In last week’s interview Todd Henry, author of The Accidental Creative, spoke a little bit about the idea of a stimuli diet.  At first, I have to admit that I hated the concept… mostly because it meant that I need to be more proactive in filtering what I fill my brain with.  But the more that I really think about it, the more that I realize that Todd is on to something. Tuesday morning, during my [...]

We live in an obsessive world.  You may have noticed that every forty three seconds there is a new gadget, toy, or amusement available for us to acquire.  Whether it is a cell phone, media player, or e-reader there will be a new one by the time I am finished writing this post.  A while back Scordit created a helpful tool for all of us to use when deciding whether to get that hot new device:   [...]

Growing up north of Baltimore I never really encountered shepherds.  In our area of northern Baltimore County, known as the Hereford Zone we saw cows, horses, and more cows… but rarely any shepherds caring for their sheep.  It wasn’t until I was finishing college that one of my theology professors really helped me understand the enormity of a shepherd’s job.  Often working alone, or with a small group of people, the shepherd used his rod and [...]

I get the opportunity to work with a lot of faith-based organizations. I love helping them get excited about raising money and showing them that others in the Bible did too. But I’m amazed by a persistent cop-out so common among Christian causes, I’m adding it to my “Fundraising Myths” category. The cop out is: this ministry is so important, God will fund it. Or more to the point: IF WE BUILD IT, GOD WILL FUND IT [...]

Over the last two weeks it seems that a theme has been pursuing me.  The idea of how the church should be interacting with our changing culture started at the Willow Creek Summit, and have continued to grow since then.  Last week I wrote about my thoughts on living outside of majority culture, and has only grown since then. Earlier this week I reread a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter from a [...]

All this week I have been sharing an interview with Todd Henry, author of The Accidental Creative: How to Be Brilliant at a Moment’s Notice.  On Monday we talked a little bit about why Todd wrote the book, and who he considers to be creatives.  On Tuesday he shared some of the relational disciplines that he engages in, and today I am excited to have him share a few of the disciplines that we as [...]

Yesterday began an interview with Todd Henry, author of The Accidental Creative: How to Be Brilliant at a Moment’s Notice.  Today I want to look a little bit at the relational disciplines that can help keep church leaders, as creatives, prolific, brilliant, and healthy.  Reading through chapter five of the book, I was struck by the amount of importance that Todd places on relationships, and the disciplines that he suggested be part of our lives [...]

Throughout my time serving in ministry I have watched people struggle with how to best define the role of a pastor.  The job is so varied, with so many different opportunities that it can be hard to know just how to classify the role.  Over the last couple of years, Todd Henry, and his Accidental Creative podcast,  has helped me to understand that the job of a pastor is that of a creative.  We may not [...]

In many churches across the country the fiscal year is coming to a close and preparations for next years budget are being made.  Over the next several weeks meetings will be had, proposals will be made, and budgets will be set.  While many church leaders that I know dread this time of year, wanting nothing more than to endure this necessary evil and get on with the rest of their lives, some have begun to lean into [...]

Last week I wrote briefly about Bill Hybels’ response to Howard Schultz backing out of the Global Leadership Summit.  I have had many conversations with different people since that day.  Some speaking highly of Hybels’ response, others less so, but I would like to share a few of the reasons why I thought he handled the situation so well: Bill’s message was incredibly gracious.  Rather than yanking Schultz’s books off of the sales tables, he [...]