A Sense of Timing: A Time to Shut Up
Issue #196, December 14, 2016 Leaders talk! But servant leaders acknowledge that there is a time to talk and a time to be silent. In the last issue we examined when it is time for a leader to speak up. Now, we’ll consider when it is time to shut up! Servant leaders know it’s time […]
A Sense of Timing: A Time to Speak Up
Issue #195, November 30, 2016 Leaders talk! But servant leaders acknowledge that there is a time to talk and a time to be silent. In this issue and the next, we’ll look at when it is time to speak up and when it’s time to shut up! A couple of verses about speaking help focus […]
John the Baptist: Bold Confrontation
Issue #180, May 4, 2016 The humility of John the Baptist didn’t mean that he was quiet! Instead, he was able to boldly confront wrong. It didn’t matter if he was talking to kings, religious leaders, soldiers or farmers. He spoke the truth with power and confronted wrong. But when he saw many of the […]
John the Baptist: Communicating for a Change
Issue #176, March 9, 2016 John is well known for baptisms. But it was the message he communicated that actually produced change in people’s lives. His message produced the baptisms. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. John said to the crowds coming […]
Daniel: Speaking with Wisdom and Tact
Issue #161, August 5, 2015 It was a matter of life and death. The executioners were searching for Daniel to kill him. The king earlier had a dream and ordered his astrologers to both tell him the dream and provide the interpretation. When they declared that the task was impossible, the king ordered all the […]
David: Succeeding at Succession
Issue #149, February 18, 2015 David’s leadership story is not finished until he hands over the reins of leadership to his son Solomon. Sadly, the account given in 1 Kings 1 teaches us more about mistakes to avoid in succession than it does about giving a positive example. When David is old and unable to […]
The Simple Truth
Issue #130, May 28, 2014 Recently, as I grappled with the complexity of truthful communication across cultures I was struck with the power of Jesus’ simple statement to his followers: “Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” (Matthew 5:37). His words call servant leaders […]
Lead with your Ears: The Basics of Listening
Issue #129, May 14, 2014 Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear (James 1:19, The Message). We have looked at several aspects of what it means to lead with our ears, now we’ll focus on how servant leaders can become better listeners. Jesus instructed, “Therefore […]
Lead with Your Ears: The Barriers to Listening
Issue #128, April 30, 2014 Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear (James 1:19, The Message). Leading with our ears sounds great, but leading with our tongue seems a lot more natural to most leaders. After all, our tongue is right at the front of […]
Quality Assurance: Not Quarrelsome
Issue #107, June 3, 2013 Paul continues to raise the standard for servant leaders and continues his quality assurance checklist by telling Timothy that a godly leader must not be “quarrelsome” (1 Timothy 3:3). Quarrelsome is a habitual inclination to disagree and stir up contention. The writer of Proverbs paints a colorful picture of a […]