Leadership
Deliberate living: death of spontaneity?
Does deliberate living spell death for spontaneity?
I’ve been thinking this through over the last two weeks as several people brought it up in the comments here and here. Here are my thoughts.
1) The opposite of intentionality is not spontaneity. The opposite of intentionality is traditionalism.
Traditionalism does something because “that’s the way we’ve always done it.” [...]
The deliberate Christ
To be deliberate is to always move forward with the destination in mind.
Perhaps the most striking picture of the deliberate Christ is found in Luke 9:51:
“He set his face to go to Jerusalem.”
This is at least six months before his crucifixion, and yet Jesus Christ—the deliberate Christ—is moving forward with the destination in mind.
That kid [...]
Deliberate living
Every believer is responsible to conduct himself deliberately.
Let me explain what I mean.
To live deliberately is to live on purpose. It’s the opposite of letting life happen to you. It’s the opposite of going with the flow.
To be deliberate is to be careful, not careless. To be thoughtful, not thoughtless. To be deliberate is to [...]
Time for a thinkathon
I just spent what may be the most valuable $17.45 of 2010. That’s 2 x $4.60 for two flat whites, $5.50 for a large strawberry thickshake, and $2.75 for a pen when my other pen ran out.
Oh, and I spent about four hours.
This is an annual New Year’s ritual I’ve been doing since about 2004. [...]
On the leader’s personality
1 Samuel 16
Saul was anointed while seeking asses; David while tending sheep.
The kings came from things commonplace. “God looketh on the heart” (v. 7).
Skill, fine features, pleasing manners—”personality”—can be had by external imposition, and God cares little for such. His eye is on the heart.
Now external effects are not bad—David had them: cunning, courageous, clever, [...]
Succession by Atomic Split
Churches do, for a variety of reasons, split.
Divisions and problems in assemblies, even those with the best teaching, are as old as the early church.
The believers at Corinth were so divided it was remarkable there was a church left for Paul to write to.
Churches split due to:-
1. Doctrinal reasons;
2. Personal reasons;
3. Both doctrinal and [...]
Succession by Death or Misadventure
Pastors die, get sick, have to leave town to look after infirm relatives, just as other people do. Sometimes their churches are not ready for their hasty departures.
So what does a church do when they are left without a pastor?
Perhaps these points should be made:-
1. Don’t panic. The Head of the Church, Jesus Christ has [...]
Succession by Transition
This is probably the best way to ensure a smooth, seamless transition of leadership in a church.
When we moved to Cairns in February 2006, this is what we in fact witnessed.
A long-time pastor handing over to his assistant of a couple of years. This was of course voted on and approved by the church [...]
Dictators Breed Cowards
When a dictator rules, one of three things will happen to the courageous:
The courageous will stand up to the dictator and be mowed down.
The courageous will stand up to the dictator and escape/survive and will be hated and feared by the dictator.
The courageous will do nothing and will slowly become cowards.
Those are the only options [...]
Let No One Despise Your Youth
Paul chose Timothy to accompany [...]
Learn From A Swan
(I am traveling in the US until mid-February, so my initial posts will be based on books I’ve read recently.)
The Legacy of Sovereign Joy is one of Piper’s biographical series, The Swans Are Not Silent. The series title comes from Augustine’s successor, Eraclius. Augustine was an excellent teacher, and Eraclius felt small and inadequate as [...]
Sharing Your Reading: Passing On To Others the Best of What You Read
Well, here it is. My last article for a while. I want to give you some more tips on how to get the most out of your reading experience but even more importantly, what to do with the “good stuff” you’ve squeezed out.
After reading certain books, I have gained a lot of benefit [...]
