Climbing the Same Ladder

As churchpeople, we sometimes assume that we are immune to the temptations of power. We don't make much money. Society gives us so little power that ...

Ambition that Is Foolhardy

The kind of successor I may get may depend a great deal on the kind of predecessor I've been and how I've related to my own predecessor. To reject ...

When a Promise Is Broken

When I took the job as head football coach at the University of Colorado in 1982, I made a solemn promise: I told everybody that with me, God was first, ...

Beware Ambition

They that soar too high often fall hard; which makes a low and level dwelling preferrable. The tallest trees are most in the power of the winds, and ambitious ...

Downward Mobility

Everything in me wants to move upward. Downward mobility with Jesus goes radically against my inclinations, against the advice of the world surrounding ...

Search Committees

Knowing God is not a big item in the preparation of a lot of preachers over America today because, just between you and me, pulpit committees are not ...

In Support of Dreamers

The Tyranny of the Rigid

On May 24, 1965, a thirteen-and-a-half-foot boat quietly slipped out of the marina at Falmouth, Massachusetts. Its destination? ...

The Desire to Be Great

We all want to be great, but we don't want folks to know we want to be great.

The Danger of Raw Ambition

Raw ambition pours sand in the ministry gears and forces the machinery to produce an unholy product: human pride.

The Mark of Holy Ambition

A striking mark of holy ambition is that it elevates Christ and not the ambitious striver.