Category Archives: spiritual formation

You Know You’re Not Doing Endings Well When…

Why are endings and transitions so poorly handled in our ministries, organizations, and teams? Why do we often miss God’s new beginnings, and the new work He is doing? We miss seeing what is ahead in part because we fail to apply a central theological truth — that death is a necessary prelude to resurrection. To bear long-term fruit for Christ, we need to recognize that some things must die so something new can grow. If we do not embrace this reality, we will tend to dread endings as signs of failure rather than opportunities for something new. Use the list of statements that follow to briefly assess your approach to endings and new beginnings: You Know You’re Not Doing Endings and New Beginnings Well When . . . You can’t stop ruminating about something from the past. You use busyness as an excuse to avoid taking time to grieve endings and losses or to allow for the. Read more.

The Slow, Hard Ways of God

God’s kingdom always appears small, always appears insignificant, and always appears powerless. God’s ways are always slow. The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches. Matthew 13:31-32 Jesus’ life and ministry modeled the slow, hard ways of God. How can we expect it to be any different for us? I was asked, after returning a few days ago, from a one-week trip to Sao Paulo, Brazil: “What was the biggest thing you learned on your trip?” “God’s ways are slow… and hard,” I responded. I surprised even myself with my answer. Our trip was rich, fruitful, and powerful. We partner with Willow Creek Brazil and their gifted staff in bringing EHS. Read more.

Measuring “Success”

Measuring ministry impact with numbers is biblical. The book of Acts uses numbers to describe the impact of the gospel — about 3,000 baptized (Acts 2:41), about 5,000 believers (Acts 4:4), crowds coming to faith (Acts 5:14). We have a whole book in the Bible called Numbers. So, in the context of the church, it is good to measure things like attendance, baptisms, membership, number of small groups, and financial giving. The problem comes when that is all we measure. Measuring deep, beneath the surface transformation in people’s lives is also critically important – if not more important. (Consider Paul, Gal. 4:19, Jesus mentoring the 12). The specifics of these internal markers will differ from ministry to ministry and from context to context. The following are several examples we set to measure at New Life Fellowship Church: Each leader at New Life will develop his or her relationship with God by spending ten to. Read more.

New Podcast: Leading Out of Your Marriage or Singleness

What is leading out of your marriage or singleness? In this month’s Emotionally Healthy Leadership podcast Rich Villodas and Pete Scazzero continue the conversation around this core leadership theme in Pete’s new book: The Emotionally Healthy Leader. We hope you will take 15 minutes to view and consider sharing it with other leaders. Click the image below to watch the conversation on YouTube.

Indifference: The Key to Christian Leadership

Leaders cast vision, set goals, and mobilize people and resources towards those ends. But Christian leadership is distinct in that our number one objective in that process is always to remain in a state Ignatius of Loyola referred to as indifference. By indifference, he does not mean apathy or disinterest. He simply means we must become indifferent to anything but the will of God. Ignatius taught that the degree to which we are open to any outcome or answer from God is the degree to which we are ready to really hear what God has to say. If we are clutching or overly attached to one outcome versus another, we won’t hear God clearly. Our spiritual ears will be deafened by the racket of our disordered loves, fears, and attachments. In such a state, it is almost a forgone conclusion that we will confuse our will with God’s will. Ignatius considered this state of. Read more.

Success

Success is first and foremost doing what God has asked us to do, doing it his way, and in his timing. Years ago, when I was first wrestling with redefining success, I imagined what it might be like to come before God’s throne at the end of my earthly life and say, “Here, God, is what I have done for you. New Life now has 10,000 people.” Then he would respond, “Pete, I love you, but that was not what I gave you to do. That task was for a pastor in another part of New York.” Have you ever considered that your ministry, organization, or team may be growing and yet actually failing? Think with me for a moment about some of God’s faithful and, hence, most successful leaders: Jesus said of John the Baptist, “Among those born of women none is greater than John” (Luke 7:28). Yet, if we were to create. Read more.

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