Leadership

"Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.  At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.  All those who heard him were astonished and asked, "Isn't he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn't he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?"  Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ. After many days had gone by, the Jews conspired to kill him, but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.  When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but…

I'm wrapping up our "Broken" series at Mountainview this weekend with a message about Paul and Barnabus.  Actually, it's more about Barnabus than Paul. In each of our messages during this series we have focused on a biblical character who suffered a setback only to have God turn it into a comeback.  We've looked at David, Moses, and Peter.  In each case, they suffered setbacks that could have easily knocked them out of the game. This message is different.  Instead of focusing just on Paul and his setback, we're going to explore the role that Barnabus played in Paul's comeback.  You might know that Barnabus' name means "son of encouragement."  It's his encouragement of Paul that enables Paul to become the mighty man of God he eventually becomes. Encouragement is a powerful tool.  It lifts up the heart.  It gives hope.  It points to the future. It should be obvious,…

I confess: I once owned a 45 of "Celebrate Good Times" by K.C. and the Sunshine Band.  For the younger crowd, a "45" was a small version of vinyl album and had two songs, one on each side. As a church leader, it's important that I set aside time to celebrate.  We serve a God who is worthy of our praise -- and who gives us much to celebrate. Teams benefit tremendously when we celebrate together: It reminds us that God is still active, no matter how good or bad the present situation may be.  In fact, he is often more active than we realize. It allows us to encourage those who may not get encouraged.  Every team has those who serve quietly.  Behind-the-scenes doesn't translate to less important. It keeps us focused on the positive when we might be tempted to wallow in the negative. What we celebrate we…

As I mentioned in my last post, getting better at a skill or task or relationship is often incremental rather than monumental. Breakthroughs happen one step at a time; maybe one inch at a time.  It's the small decisions made correctly over sustained periods of time that build the momentum we need to move forward. Unfortunately, we are conditioned to look for the one key thing -- the one secret or step -- that will produce a major change.  We expect to get better immediately.  We expect to improve by quantum leaps.  We expect our relationships to magically correct themselves and lead to endless bliss. While we wait for the monumental to appear, we miss the incremental changes that are well within our grasp. Perhaps a failing marriage cannot be transformed overnight.  That's looking for a monumental change to save the day (and you're probably hoping to buy real estate…