Writing

This blog helps pastors and church leaders foster spiritual discernment and maintain a healthy work-life balance, offering reflections and practical advice to lead with clarity and purpose rooted in a strong connection with God.

Reliance

In our culture, we are often told that we can accomplish whatever we want. We simply need to give it enough energy, focus; if we simply work hard enough, it will be ours. This mindset has also made its way into the psyche of many churches. If we c...

Adventure

Our leadership team is facing a fair amount of turnover this year. Our church constitution requires three-year terms; each leader must sit out for a year between terms. The nominating team often complains that few are willing to serve in leadershi...

Church Unity

Most churches strive for church unity. This is not a bad goal. In fact, the early church was admonished to be of one mind. Paul seemed to continually press the churches in the first century toward unity. Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus: (...

Small Group Discerning

I have been thrilled to use material from my doctoral thesis in a variety of practical contexts. It seems that groups are constantly needing to make decisions. We often wait until we are forced to choose a direction, not able to give appropriate t...

Discernment Fail

I spend time each morning reading Scripture; I usually follow the given passages in my devotional. This week, I was directed to 1 Samuel 14. It has been a while since I read this text. The chapter opens with Jonathan sneaking off to wage an attack...

Less

Learning to trust God is no easy task. We explored the testing of Abraham last week in worship; God required intense trust as he ventured up the mountain to sacrifice Isaac. On one level, we question God’s intentions in such a situation. Has God l...