Craig T. Owens

Shepherd leaders cannot allow past hurts to negatively impact their current situations. Don’t give in to the natural fight-or-flight response, but ask God to help you response with supernatural faithfulness. I unpack this idea in greater depth in my book When Sheep Bite.

I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.

In responding to an evolutionary biologist’s claims that the material world is all that matters, John Stonestreet invokes the timely wisdom of G.K. Chesterton and C.S. Lewis. One of my favorite quotes from Lewis appears in this post: “A theory which explained everything else in the whole universe but which made it impossible to believe that our thinking was valid, would be utterly out of court… It would be an argument which proved that no argument was sound—a proof that there are no such things as proofs—which is nonsense.”

“Good leaders love leading the people they lead more than they love leading people.” —John Maxwell 

Gerrit Scott Dawson writes about how the Bible helps us see ourselves more clearly. “The truth-telling mirror of Scripture exposes and composes us. Imagine a mirror that would make you as appealing as you could hope to be. Imagine a well of clear water that not only reflected but washed you clean of dirt and blemishes. When we read Scripture with open hearts and in reliance on the Spirit, that’s what happens.”

“Twice in the book of Hebrews we are urged to ‘consider Jesus.’ In Hebrews 3:1, the writer exhorts us to consider Jesus (κατανοήσατε) so that we will continue believing in and confessing Him throughout our lives. This word means to pay attention to something through direct observation, with the implication of also thinking about it, meditating on it, and returning to it often, just as one might carefully observe an object in creation or a work of art. … In Hebrews 12:3, the writer calls us again to consider Jesus, but this time as a work of rational analysis (ἀναλογίσασθε), a theological analysis, as opposed to an aesthetical contemplation. This suggests the need to study, read, think deeply, meditate, talk with others, and know Jesus in terms appropriate to His uniqueness and mission.” —T.M. Moore 

“Be silent, if you choose; but when it is necessary, speak—and speak in such a way that people will remember it.” —Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart