As a pastor, I’ve spent 30 years talking to people and heard every kind of story imaginable.
Uncertainty is not an indication of poor leadership; it underscores the need for leadership.
The insecure leader will interpret critical thinking as critiscism.
Praying for revival equates to blaming God for the condition of your local church.
If you don’t clarify your goal, you’ll never identify the best approach.
Leaders fix things that are broken.
What people pray for will tell you more than anything else whether they are locked into the vision and priorities of the church.
Telling someone they’re wrong is not the same as leading or inspiring them to do what’s right.
Progress requires change.
Authority does not equal competency.
You can’t resist the will of God and receive the grace of God at the same time.
Rich people have the potential to reach a point where they see money as the source of their safety and security.
Generosity helps us cultivate awareness of things that really matter. Opportunities that make a real difference in the world.
I’m not a philanthropist. While I care about the poor, the issue of local or global poverty doesn’t keep me up at night.
While generosity may be the antidote for the dizzying effects of wealth, your appetite for more may function as an antidote against God-honoring generosity. Your appetite for more stuff, status, and security has the potential to quash your efforts to be generous. And that’s a problem.
As counterintuitive as it seems, generosity begins wherever you are. It is important to make generosity a priority.
There are some rich people who, no matter how much God sends their way, never seem to put their hope in their riches.
Generosity won’t happen unless you make it a priority. The best way to make giving a priority is to make it the very first check you write every month. Before the mortgage. Before groceries or clothing. Before saving. Whatever the amount, do it first.
When you make giving a priority, something happens inside of you. Especially when it’s financially challenging to do so. It’s like you loosen your grip on a value system whose motto says, “Money is the key to life and happiness and safety.”
Generosity helps us make a concerted effort to keep the needs of others in the forefront of our thinking. Not for guilt’s sake, but for the sake of being good stewards of the resources we have been privileged to manage.
I’m concerned about the plight of children. But I’m not on a mission to get all the available orphans in the world adopted into Christian homes.