Building Leaders
Articles in this category focus on practical issues of how we build healthy leaders and lessons learned
Knowing When to Go
How do you know when it is time to go? When is time to step back from ministry? Is there a good time to make a change?
Jay Temple
The Focus of a Leader
After years of working with young developing leaders, I have come to the conclusion that if a leader focuses on two basic truths, he will be successful.
Ron Cline
8 Reasons Why Right Now’s the Right Time to Develop Young Leaders
If you’re considering expanding what you offer in terms of leader-development (in school, at home, on an athletic team or at work), let me incentivize you. Below are eight reasons why I believe that now is a perfect time to equip emerging leaders to serve.
Tim Elmore
The Loneliness of Leadership
There is sometimes loneliness in leadership which cannot be avoided.
Ron Edmondson
Overcoming the Battles Young Leaders Face in Our Stressful World
Almost every leader under 40 feels it – the constant stress, anxiety and uncertainty we’re all plagued by. Dr. Tim Elmore is a world-renowned expert on the issues facing today’s students and young adults. We dive into why so many young adults feel constant anxiety and uncertainty and how to deal with it, with strategies for young adults themselves and every leader who leads them.
Carey Nieuwhof
How to Nurture a Christian Way of Life
How to form Christians today is unclear. The challenge is that the basic patterns of life have shifted in an increasingly digital and networked world. The new patterns have not fully emerged, but the shifts are as profound as the move from farm to factory in earlier generations.
Dave Odom
7 Tidbits of Advice for Young Pastors
This is good advice for all ages (and not just pastors), but the majority of questions I receive are from younger pastors. I’m not sure what it says about us older pastors but it has been true in my ministry that the younger a pastor is, the more willing to heed advice.
Ron Edmondson
Church is a Leadership Factory
The church ought to see itself as a leadership factory that stirs up the gifts of God in people, not an auditorium that gathers people behind a leader. Jesus did not build His Church by recruiting the 12 brightest from the rabbi’s list of “up and coming stars” and platforming them in large stadiums around the world. His disciples were mostly blue-collar workers with little to no formal theological training.
J.D. Greear
Building and Training: What is the Difference?
Although we should aspire to train and build, my encouragement is that we continue to focus on building life in people and by doing so, we will end up transforming people in the long haul.
Raj Chelvaraj
Great Leaders are Great Observers
Many of the leaders I’ve known aren’t too quick to speak, despite their many years of life. They have a quiet confidence about them and an inner security in who they are. They look at the people and world around them with curiosity and they listen more than they talk.
Adrian Pei
How to Recover After You’ve Made a Leadership Mistake
I have often watched leaders struggle to recover from a mistake made that probably didn’t have to be as personally or professionally damaging to them as it was. They simply didn’t respond well enough and it cost them more than it should have.
Ron Edmondson
Great Answers or Great Questions?
Four questions I love to ask, and three unexpected benefits that come with them.
Adrian Pei
Do You Like Playing with Dominos?
Leadership can be fun and frustrating all at the same time. If you and your team are struggling with the uncertainties of leadership, the principles and questions in this post will help you reset your perspective.
Dan Lovaglia
Leading with Love on the Line
Every significant moment in history was led by leaders who were committed to another way. Leaders who acted counter-culturally. Leaders who selflessly did what was right rather than what was popular or comfortable.
Jenni Catron
3 Steps for Introducing Change Every Leader Needs to Know
These three steps will help you evaluate every new or foreign idea to anticipate if it is a good fit for your organization, and then determine how exactly it will affect your vision, strategy, and values.
Paul Sohn
3 Dangers of WYSIWYG Leadership
There’s a misnomer that it’s always a good thing when someone says, “What you see is what you get,” especially when it comes to ministry leadership. If you’re encountering any of these three dangers, it’s time to deal with what’s really going on.
Dan Lovaglia
Leading Without Agendas
A professor of spirituality and ministry discovers that trust grows when leaders notice and release their own agendas.
L. Roger Owens
Seven Costs of Disciple-Making
Perhaps what might help us over our hurdles is not to hide how costly disciple-making is, but to be utterly honest and explicit about the costs, and hold them out in the light for us to see, and then find whether something in us might just rise to the peculiar glory of it all.
David Mathis
Seven Essential Priorities for Your Physical Health
As Christian leaders in God’s house, I hope these seven essential priorities help you to make the improvements that are within your power to make. God knows, we need healthier, stronger, leaner, more flexible leaders who can stay the course! You can absolutely improve your health!
Nick Franks
The Question to Stop Asking Your People
How can I help you? On face value it appears to be a great question which explains why it’s one that’s also so commonly used within church leadership or management strategy: it seems to be servant-hearted, empowering and supportive. However, the reality is that this question is something of a foolish wolf in sheepish disguise.
Nick Franks