My Life is Hard BLESSED

Every now and then we all need a good dose of “perspective”.  A few days ago I was preparing a message from an intriguing story in 2 Kings 7.  It is the story of 4 lepers sitting at the city gate of Samaria.  Surrounding the city is the Aramean army and rather than fight they decide to just cut off …

3 Steps to Removing Clutter

Simplicity.  It’s a beautiful word, isn’t it?  The irony is that simplicity isn’t simple. “The biggest challenge for everyone living today is how to adjust to a continual increase of complexity in every area of life.” (Dan Sullivan, Founder of Strategic Coach) Here are three steps to take you on the road to simplicity. Own your life The first step …

Leaders Backstage: An Interview With Lance Witt

In this episode of The Live True Podcast, David Loveless interviews Lance about healthy life practices for followers of and leaders for Jesus. Listen to the podcast here. Listen to this encouraging and enlightening conversation around:How to integrate your imperfections as both a follower of and leader for JesusHow leaders can be living examples instead of acting like perfect onesHow …

Are You Focused on the Right Kind of Growth?

We often say that “healthy things grow”.  The assumption is that if our church is healthy, our weekend attendance should be growing. I’ve gotten to live all over the country and one of the biggest differences is the many ways that plants grow.  In southern California, there is the right combination of sun, soil and temperature to grow beautiful plants …

Beware the Seduction of Ambition

Ambition is a double-edged sword. When it is God-directed and Spirit-managed, it can bear tremendous fruit. But when it is hijacked by self and ego, it can leave a wake of destruction. I have wrestled with this issue for most of my life. If you have leadership gifts, you know what it is to be captivated by vision and passion. …

How to be an Attractive Leader

I want you to think of someone that you believe is a great leader.  Go ahead… think of someone that you respect as a leader.  Have you got their name in your mind?  Now, answer this question.  What qualities do they posses that make them a great leader? I’m sure that if we surveyed 100 pastors with that question we …