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Francis Chan: “I promise you. I would take care of your wife.”
Powerful stuff here: Because he points us to powerful stuff here.
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Peacemaker Ministries Leadership Opportunity
I just re-read the study guide to the Peacemaker Ministries Leadership Opportunity and I want to encourage you again to consider purchasing this resource and introducing it to your church leadership. It really is a great distillation of some of the most important topics related to peacemaking and leadership. And even though the price might initially strike you as high—consider the cost of conflict in your congregation, and I bet you’ll quickly see that it’s a true bargain. (Not that I’m trying to sell you anything! I don’t get a commission. I’m sure no one at Peacemakers will even know I’ve mentioned this resource again. I just think it’s that…
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Accountability Without Transparency is Useless
TakeYourVitaminZ linked to a (convicting! accurate!) read over at RefineUs: Accountability is Useless It doesn’t take long to read the entire article, but it’s definitely worth it. The author, a pastor, begins by explaining all of the different levels of “accountability” he implemented in his life. But then he says this: “So with all of these boundaries and all of these safe guards and all of these great leaders and friends holding me accountable how could I ever be unfaithful to God and my wife? That’s not possible right? But I was unfaithful, despite all of my accountability. What I have discovered is accountability is useless. Accountability is only as…
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Richard J. Krejcir on Church Conflict
If you have an interest in biblical peacemaking and would like to read a slightly different take on it from the “standard” Peacemaker Ministries model, I encourage you to click through and enjoy this series of articles posted on the The Francis Schaeffer Institute of Church Leadership Development (www.ChurchLeadership.org): Cultivating Effective Biblical Solutions for Conflict Yes, I have to admit that the JD/MBA (and Presbyterian?) in me still particularly enjoys the orderly way that engineer and fellow lawyer Ken Sande organizes the biblical principles over at Peacemakers. (Some of Dr. Krejcir’s articles in this series got a little rambly and my tiny brain just couldn’t keep track of 24+ points…
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Time to Learn the Word “No” (with Grace AND Truth)
A little Momma Tara Math for you to kick off your Wednesday: Complete-Crawl-Across-An-Entire-Room-MOBILITY + Lots-O’-Interesting-And-Some-Potentially-Dangerous-Things-To-Poke-Into = Time-For-Baby-To-Learn-The-(Good!)-Word-“NO” (Yes, yes, I know I probably shouldn’t have even let her do this even just ONCE. But oh! It was SO CUTE to see her discover the bowls. Move the food bowl. Play with it. Discover the WATER bowl. (Her eyes LIT UP. She began to move so purposefully towards it. I ran for the camera.) A one time freebie because it was so entertaining for me AND to encourage her that there really is a super interesting and fun world “out there” for her to discover now that she is mobile. Hopefully…
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Godly Manhood
Owen Strachan just summarized and linked to an insightful message by Bruce Ware that I commend to you: An Essential Talk by Bruce Ware on Godly Manhood As I read his points, I was struck by two thoughts: 1. I hope women (including me!) don’t warp these excellent points into LAW to thrust on our husbands and criticize them, even just silently to ourselves. 2. I wonder how I could be an encourager and helper to Fred in regards to such things? (Oh, and I also thought to myself: “What an excellent grid for a woman to think through what she is praying for and looking for in a potential…
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Disappointed with Your Church?
Kevin DeYoung has a great three-part series on his blog addressing disappointment in the church: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Consider just a few summary lines from the posts and then do check them out! Part 1: How should church members respond when they feel unloved, unsupported, or like outsiders in their church? And how should church leaders respond when they are criticized for being unconcerned or the church is faulted for being unloving? Part 2 (for leaders): Do we have some mechanism for personally knowing our sheep? Do we have some way of knowing when people are not showing up at church? Are we confronting cliquishness in…
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How to “Blow Up” a Church (And Its Opposite)
HT: Challies.com for this link to a brief, but insightful, article by Chuck Lawless: Seven Sure Fire Ways to Blow Up a Church (It begins, “I served as a church pastor for 14 years, have now served for 12 years as a church consultant and have watched hundreds of students begin their local church ministries during my 14 years as a seminary professor. Based on my observations from these various vantage points, here’s what I would do if I wanted to ‘blow up’ a church …”) Worth the read! Oh, and I LOVED LOVED LOVED Pastor Thabiti’s recap of this year’s Together for the Gospel: Home from T4G If…
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Defend the Bible the Way You Would Defend a Lion
Tim Challies quoting Max McLean: “The Bible is its own evangelist. I came to faith because I was deeply affected by the words of the Bible. The famous British preacher Charles Spurgeon was once asked how he responded to criticisms of the Bible. “Very easy,” he responded. “I defend the Bible the same way I defend a lion. I simply let it out of its cage.” That quote captures our vision for this book and for the growth of ministries that are committed to the passionate, articulate, and powerful reading of Scripture. Isn’t it time to let the Bible out of the cage, or (to borrow from the title of…
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Great Reads from David Murray
I enjoyed so many of his posts, that I’m temped to just link to David Murray’s blog and say, “Read backwards for awhile!” But just to tempt you by the titles, here are some favorites from just the past week or so: – Two Essential Traits of Great Leaders – “To Do” (Today) or Tomorrow — Let’s Make Better Mistakes Tomorrow – Successful Ministry? Or Happy Marriage? I could keep going, but I have to scoot now. So just go backwards and read for awhile! 🙂 Blessed Saturday to you, Tara B.
