Links & Quotes

Leaders should be able to use mistakes as growth opportunities. Check out these wise words from the book Spiritual Leadership.

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

T.M. Moore encourages Christian to be ready to help their neighbors answer their burning questions: “Christians, Charles Taylor insists, must not be guilty of crushing human flourishing by a too-small vision of God and an unloving or unenergetic approach to our neighbors. Instead, we must study and prepare to ‘respond most profoundly and convincingly to what are ultimately commonly felt dilemmas.’ We must be ready to guide our neighbors out of the dark woods of wrong belief into the radiant meadows of the Sun of Righteousness, risen with healing in His wings. But to do this, we must be ready guides. We must anticipate the questions our groping neighbors will ask and prepare to answer them clearly and intelligently (1 Peter 3:15).”

True strength and courage only come to the one who thinks God’s thoughts and does God’s deeds (see Joshua 1:7). The strong and courageous leader is never self-made, but unshakably God-dependent. 

On the latest Craig and Greg Show podcast, this the quote from Andy Murray that I shared: “A great team begins to happen when you have the right people on the bus in the right seats and the bus breaks down…. They work through the crisis, they get back on the bus, they’re sweating and tired. All of the sudden something magical happens: They begin to talk to each other. Culture happens through crisis. Unfortunately, many team environments have structured the crisis out.”

Mabel Dean went to Egypt at 40 years old and stayed there for nearly 40 years without taking a single furlough! “All of Dean’s life, people did not expect her to amount to much. Despite what others said, Dean believed that she had a mandate from God for missions work in Africa. She later stated, ‘I was the only homely one in my family. Yet I was the one that He chose for His work.’”

One of the prayers in the Songs of Ascent calls us to mature (or ascend) in our prayers for those who have hurt us.

“There is always a better way of doing things, and either you or your competitor will find it.” —Brad Anderson

Bites Hurt!

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

When people attack their leader—or when sheep bite—it hurts! 

Our first best response is to acknowledge, “That hurt!” but then we need to pause. Our natural response to an attack is fight-or-flight, but healthy leaders take time to learn why that bite occurred. 

This is an excerpt from an episode of The Craig and Greg Show where Greg interviewed me about my new book When Sheep Bite.

If you would like to watch the full episode of our leadership podcast, you can find that here. 

I am getting ready to facilitate a cohort for pastors who have gone through painful sheep bites—or perhaps they are feeling them right now! If you are a pastor, or if you know of a pastor who has been bitten, please check out this cohort here. 

And if you would like to pick up a copy of When Sheep Bite for yourself, you can get that here. 

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Expanding Your Leadership Through Anatomy

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

I want to give you a leadership practice that is going to set you apart from the crowd. It’s all about leveraging an amazing feature God has designed in our brain.

Check out this episode of The Podcast.

The blog post I referenced in this episode is If only I would have thought that through….

I also talked about the power of our reticular activating system (RAS) to improve our attitude in the post and video Gratitude is a shield.

On our leadership podcast called The Craig and Greg Show, Greg and I discussed the added benefit of remembering and using details about people’s lives in our episode Be a noticer.

Keep up with everything else I have going on, including my newest book and the cohort I am facilitating by clicking here.

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Links & Quotes

You are more likely to act yourself into good feelings than you are to feel yourself into action. Leaders need to get moving and keep moving! Check out this full conversation from The Craig and Greg Show.

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

In news that’s not surprising at all, many recent paleontological discoveries confirm to exactly what would be expected if we take the biblical account of Creation and a global Flood literally.

John Piper was asked to weigh-in on the value of repetitive phrases in worship songs. He said, “The issue’s not repetition per se but whether there is enough substance, enough rich content of truth about God woven into the repetitions to justify them, to warrant them. That’s the issue. There’s a difference between repetitions that are called forth by the repeated crescendo of new, glorious truth, and repetitions that serve as a kind of mantra without sufficient truth that is simply used to sustain or intensify a mood. Moods in worship should be awakened and sustained primarily by truth, assisted by music—not primarily by music with a little truth thrown in to justify the singing.”

Pastor John Piper used Psalm 136 as an example in the post above. T.M. Moore also shared this thought about Psalm 136: “The term most frequently used to describe this everywhere-present-and-always-at-work love of God is translated as ‘lovingkindness’ or, in some versions, ‘steadfast love.’ Especially Psalm 136, with its antiphonal arrangement of verses, insists that the cosmos is upheld, sustained, and pervaded by the lovingkindness of God. … It would improve our learning to pray without ceasing if we simply took some time out during the day to thank the Lord for the many ways His steadfast love surrounds, sustains, and swarms us at every moment!”

“When people refer to a man as a man of the Book, meaning the Bible, he’s generally found to be a man of multitudinous books, which simply isolates the one Book to its proper grandeur. The man who reads only the Bible does not as a rule know it or human life.” —Oswald Chambers

Men’s Health magazine shared an interview with Jeremy Renner, who was nearly killed in a tragic accident. I love his attitude about making today better than yesterday. His words remind me of a poem my grandma used to use to motivate me to keep “besting” what I had already done.

Christopher Ash writes about reading the Psalms through the lens of Jesus. He concludes this way: “I remember seeing on the wall of a church the words of Psalm 20:4: ‘May [the Lord] grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans!’ How wonderful, you might think. The Bible promises me all that my heart desires. Until you read the psalm and realize that Psalm 20 is a prayer for the king in David’s line. Ultimately, it is a prayer that Jesus will have His heart’s desire granted and that His plans will be fulfilled. And they will! The Psalms are not all about me. If I think they are, I will end up disillusioned. But when I grasp that they are all about Christ, my heart lifts in joy that He is the blessed Man and I belong to Him.”

The Craig And Greg Show: Stress Can Be Good For You

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

Stress might have six letters, but it seems like some leaders have a knee-jerk reaction to treat it like a four-letter word. While it might be nice to fantasize about an stress-free life, this is both entirely unrealistic and detrimental to your leadership. The truth is, a mild amount of stress can be helpful to you personally, as well as your organization as a whole. Join us as Greg and I unpack why you should embrace a bit of stress in your life.

  • [0:14] I have a brain block to start the show! 
  • [0:59] Let’s define stress in a work environment, as opposed to simply work tension.
  • [1:51] An interesting study about allowing moderate stress to remain in the workplace.
  • [5:30] Mild stress is helpful for our brains.
  • [7:37] Stress expands and strengthens our team connections too.
  • [10:26] Can stress help increase someone’s work performance?
  • [13:01] Our physical bodies use a stress hormone called cortisol. How can leaders maximize its effects?
  • [14:38] Stress can help us rise to the challenge in a way that easy times can’t.
  • [16:02] I share an example of a teammate who grew through stress, as well as a supporting quote.
  • [18:40] Greg shares a negative example of an organization that became stress-free and drifted toward failure.
  • [19:30] When times are easy, we can begin to slide into apathy.
  • [22:40] Should we teach crisis leadership to our teams? If so, how should we do this?
  • [23:47] We love to coach leaders who are dealing with crisis in their organizations. 

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.

God’s Plan For You Stands Firm

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their lights. … For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood firm. (Psalm 33:6, 9) 

We literally live in, on, and through the breath of God. Everything was created as God spoke them into existence—including you and me. 

Let’s personalize verse 9, making it our prayer and our declaration: 

“For He spoke my name, and it was done; He commanded the plan for my life, and it stands firm even today!” 

God created you on purpose and for a purpose. He knew exactly what He was doing when He breathed life into you, and His plan still stands firm. You are invaluable in God’s perfect plan❣️

Here’s another post and video where I talk about purpose more: Blessed To Be A Blessing. 

And this is a powerful prayer for you to pray for yourself—Still Being Fashioned. 

Links & Quotes

This is the intro to an exclusive video for my Patreon supporters. Your support would be so helpful and you will get some cool stuff too!

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

I’m proud to be a part of the Assembly of God fellowship that has its roots in missions. Alice Luce is a great example of a missions pioneer whose work in the 1920s is still bearing fruit today. 

“Our nation’s founding document declared independence from Britain, but, with equal fervor, declared dependence upon God. Expressing ‘firm reliance on the Protection of divine Providence,’ the signers committed the American experiment to their Maker. The Spirit of 1776 was reverence and trust. So, as we mark this solemn occasion, let us seek a rebirth of true liberty, which is possible only when governed by divine law. For, without God, we can never have ‘liberty and justice for all.’” —Chuck Colson

“It is impossible to describe the abundance of peace and heavenly joy that often flows into my soul by means of the fresh answers which I have obtained from God, after waiting upon him for help and blessing; and the longer I have had to wait upon him, or the greater my need, the greater the enjoyment when at last the answer comes, which has often been in a very remarkable way, in order to make the hand of God the more manifest.” —George Mueller 

The Institute for Creation Research reports on a study: “Physicists at Roskilde University in Denmark have shown that a single equation correctly describes the frequency of wing and fin strokes for a wide array of flying and swimming creatures, including birds, insects, bats, and whales.” Wow, it’s almost as if an all-wise Creator knew what He was doing!

T.M. Moore uses the understanding of wireless internet access to help Christians with a picture of prayer. “When we bend our increasingly Christ-filled minds, hearts, and consciences to the spiritual code-writing of prayer, we craft messages which shape the spiritual air as they course their way toward the Source of all living-water spiritual power, Who is filling all things with Himself. The more we pray with Christ-overflowing souls, the more we flood the spiritual airspace with the Lord, crowding out and sidelining those forces of wickedness which seek to jam those airwaves or fill them with spiritual disinformation. And the less spiritual ‘airspace’ the devil can command, the better for all of us.” —T.M. Moore 

How To See A National Revival

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

After making it up to the 11th step—so close to the top now—how could the psalmist be saying, “Out of the depths I cry to You, O LORD”? (Psalm 130:1) 

I think that the more we ascend in God, the more sensitive we should be to any semblance of sin in our lives that would offend Him. The mark of a maturing Christian is one who is constantly closing the gap between sin and confession. 

(You can check out all of the biblical references in this post by clicking here.)

I like the bridge in the song I Keep Falling In Love With Him

When I first fell in love with Jesus,
I gave Him all my heart
And I thought I couldn’t love him more
than I did right at the start.
But now I look back over the mountains,
and the valleys where I’ve been
And It makes me know I love Him so much
more than I did then


Out of the depths—Think how far we’ve come on this climb. In the first Song of Ascent, we were experiencing the woes of being in the valley (Psalm 120:5-7). But now in this song, the feelings of being in the depths are not from someone else’s sinful activity. 

The psalmist is pointing out that national sin is the culmination of unrepented individual sins. God addressed this in Leviticus 20:22—Keep all My decrees and laws and follow them, so that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out.  

Even in these depths, the psalmist is confident that God will hear—let Your ears be attentive (v. 2). Nehemiah was confident too. Look how he joins his personal sin to the national sin after Israel had be vomited out of the land (Nehemiah 1:1-7). 

Our confidence comes from the rock-solid assurance that God completely forgives our sins and then forgets all that He forgives (vv. 2-3; Psalm 103:10-12). 

The middle verses (vv. 5-6) have the key words wait, watch, and hope. This middle part comes down to: (1) What I’m going to pay attention to, and (2) What God pays attention to. 

God is attentive to our cries for mercy, and He is watchful for our care, not for our punishment! 

We are called to wait and watch in hope because God has proven that He is all in for us. Look at this completeness:  

  • full forgiveness (v. 3) 
  • unfailing love (v. 7a) 
  • full redemption (v. 7b) 
  • all their sins (v. 8) 

Notice in v. 7 the phrase “all THEIR sins” is now corporate (not singular, personal as in the opening verses). 

We’ve gone FROM my voice, my cry TO your hope, O Israel and redemption of their sins. 

If national sin is the culmination of unrepented individual sins, then national revival is the culmination of individuals repenting of their sins! 

National revival starts with you and with me. 

If you’ve missed any of the Songs of Ascent we’ve looked at, you can find them all here. 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

Links & Quotes

In what may be the best-known parable that Jesus told, what’s the difference between the hard path where the seeds failed to produce anything and the fertile soil where the seeds produced an abundant harvest? The fertile soil had a plow applied to it. In the same way, God wants to “plow” the hard places in our life so that there can be an abundant harvest! Check out this full sermon here.

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

“The greatest reason for a loss of reality is that while we say we believe one thing, we allow the spirit of the naturalism of the age to creep into our thinking, unrecognized.” —Francis Schaeffer, in True Spirituality 

“The glory of God is a silver thread, which must run through all our actions.” —Thomas Watson 

“Christianity is not the removal of weakness, nor is it merely the manifestation of divine power. Rather, it is the manifestation of divine power through human weakness.” —Dr. Donald Stamps, Life In The Spirit Study Bible, commenting on 2 Corinthians 4:7-9, 12:9-10 

“In our media-rich, secular age, we must be especially vigilant against unbelief finding its way into our hearts [Hebrews 3:12]. The heavenly calling of God is really real, and we can really partake of it. But we’ll need to be continuously on guard against ideas and messages that can undermine our confidence, stifle our boasting, rob us of the reality of our experience of Christ, set us adrift from the Lord, and end up proving us to be someone other than we thought.” —T.M. Moore

“If you don’t want responsibility, don’t sit in the big chair. To be successful, you must accept full responsibility.” —Pat Summitt 

From the 1440 Daily Digest: Congratulations, America—July 4, 2024, marks the 248th commemoration of the day the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Second Continental Congress. Through the centuries, the US has grown from 13 colonies with about 2.5 million people to 50 states and 14 territories with a population of more than 330 million. The economy has swelled to over $27T. Advances in public health have cut the child mortality rate from over 45% to under 1%, while our citizens live over 35 years longer on average. Scientific achievements in the US have delivered everything from the light bulb, modern flight, and the internet to air conditioning, movies, and the polio vaccine. More than 2.7 million miles of power lines electrify the country across over 4 million miles of paved roads, with over 90% of households accessing broadband internet. The US has also been responsible for more than 800 human visits to space—the most of any country.

Unique Worshippers

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

How do you know if something is lavishly beautiful or a totally inappropriate wastefulness? Let’s talk about how people worship God.

Check out this episode of The Podcast.

The Scriptures I mention in this post: Luke 7:36-50; John 12:1-8; 1 Samuel 16:7.

Register for my upcoming cohort here. Space is limited to 10 cohorts, so register soon.

The blog post and video I mention in this episode is Awesome God, Awesome Praise.

I talk more about one of the ladies who anointed Jesus in the post and video Grateful for what you have. I also have two blog posts about Mary:

Keep up with everything else I have going on—including my newest book and the cohort I am facilitating— by clicking here.

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎