Growing the Wrong Direction?

[American Christianity] is more Petrine than Johannean; more like busy Martha than like the pensive Mary, sitting at the feet of Jesus. It expands more ...

Vulnerability vs. Spiritual Exhibitionism

On the one hand, no minister can keep his own experience of life hidden from those he wants to help. Nor should he want to keep it hidden. While a doctor ...

Leaders Don't Push

General Eisenhower used to demonstrate the art of leadership with a simple piece of string. He'd put it on a table and say: "Pull it and it'll ...

Doubters in the Fold

Apparently it's expected that candid confessions of uncertainty [by churchmen] will attract into the church other doubters who will contribute generously ...

Leadership Is an Art

Leadership is an art, something to be learned over time, not simply by reading books. Leadership is more tribal than scientific, more a weaving of relationships ...

When Good Business Is Bad Business

The church appears to be adopting the principles and practices of big business and finding these practices very effective.

Now there is nothing wrong with ...

Successful Leaders Build Teams

The successful leaders are those who know their job is to build an effective team that will outlast them.

Lone Climbers Against the Gale

The richer a man's personality, the more there is of him to be tempted. We need not be surprised--as occasionally we are--at the collapse of some ...

Belaying--A Model for Ministry

Ten of us, all beginners, were climbing White Gap Mountain in North Carolina. We were using ropes in a system called belaying. I served as belayer, which ...

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 ...