4 reasons leaders need large blocks of time
‘Calendars fill up quickly. If leaders don’t manage their calendars then their calendars will manage them. In my view, one of the most important decisions leaders makes is how to plan their work. Do they just react to what comes their way or do they proactively plan how they will lead and create? Meetings, emergencies, and time with people are a given. But what about preparing messages, planning ahead, and crafting direction? Some leaders set large blocks of time for that work while others attempt to “squeeze that work in” to their busy schedules.’
Freedom from the tyranny of hyper-spirituality
There are lots and lots of insightful comments in this one. Just read the whole thing. ‘Imagine I give my daughters a new dollhouse… But for some reason they think I don’t really expect them to play with it, but rather to spend any awareness they have of the dollhouse standing before me, thanking me for it. They somehow get it into their heads that to go into another room and play with the dollhouse is ingratitude, that I won’t feel properly thanked (or even pleasure in giving them the gift) except in their direct thanks to me. They don’t ever enjoy the dollhouse; they just show how much they love the gift of it by thinking of ways to thank me other than actually playing with it. This is the view of God that belongs to the hyper-spiritual.’
The value of expositional preaching in an international context (video)
This is worth watching if you teach in a multicultural, multiethnic context.
‘Daddy’ Driscoll
David Robertson takes a look at Mark Driscoll’s latest comments on Reformed theology and the new tribe amongst whom he is seeking a platform.
The one with the racists…
If we are to be the friend of sinners, we are going to like some people others will find very troubling indeed. And we should.
Practical help for lousy listeners
‘Are you a bad listener? What would your spouse or best friend or children say about you? People tend to think much more highly of themselves than they actually deserve. So what would you say: Are you a good or bad listener?’
From the archive: What to do when the church are disappointing and people let you down
‘People are so disappointing, aren’t they? One doesn’t have to be around church very long to discover that people let you down. The reason there are no perfect churches is that there are no perfect people. Add a sinner to a room full of sinners and it is hardly surprising that we encounter sin. Welcome yet another failure into a church full of failures and it is little wonder that people will let you down. Given that the church is the sum of its people, it should be no surprise that the church itself will periodically disappoint us too.’