Self-Care: Take Care of Your Growth
Issue #432, September 23, 2026 Great leaders focus on the needs of others—but do not neglect caring for themselves. As we have already seen, they take care of their souls and their bodies. They also find ways to grow and develop their own gifts and calling. Paul calls Timothy to this aspect of self-care: 14Do […]
Paul: Build on Strength™
Issue #396, April 16, 2025 Great leaders build teams around them to help accomplish the vision. They understand that there is no such thing as a well-rounded leader, but there are well-rounded teams. Build on Strength™ is the fourth action in the Serving Leader Model® (*see note). It means leveraging the strengths of each individual […]
#385 Serving Leaders Produce a Thriving World: They Synchronize the Team
October 30, 2024 When the vision, values and mission of any organization are clarified and embedded deeply into the culture of the organization people thrive. But Paul’s vision also includes two more actions serving leaders can take to build a thriving world. 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and […]
#376 It’s None of Your Business: Surrender it
June 19, 2024 Leaders influence and impact the realm where they have authority. This may be at home, in their office or department, in the church they lead or in the business they operate. They naturally feel a sense of ownership of that entity, especially if they founded the organization or business*. But serving leaders […]
#370 Secure Leaders Develop Others
March 27, 2024 We have examined several significant actions of secure leaders and recognized that secure leaders are serving leaders. They demonstrate their leadership security as they serve by encouraging, delegating, embracing differences, and accepting mistakes. These actions all lead to the final one, developing others. Developing others is both the outcome of these actions […]
#368 Secure Leaders Embrace Differences
February 28, 2024 Secure leaders serve those they lead by embracing differences. Instead of being threatened by differences, they see differences as a strength. The leadership team in Antioch was filled with five remarkably secure leaders. 1 Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, […]
#366 Secure Leaders Encourage
January 31, 2024 In the previous issue we looked at how Jesus was a secure leader because He knew His authority, identity and destiny. His security allowed him to serve His disciples. Now, we’ll look at several ways that secure leaders serve those they lead—first by encouraging. The story of Barnabas gives us a beautiful […]
#352 Timothy: Clarifying the Call
June 28, 2023 Timothy had a gifting and calling to the leadership roles in which he served, especially in his leadership of the church at Ephesus. But there were many years of growth and development that preceded this assignment and during that time Timothy was clarifying his calling. Consider these instructions Paul gave to Timothy: […]
#348 Paul’s Leadership Pipeline: Encourage Them
April 19, 2023 We have reflected on several deliberate actions that Paul took to develop his leadership pipeline strategically moving people from one level to the next in their capacity. One action that Paul continually practiced was encouraging those he wanted to develop. Consider these examples from his communication with Timothy: For this reason […]
#333 Barnabas: Serving with Humility
September 14, 2022 There’s not a specific verse in scripture that talks about the humility of Barnabas, but there is plenty of evidence that he served with deep humility. First, while he was a prominent figure in the life of the church, when the people chose the first deacons, his name was not included (see […]