As is often the case in reading the Bible, I found myself in one passage in Jeremiah this morning only to be chasing the trail of related passages throughout the rest of Jeremiah.  I was doing a little prep work for a leadership development seminar I'm leading this Saturday. I'm speaking about the "heart of leadership" and Jeremiah is filled with passages about how God expects leaders to lead his people.  Only he doesn't call them leaders; he calls them shepherds. The verse I started with was Jeremiah 3:15 ... "Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding." God desires leaders who model his heart for his people.  To effectively shepherd people we who lead must grow in two areas: knowledge and understanding.  We must know as much as we can about God's will and as much as we can…

On Wednesday, I had lunch with the preaching minister from an area church.  What made this particular lunch special is that I once had lunch with this young man's father ... back in 1991! When Tonya and I first moved to San Diego, we were fresh out of college, young, and still learning the ropes.  I had graduated from a Christian college with a very conservative reputation -- good in some social circles, not so good in others.  Personally, I had never fully adopted all of the party line.  OK, I didn't adopt much at all. Barry Packer was the preaching minister at the La Mesa Church of Christ and called to invite me out to lunch.  I was the "new guy" in town and he was the first colleague to reach out to me.  I can still remember riding in his SUV and having him ask me where I…

There are two forces at work, shaping our lives.  The first is our memory which calls us back to the past, our upbringing, our foundation.  We often make decisions without even being aware of the influence our past may still hold on us. This is not all bad.  We learn from our experiences and hope to repeat what was good and avoid what was harmful.  Yet, we may also feel bound to maintain a tradition or legacy that no longer serves its purpose. The second force at work is desire which leans forward into the future, our hope, and our dreams.  Desire is a powerful force, prompting people to do strange things.  When used properly, desire can motivate us to seek out new avenues of growth and to take God-inspired steps of faith. When we only act out of memory, we may miss opportunities that lie in front of us.…

One of the guys I follow on Twitter is @MaxLucado.  Many of you may know him through his books (I think he's written one or two and sold a few copies of each).  I've had a long-distance admiration of Max for many years, probably due to the fact that we shared a common Christian tradition -- we both were born and raised in the same type of church. He recently sent this tweet that caught my attention: “How we handle our tough times stays with us for a long time.” If you're not familiar with Twitter, each "tweet" can only be a maximum of 140 characters.  That means you have to be short and sweet.  By my math, this tweet was all of 13 words. Isn't it amazing how much truth can be packed into only 13 words? I've seen leaders, marriages, and business owners all tested by tough times. …

We had a great kick-off to E4U at Mountainview last night.  E4U is our new spiritual formation initiative, based on four tracks (or themes) of spiritual development and growth. Overall, we had more than 120 people involved in a Bible class last night (including our Women's Encounter group).  This isn't including the over 100 kids and adults involved in 24-7, our Tuesday night kid's program.  It was exciting to see the building buzzing with activity. I'm teaching "Introduction to the Bible" and had 30 students.  It's going to be a fun class because it's a great topic and the people are eager to learn.  One of the things I enjoy the most is fielding questions during class.  The end goal of the class isn't just information; it's transformation.  As I told the class last night: "The goal isn't to master the Bible but to have the Bible master us." Our…