For about a decade and a half of my life as a pastor, I spent a lot of time focusing on being a better church leader. I read books and articles about vision, church growth methodologies, and leadership in hopes that I could perform my way into success the way…

There are two schools of thought when it comes to the idea of whether you should focus your life on one single purpose and pathway, or get involved in all of the various things that interest you. We’ve all heard the stories of the people who did amazing things by…

Should you slap people when they make you mad? No. Granted, it happens sometimes. Sometimes it even happens on a stage on live television with millions of people watching. But it’s definitely not an appropriate or acceptable (or legal) way to handle your emotions. …

Nobody is better at speaking truth in love than my wife, Angie. She’s a skilled therapist, but goes easy on me as I try to swim to the depths with her when it comes to the heart. The other day, she gave me a children’s book called What the Road…

Be real with people, or be prepared to lose them. It’s hard. As Pastor Rick Warren wrote once, we all fight against three particular fears: the fear that we will be exposed for who we truly are the fear that we will be rejected the fear that we will be…

When you walk into a leadership opportunity, you go with a little bit of equity by virtue of your position and the inevitable honeymoon period during which those you lead will let you get by with just a bit more than they will a decade later. But you have to…

There is a LOT that I miss about being a pastor. Like staff meetings. That’s where culture was created and protected. We sharpened each other while shaping plans for carrying out the vision of serving the community according to our guiding values. I miss teaching on Sundays, for sure. I…

It’s been six months since I preached my final message as Pastor of Grace Hills Church, which Angie and I founded together in the summer of 2011. We spent a decade of our lives gathering with people who were passionate about embracing the brokenness of humanity and creating a safe…

At the ripe old age of 19, I was married and serving as the Senior Pastor of a small church in rural Arkansas. And I knew it all. Perhaps not “all” as in, everything that can be known, but all as in everything I thought I might have a deep…