Leading with Grace: Live it.
November 27, 2019 Servant leaders receive God’s grace as we saw in the previous issue. They acknowledge their need of grace and begin their journey with Jesus. That journey requires learning to live by grace. As Paul reminds us: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, […]
Leading with Grace: Receive it
November 13, 2019 We use many words to describe leaders. Powerful, authoritative, persuasive, strong, bold, and visionary are often used. But have you ever heard a leader described as graceful or filled with grace? Not very likely! But Jesus was a leader “full of grace” (John 1:14). What is grace? One of the most common […]
Learning from Rehoboam: Leaders Lose when they don’t Listen
October 30, 2019 Rehoboam chose to listen and he did well. He chose the group to whom he would listen and chose wrongly. The choices he made led to an outcome for which he had no choice! When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king: “What share […]
Learning from Rehoboam: Leaders Choose to whom they Listen
October 16, 2019 To whom do you listen when you have a tough decision to make? Rehoboam, like all leaders, had a choice to make. And the choice of who the leader listens to can have significant outcomes, as it did for Rehoboam. We have already seen that Rehoboam learned that failing to listen would […]
Learning from Rehoboam: Leaders Choose to Listen
October 2, 2019 If I asked you, “Do leaders talk, or listen?” what would be your most likely response? We usually focus more on what leaders say than on how they listen. But the short story of Rehoboam’s early leadership, found in 2 Chronicles 10, has many insights for servant leaders on the art of […]
Speaking the Truth, With Perseverance
September 18, 2019 We have been slowly trying to understand what Paul means to speak the truth in love in Ephesians 4:15. Balancing the desire to love with the need for truth is enough of a challenge for most leaders. But the leadership challenge multiplies when Paul adds 14 distinct characteristics of love in 1 […]
Speaking the Truth, With Hope
September 4, 2019 Paul continues to challenge servant leaders to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).But will speaking truth in love accomplish the change we desire? Since Paul recognizes that we might be tempted to avoid speaking the truth because we can’t predict the outcome, he also tells us that love always hopes (1 […]
Speaking the Truth, With Trust
August 21, 2019 Paul calls all of us to speak with truth and love. Speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ (Ephesians 4:15). Speaking truth can be a scary thing! We might be afraid that it will […]
Speaking the Truth, while Protecting
We are beginning to recognize that it is not a simple matter to follow Paul’s instruction to speak “the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15) because he challenges our understanding of love when he lists the actions of love. One of these actions is that love “always protects” (1 Corinthians 13:7).So, servant leaders learn to speak […]
Speaking the Truth, with Rejoicing
When we speak “the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15), the words we say are important. But Paul also reminds us that the attitude of our heart matters as we speak. He says a heart of love “does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth” (1 Corinthians 13:6).This is a reminder that when we […]