Links & Quotes

When someone wants to “grow” an organization, what exactly does that look like? Is growth only numeric or is it something that’s perhaps a bit more difficult to count? The leader needs to have this clear in their mind, and they need to regularly communicate this metric to their team. I unpack this in greater detail in my book Shepherd LeadershipCheck out more of this message hereAnd be sure to check out all of my videos on my YouTube channel.

It appears that creativity is largely fueled by two things: proper sleep and finding your “sweet spot” each day. If you are an early bird, protect that creative time. If you are a night owl, don’t try to become an early bird to emulate someone else, but lean into your productive time. Check out this full post.

I love reading, but even I have trouble finding time to sit down with my books. But this insight from John Piper totally rejuvenated my thinking about reading. “Suppose that you can read about 250 words a minute. Now, that’s not real fast; most of us can do that—250 words a minute. And suppose that you set aside fifteen minutes a day to read a great book—a classic or some book that you’d been longing to read that would help you grow in your wisdom, your understanding. Now, fifteen minutes a day for 365 days is 5,475 minutes a year. Now, you multiply 5,475 times 250, and you get 1,368,750 words that you could read in a year at fifteen minutes a day. Now, an average book has about 300 to 400 words on a page. So we’ll take 350, which is kind of in the middle, and divide that into 1,368,750. And you know what you get? You get 3,910—almost 4,000 pages a year. An average book has about 200 pages. You see the implication of that? You could read twenty books by this time next year by setting aside fifteen minutes a day.”

An ancient Hebrew inscription consisting of 48 letters was discovered on Mt. Ebal in Israel and is centuries older than any known Hebrew inscription from ancient Israel. This is yet another archeological discovery that speaks to the historicity of the Bible.

T.M. Moore wrote one of the endorsements of my book Shepherd Leadership. His thoughts here about the role of godly shepherds is right on the mark: “The work of shepherds consists of helping the people of God to connect with Him—to know, love, fear, and serve Him in every area of their lives. This work cannot be fulfilled by one who is merely a good speaker, an effective organizer, or an inspiring motivator. This work must be done by one who truly knows the Lord. For unless we know the Lord, the Lord will not know us, and He will not honor our labors.”

You are one-of-a-kind! There has never, ever been anyone like you, and there never will be. God made you on purpose and for a purpose. And God wants to reveal the purpose He has for your life. You be you—that is how God is most glorified through you.

Podcast: Stop Doing Traditional Performance Reviews

Listen to the audio-only version of this podcast by clicking on the player below, or scroll down to watch the video.

Performance reviews are a great tool to help leaders measure and celebrate the growth of their team, but the standard model of quarterly and yearly reviews is a terrible way to go about it. In this episode, Greg and I suggest a different approach to reviews that relies on frequent coaching and giving your team “the answers to the test” to set them up to succeed.

  • [0:15] We all have “have to” and “get to” leadership tasks in our organization, but we think performance reviews never should be in the have to” category. 
  • [1:29] Performance review times are a great time to unleash potential in our teammates.
  • [2:44] Greg shares how his daughter’s school does this well and how an organization he worked with did this poorly.
  • [4:02] I teach leadership principles to a group of young men called “Guys With Ties,” and I always have them focus on future growth.
  • [5:22] Leaders can only do effective reviews by having regular interactions with their teammates.
  • [7:00] We suggest a better way to give out compliments and corrections.
  • [8:35] Three key elements in performance reviews: (1) honesty, (2) timeliness, (3) looking forward.
  • [10:54] How do we handle situations where the review doesn’t match the projected employee bonus?
  • [12:55] Many of our teammates have probably had a bad experience with a previous performance review, so we need to address that upfront.
  • [13:16] Accountability is a heavy word but it is a vital growth piece.
  • [15:23] What happens when leaders are tired?
  • [17:27] What does it say to our teammates if we’re always too busy to schedule a time for a performance review?
  • [21:13] The culture we need to foster in our organization is an “improvement culture.”

Check out this episode and subscribe on YouTube so you can watch all of the upcoming episodes. You can also listen to our podcast on Spotify and Apple.

Beware Of “I’m Owed This”

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

On Mother’s Day, I shared a word of encouragement from a woman who interacted with the prophet Elisha. As I was studying for this message, I paused to consider an example—actually a warning—that comes from Elisha’s servant Gehazi. 

Because of the miraculous things that God had done through Elisha, word began to spread about God’s power that was on display through this godly prophet. In fact, word even spread to other countries, including the land of Aram where was a highly decorated military commander named Naaman lived. This revered leader was afflicted by leprosy. The king of Aram sent Naaman to Elisha to be cured of this disease (see 2 Kings 5). 

When Naaman came to Elisha, he was given instructions to bathe himself seven times in the Jordan River. Initially, Naaman balked at this, but eventually, he humbled himself in obedience and was miraculously healed of his leprosy! 

Naaman had come to Israel and Elisha with the intention of buying a miracle (just take a look at the treasures that he brought with him). Elisha would not accept money or gifts from Naaman. Not that there’s anything wrong with a prophet receiving gifts, but not when the intention of the giver is to give a bribe. 

This is where Gehazi makes a fatal mistake. Gehazi has a conversation with himself (notice the phrase “he said to himself”) that he should have had with Elisha. He determined that he and Elisha were owed something for their ministry work. Gehazi then compounded this unhealthy conversation by telling one lie after another lie to justify the conclusion he had reached. 

Elisha knew that God keeps track, that God keeps perfect records, that God will reward far better than any man ever could. He said, “Is this the time to take money or to accept clothes?” No! We need to let God determine the timing and the gift. 

As a result, the leprosy that had left Naaman now attacked Gehazi. In reality, it was a leprosy of his heart that merely appeared on his skin. Gehazi was then dismissed from his ministry position with Elisha. 

Sadly, I’ve witnessed many ministry leaders who have derailed their leadership with an “I deserve this” attitude. Thinking “I’m owed this” took their eyes off God and put them on the rewards they thought they should have received. How sad this is! 

We all need to be on guard. The “I’m owed this” lie didn’t just derail Gehazi, it’s also what turned Lucifer into satan. Is it any wonder, then, that satan uses this lying attitude as an effective weapon—from Adam and Eve, to King David, to Gehazi, to Ananias and Sapphira, all the way down to us. 

Our constant prayer should be, “Holy Spirit, guard my heart against the leprosy of entitlement. Help me keep the ‘I’m owed this’ attitude far, far away from my heart’s door.” 

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Sacred Cultural Cows

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

Every organization has a culture and has some sacred cows. 

I define culture as the unwritten rules that everyone who’s been around for a while knows, but seldom thinks to share with any newcomers. Those newcomers usually don’t know they have broken one of those unwritten rules until they actually break one of those rules! 

Sacred cows are the untouchable things in every organization. Those things that have always been in place and can never be changed or removed. 

But what if you’re the new leader coming into an organization? How do you navigate the new culture? How do you keep from messing with those sacred cows? Greg and I discussed this on a recent episode of our leadership podcast. 

Check out the full episode this clip came from by clicking here. 

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Faith Eternally Rewarded

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

One of the things I remember the most about my Mom is her fierce belief that God had a plan for my life. There were times I struggled in my belief, but she was tenacious in her faith on my behalf. I’m here today doing what I do—which I love doing!—because of my Mom’s faith-filled, persistent prayers. So if I could give two words of encouragement to godly mothers who are praying for their kids it would be this: Don’t quit! 

In 2 Kings we meet a godly woman who very much wanted to be a mother. While she waited and prayed for an answer to this prayer, she kept ministering to others. One of the men who benefitted from her gracious hospitality was the prophet Elisha. Whenever the prophet would pass through Shunem, he would stay that this woman’s house, where she and her husband had prepared a room especially for him. 

It appears this Shunammite woman is married to a man much older than her. They are without a male heir, so if her husband dies she will lose everything—no property, no voice, no source of income. Clearly this has to be a concern for her, but she doesn’t mention this to Elisha when he asks how he can bless her for their care for him. Perhaps she had resigned herself to the thought that her barrenness was a hopeless situation, but Elisha told her that in a year’s time she would become pregnant with a son. She must have been disappointed before because she says, “Don’t mislead your servant,” as if saying, “Don’t get my hopes up again!” 

However, God does give this couple a son, and that little boy is dearly loved! At a very young age, this boy dies suddenly. This could have been a time that anger or depression could have been expected. But not with this woman! 

Remember when we looked at Psalm 42 last week? The psalmist was grateful for the experience he had in God’s presence, but now that there is a setback of some kind he is struggling with the “Where is your God?” taunt from his enemies. 

When God answers our prayer, the devil loves to whisper, “Lucky break. You didn’t really deserve this.” So if anything goes wrong he can lie again, “See, I told you so!” 

This is where we must not merely listen to those thoughts but talk back to them. Perhaps the Shunammite said something like, “You’re right, I didn’t deserve this or earn this gift of my son. This is a gift from God’s grace. God promised this son to me and I believe God will preserve what He gives.” 

Moms, you must cling to God tenaciously in faith-filled prayer! 

This godly mother shows us what tenacious faith looks like. She took her son into Elisha’s room, placing him on the prophet’s bed, and she quickly sends word to her husband that she is going to find Elisha. When her husband asks what is wrong, her faith-filled answer is, “It’s all right.” 

As she gets close to Elisha’s home, he sees her in the distance and sends his servant Gehazi to ask, “Is everything okay?” To which she gives the same faith-filled reply, “Everything is all right.” 

When she finally gets to Elisha, she grabs onto him and says words that must have gotten Elisha’s attention immediately: “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” These are the exact same words Elisha said to Elijah three times on the day Elijah was taken to heaven. Just as Elisha clung to the promise of God’s blessing, so did this mother (see 2 Kings 2:2, 4, 6). 

God did answer her prayer and raised her son back to life. But this wasn’t the end of the blessing. 

Remember that a widow without a son has no standing in the community. To be saved from a famine in Israel, this woman and her family lived for seven years in Philistia. While they were there, her husband died and squatters took over her property. 

But in God’s perfect foresight and timing, this woman and her miracle son walked into the king’s throne room just as Gehazi was telling the king about the miraculous resurrection Elisha prayed for. The king is so moved by this story that he doesn’t just restore her land, but he orders the squatters to pay back to her all of the income they earned from her land during the time she was away! 

Not just restoration, but blessings beyond imagining (see 2 Kings 8:1-6). 

We don’t know who wrote Psalm 116, but it very well could have been this boy who was raised to life. The opening verses talk about God’s deliverance from death, but then the psalm says, “I serve you just as my mother did” (v. 16). 

This woman’s tenacious faith resulted in immediate provision for her, a legacy of faith in her son, and a testimony that is still encouraging us 3000 years later! 

So let me repeat this to godly mothers who are praying for their families: Don’t quit! There are eternal testimonies and rewards coming that you cannot even perceive! 

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Links & Quotes

Unhealthy leaders don’t admit their need for help, and as a result they put a lid on their leadership potential. Check out more of this message hereAnd be sure to check out all of my videos on my YouTube channel.

A prominent Chinese scholar, Dr. Wang Yun Wu (1888-1979), abandoned atheism in 1924 after he witnessed the miraculous healing of his sister’s eyesight. Dr. Wang later became Vice Premier of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Check out this miraculous story in the Pentecostal Evangel.

The Culture Translator weekly email from Axis had some helpful information for Mental Health Awareness Month.

What it is: May is mental health awareness month, making mental health and suicide prevention bigger topics than ever. #mentalhealthmatters has around 42 billion views on TikTok, and #mentalhealthawareness has racked up 20 billion.

Why the conversation is changing: The CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior survey showed that suicidal ideation, especially for teenage girls, is continuing on a concerning trajectory. In 2021, 30% of girls said that they had seriously considered suicide in the past year, and 24% said they had an actual plan to end their life. According to data published by Mental Health America, 16.4% of youth reported experiencing a major depressive episode within the last 12 months. This news comes at a time when adults are feeling so lonely that the US surgeon general has declared loneliness a public health emergency. Stigma around mental health topics appears to be eroding, but that isn’t necessarily leading to better mental health outcomes for teens and for the population at large.

Conversation Starter: What do you think are the biggest contributors to mental health issues for your generation? (Check out our new video series on Mental Health for more help having this conversation!)

One of the things contributing to the unhealthy mental state of many people (not just teens) is the negative impact of pornography. Fight The New Drug reports how watching porn hurts self-esteem.

“A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.” —Harry Truman

Is pain good or bad? Dr. Matthew Loftus makes the case that avoiding suffering undermines the role of medicine and also stunts our ability to feel and express compassion. Check out this full article and the thoughts John Stonestreet shared about them.

“What a sweetness lies in the little word ‘our’; how much is God’s glory endeared to us when we consider our interest in Him as ‘our Lord’ [Psalm 8:1].” —Charles Spurgeon, in Spurgeon and the Psalms

Action-Oriented Confidence And Humility

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

I have two back-to-back chapters in my book Shepherd Leadership where I discuss the confidence and the humility of leaders. The healthiest of leaders are self-aware enough to know which one of these leadership styles is naturally theirs, and they are also actively aware of how to bring balance to those two extremes. 

As Karl Vaters and I discussed on The Church Lobby podcast, the natural tendency for confident leaders is to view humble leaders as pushovers, and the natural tendency for humble leaders is to view confident leaders as arrogant. Is this fair? Check out how Karl and I unpack this. 

If you would like to grow your leadership effectiveness, please pick up a copy of Shepherd Leadership for yourself. And stay tuned as I’ll be sharing more clips from this interview soon. 

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Healthy Leaders Ask For Help

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

Confidence can become a detriment to a leader’s growth when our confidence keeps us in a place where we refuse to ask for help. Nick Vujicic wisely noted, “An arrogant person does not ask for help and thus is helpless. An arrogant person claims to know everything and thus is clueless. A humble person attracts helpers and teachers.” 

Sadly, too many leaders think that if they admit they don’t know something, that will diminish their standing in the minds of those around them. I’ll be the first to confess that this is how I used to view myself in my leadership roles. 

But a huge breakthrough for me was in humbly admitting my need and seeing how others delighted to come alongside me to help. 

During a training time with some other pastors, I was asked what I thought about “self-help books.”  

There are many leaders that believe the lie that God helps those who help themselves. In reality, God delights in those who admit their need for help. The Bible says, “God opposes the proud, but shows favor to the humble” (James 4:6). Unhealthy or insecure leaders don’t admit their need for help, and as a result they put a lid on their leadership potential.

Swallow your pride … humbly admit your need for help … receive the help of God and others … and then watch your leadership influence grow! 

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Whose Words Have Weight?

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

A teacher of the law asked Jesus an important question. In essence, he asks, “There are a lot of commandments in the Scripture. If I have to give a student the most basic of instruction, which of the commandments is the most vital?” 

The response from Jesus is especially important for two reasons: 

  1. Which commandments He listed
  2. The relatively few words He spoke 

Check out His short reply—

The most important one, is this: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” The second is this: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no commandment greater than these. (Mark 12:29-31)

In this sermon from Jesus, He speaks a total of 57 words. Notice the breakdown of the words He spoke:

  • Words from Scripture: 40 words 
  • His own words: 17 words

I wonder how many times we get this reversed? How many times do we share a short passage from the Bible and then use a whole bunch of our own words to try to explain the Scripture? Do we think the Holy Spirit needs our help to illuminate the inspired Word? 

Solomon warned twice of the dangers of “many words” (Ecclesiastes 5:3, 7), and Jesus said that if we think a lot of words spoken in prayer makes that prayer effective, we are really just babbling (Matthew 6:7). 

The teacher of the law is astounded at this sermon Jesus delivered. He speaks almost as many words as Jesus (52 words), but nearly all of his words are simply repeating what Jesus had said. Jesus said this man’s synopsis of His message was “wise” and indicated that he was “not far from the kingdom of God” (Mark 12:32-34). 

When we are asked questions about the Bible, let’s let the Bible do most of the talking. Let’s be careful that our attitude is not one of trying to “help” the Holy Spirit, but let’s rely on the Holy Spirit to help us know what Scripture to quote, what limited commentary to share, and when to be silent to allow the Word to do its irresistible work. 

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Talk Back To Your Thoughts

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

Do you talk to yourself? 

Of course you do. We all talk to ourselves: it’s called “thinking.” 

But do you talk out loud when you talk to yourself? 

An unhealthy habit for most of us is that our thoughts are only a one-way monologue. That is, we are listening to our thoughts but we are not talking back to them. As a result, everything negative we’ve heard from our enemies is bouncing around in our heads. The more we hear it, the more likely we are to believe it. 

In Psalm 42, we hear from a psalmist who is longing to experience God’s presence but at the same time there’s a nagging thought implanted by skeptics: “Where is your God?” The psalmist reminisces how it used to be, which means there is a nagging doubt in his mind that it may never be like that again. 

But finally, the psalmist does the mentally healthy thing: he talks back to his thoughts. He asks himself a question and then he gives a new response—a response that is hope-filled instead of doubt-plagued. 

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember You. (Psalm 42:5-6) 

When the nagging thought of “Where is your God?” comes up again just a couple of verses later, he doesn’t linger or brood over this doubt-inducing thought but immediately talks back to that negative voice with hope-filled words (vv. 10-11). 

The devil has a singular agenda: to separate you from God. He does this through lies and doubts. Jesus told us the devil’s native language is lies: “He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). 

The Bible tells us that the devil can also put thoughts and desires in our hearts, but they are all lies (see John 13:2; Acts 5:3). 

We cannot let these lies go unchallenged, so here’s our battle strategy: 

For the weapons of our warfare are not physical weapons of flesh and blood, but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds, inasmuch as we refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the true knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ—the Messiah, the Anointed One. (2 Corinthians 10:4-5 AMP) 

There are five questions we need to use to talk to ourselves about the thoughts we hear: 

  1. Is this thought unbiblical? (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
  2. Does this thought rob God of the glory due His name (Psalm 29:1-11)? 
  3. Does this thought stifle my love for God or others (Mark 12:28-31)? 
  4. If I linger on this thought, does it rob me of peace (Isaiah 26:3-4)? 
  5. Does this thought make me apathetic toward sin (Genesis 4:7)? 

(Check out all of the above verses by clicking here.)

If we answer “yes” to any of these questions, we must capture that thought and put it to death, which requires the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17). Because of what Jesus has done for us on the Cross, every promise in God’s Word is “yes and amen” in Jesus, and therefore is an invincible weapon against lying thoughts (2 Corinthians 1:20). 

Here’s how we use those promises: 

For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb AND by the word of their testimony. (Revelation 12:10-11)

Listen to your thoughts, but don’t listen too long before you start to challenge them with these five questions. Then demolish those lies—triumph over them by the blood of the Lamb and your spoken testimony. Speak the truth out loud for all to hear. 

This is part 4 in our series on a Christian’s mental health. If you’ve missed any of the other messages I’ve shared, you can find them all by clicking here. 

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