jan Christopher Becke. An article I read begins with a great question: “What do Ron Paul, Nancy Pelosi, and President Donald Trump have in common? They have all promised to ‘drain the swamp’ of Washington politics.”[1] As the article goes on to point out, there never was a swamp onContinue reading “City Planning. Nehemiah 11:1-2.”
Sin City: Jerusalem. Ezekiel 22:6-16.
Just as individuals have personalities, groups of people have personalities. Ask any teacher—no two classes are the same, and you love some and you … struggle to love others. Group personalities are even present in extremely large groups. Churches, cities, even nations have personalities. Several factors drive group personalities. One is proximity. People who liveContinue reading “Sin City: Jerusalem. Ezekiel 22:6-16.”
Leadership Problems. Micah 3:3.
My dad used to threaten my brother and me with a joke: “I’ll skin ya’ alive!” We barely knew what that meant. We just knew he was being silly, tickling us and teasing us. He would never have said such a thing in anger. If we were behaving badly, he would be serious and handleContinue reading “Leadership Problems. Micah 3:3.”
LEADERS KNOW HOW TO PRIORITIZE. Acts 6:2-3.
If a teacher can’t say no, she will say yes to the principal and parent volunteers and end up serving on five committees and organizing school-wide rallies and fundraisers and having two or three after-school activities happening in her classroom every week. Soon the teacher will be pulled in so many directions she will becomeContinue reading “LEADERS KNOW HOW TO PRIORITIZE. Acts 6:2-3.”
Fasting, Praying, Servant Leadership. Deuteronomy 9:18.
Image generated with A.I. In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses recounts his experiences leading the difficult people of Israel (whom he describes as “stiff-necked,” Deuteronomy 9:6). After they left Egypt and crossed the Red Sea, God called Moses to visit with the Lord on Mount Sinai. Moses went up the mountain, was gone forty days,Continue reading “Fasting, Praying, Servant Leadership. Deuteronomy 9:18.”
INFLUENCERS. 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13.
We hear about “social media influencers.” Most are young people with a talent for engaging an audience. Celebrities, including singers, actors, and athletes (so many soccer players!), top the lists, but even the highest ranks include four members of the Kardashian family—the family of OJ’s lawyer—who, like Paris Hilton, are merely “famous for being famous.”Continue reading “INFLUENCERS. 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13.”
Good Leaders and Bad Leaders. 2 Kings 19:15-19.
Leadership is not about power or titles or money or fame or working with important people. It’s not about YOU. Leadership means leading others through challenges. When a plane crashes in the jungle, the leader walks in front, helping survivors find the way to civilization. The leader of a business is involved every day, workingContinue reading “Good Leaders and Bad Leaders. 2 Kings 19:15-19.”
TRUE LEADERSHIP. 2 Chronicles 30:18-20.
Leadership requires humility and service, such as Jesus washing the feet of His disciples. But it also involves something priestly. That is, true leaders do what priests do—they plead to God for their people, just as Jesus pled for us from the cross. Hezekiah was a godly king. He had the temple cleaned and heContinue reading “TRUE LEADERSHIP. 2 Chronicles 30:18-20.”
Household Words: 