A Critical Pause for Critical People

I’m not the biggest fan of running, but when it comes to my work-life, I like to run pretty fast. That said, as a leader, pausing for any reason can feel like being frozen in a progress glacier. Sure, glaciers are beautiful, but they don’t move too fast. As a leader, that causes me a lot of tension.

Here’s what I’ve learned: There are many, many places where taking a moment to pause and ponder proves helpful. For me, one of the best places to pause is when I face criticism.

Why Is Nobody Paying Attention?

I feel very blessed – no, extremely blessed – to be a part of North Point Ministries where I consistently meet with and get feedback from guys like Andy Stanely and Lane Jones. Of course, there is a lot of pressure knowing every time you preach, Andy and Lane are going to listen and critique you. But that is nothing compared to the pressure I feel knowing that an audience of unchurched people who might be giving God and the church one more chance is listening, as well. That’s pressure – and it’s healthy. Every preacher should feel that healthy pressure. It makes me work hard and take my role as communicator very seriously.

One thing I’ve learned from Andy and Lane is the power of tension in a message. Maybe it’s better to say I’ve learned the necessity of including tension in a message. Too often preachers believe that people will listen and follow because they are talking. That is equivalent to believing people will watch your television program just because you put it on TV or your video simply because you posted it on YouTube. But just because you’re talking doesn’t mean people are listening. Just watch a teenager.

Why Combing Your Hair Is Like Leading A Church

Why do we feel the need to label everything? Sure, some things need labels, like expiration dates on milk cartons or warning labels on fireworks. But why do we label churches? “They’re a missional church.” “They’re attractional.” “They’re traditional.” My guess is we label because we want a clear way to elevate our label over every other label, but again, that’s just a guess.

I’ve Got A Question…

As a younger leader, I made a lot of statements. Actually, I made a lot of exclamations – with multiple exclamations marks!!! I guess I believed great leaders knew a lot about pretty much everything. As a younger leader, even though I thought I knew a lot, I really didn’t know very much at all. If you tried to tell me that, though, my response would be followed by several exclamations points!!! Of course, in the moment, I didn’t know, because we all have a tendency to not know what we don’t know.

Nevertheless, I wanted to look good as a leader and display confidence, so I made a lot of statements and shared my opinion openly and frequently. Nobody ever questioned where I stood on any issue, because I was all too willing to share. Yet I could not seem to gain influence, and at the time, I was not sure why. In hindsight, it’s very clear. Statements end conversations. Statements push people away, down, or to the side. Statements do not engage others. Exclamations are even worse.

Why Start a Blog?

I’ve asked myself that questions for years now. Multiple times I began working on launching a blog space – more times than I care to admit – but I always stopped short of posting one idea. I would get hung up on what to write, the name, finding the perfect URL. Thinking back, I’m not sure I ever had the right energy or motivation around a blog. But that has changed. Better late than never, I guess.