Richard Weaver’s 1948 book entitled “Ideas Have Consequences,” screamed the answer to the question on so many minds following the first two World Wars, the Holocaust, massive genocide, Eugenics, and more. The question, “Why is the 20th century the bloodiest in all of history so far?” Continue reading “The Consequence of Ideas”
Rear-View Focus
The rear-view mirror is a great tool. It gives us a way to see what is behind us so we can use that information to make better decisions. For example, it helps us avoid pulling out in front of that speeding little red convertible weaving in and out of traffic.
Rear-view mirrors also provide insight into obstacles and dangers in those rare instances when we are forced to backup before we can start moving forward again. Despite its great value, however, the rear-view mirror was never purposed to hold our attention for long periods of time. Too much focus on the rear-view mirror can cause us to crash and stall our forward movement.
Does Jesus Need a Marketing Coach?
If we are to believe many of today’s top Church Growth experts, Jesus could have used a lot of help when it came to marketing and branding. Instead of capitalizing on His core strengths, successful resume and off-the-chart popularity, He can be seen time-and-again sabotaging His opportunities and alienating potential followers. Here are a few areas where a good marketing coach would have done things differently:
Partnering for Success
If you are anything like me, there never seems to be enough hours in the week to get everything on the To Do List completed. Sure, some of this is because I am a big dreamer, but many times, however, I fall short of my goals because I fail to properly engage the help around me.
While employers, managers and organizational leaders often have paid and/or volunteer staff to help get the job done, some do not have that luxury. Even those of us that are blessed to have a great team of people around us, often have elements of our life that need to be done outside of that staff structure.
Five Strategies for Making it a Happy Year
One of my clients sent me an email this morning telling me he was anxious to make his business “great again” this year. During a follow-up, he began to lay out specific objectives that he wanted, and needed, to achieve. We discussed the objectives, the necessary resources, and the potential challenges in making his dream come true. I love it! My client is leveraging his emotional energy, prompted by a New Year, to press forward in actual strategies, tactics and behaviors to make things happen.
Continue reading “Five Strategies for Making it a Happy Year”
Four Steps to Learning Like a Genius
“Learning is easy for you.” I have lost count of how many people have said that to me over the years, but the truth is, I have to work at it like most people. I do not have an Eidetic memory where I remember everything I see, but I have acquired a few skills over the years that help make the process easier and more enjoyable. I have also discovered that almost everyone can learn these skills.
Spiritual Tune-Up
In my last article, I introduced the topic of mental malware and our need to be more observant of the negative self-talk that undermines our lives. If you missed it, you can catch it here. Today, as promised, I am going to offer some practical instructions on how to change our programming from bad code to good. But first, we will take a look at the big picture.
In the cosmic view of things, there is a Designer and a Hacker. The hacker is first seen in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3) manipulating and challenging the code the Designer had provided His creation.
Election 2016: Disaster or Hope?
As the smoke of a thousand fires ascend toward Heaven, the American Church struggles to find answers to its latest crisis of faith. What does the election of Donald Trump really mean to those who follow the teachings of Jesus Christ?
Does this latest political upheaval portend disaster for the causes of justice and racial equality? Does it spark hope for slowing or ending anti-Christian bigotry, transgender bathrooms, and abortion? It would appear that it completely depends on the perspective of the person you ask.
We Must Do More
The election is finally over, but the conciliatory remarks from both sides have done little to alleviate the pain, distrust, frustration and feelings of powerlessness in our communities. The politicians minimize, and even trivialize, the eighteen-month vitriolic struggle with phrases like, “hard fought battle,” as they now call for national unity.
I wonder how many normal people believe that a year and a half of vicious accusations, innuendo and name calling can be simply wiped away by the wave of a hand and a few kind words.
While some celebrate, some mourn and others are conflicted, we the people continue to be divided along political, racial, economic, and philosophical lines. These will not easily go away by reaching across the aisle and saying, “you fought a good campaign.” They will not, and indeed cannot, be addressed with sound bites and partial truths. While we should continue to pray for our governmental authorities (1 Timothy 2:1-3), we should and must do much more.
Is the Christian Church prospering or is it falling apart? Depending on who you listen to or which statistics you study it appears that it could go either way.
Those of us who deeply love the Church, can take great solace in the fact that this is not – as they say in Texas – our first Rodeo. There have been many times throughout history where all hope seemed lost. Gnosticism, the Nicolaitans, the political takeover of the church by the Romans, the crusades, the inquisitions, the indulgences of the middle ages, church splits and the list goes on. Continue reading “”