OUT OF THE BOX

I am sharing from my journal a couple examples of how the Lord encouraged me with a word in season when I needed it. The entries go back to the beginning of 2001. January 29, 2001 I was sitting at my desk preparing to go to work one morning and struggling with frustration at where I was in my life. I had gone from being a successful pastor to facing the failure of a new church plant and trying to find a job that would provide for my family. Looking through a notebook I came upon a poem I had previously written to encourage myself to persevere and trust the Lord in the waiting process: “When it seems you are forgotten and your good days in the past, His grace brings forth a new song. He saves the best for last.” The poem was based on the words spoken to Jesus when He turned the water into wine: “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine…and then the inferior. [But] you have kept the good wine until now” (John 2: 10). Laurel and I believed this was God's plan for ...

In continuing our discussion of conflict and some of the problems seen in leadership I would like to briefly discuss manipulation. Your comments are welcome. Just click on "Comments" at the end of the article. To often leaders are guilty of manipulation. Manipulation is unhealthy in any relationship and is a violation of trust. It involves the dishonest use of influence to get people to do what you want them to do and is an underhanded means of controlling people. Leaders use manipulation when they lack the ability to lead by inspiration, when they have ulterior or hidden motives, or when they are trying to get people to do what the individuals most likely would not do if they had access to all the facts. Manipulation involves giving partial truth and withholding information that would be necessary for others to make an objective decision. It means distributing information selectively, giving little twists to the facts, and sharing only that which would cause other people to ...

Introduction The issues highlighted below are principles I learned while serving “as referee” (and in some cases a participant) in a few church “fights” and were originally written with the intention of helping pastors understand some of the issues that get them into trouble. Initially I was reluctant to share these with a broader audience, but then realized that the principles are apropos to any discussion of healthy leadership. Many readers will identify with one or more of the problems discussed. For every issue there is a flip side. There is always the “other side of the coin.” This “flip side” issue is especially true for some of the areas covered in this article. For example, pastors usually teach on gossip, and they try to prevent unhealthy and destructive communication within their community of believers. But my emphasis here is the other side of the issue, which is leadership’s unhealthy control of communication among members. Control of communication among members . A typical...

This posting is merely an introduction to the subject. In future postings I would like to share some principles that help us to understand the spiritual weapons available to us in relational conflict. Send me a short email if you are interested in this subject and in my continuing with this topic. blong8@sccoast.net "You got some fine children, but they will kill you!" I met an elderly lady named Rosalie on the street in Loris, SC. When I asked her about her husband, she replied, "I ain't married, but I do have me a boyfriend". She then laughed while telling me of a warning her children gave regarding the boyfriend. "If you get married and he don't do right, we'll kill him," they had said. This obviously made the boyfriend a little nervous, but he wanted to stay in good-standing with his sweetheart, so he told her, "You got some fine children, but they will kill you." Her boyfriend's statement would fit appropriately in many chu...

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…” -Genesis 1:1. "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead..." -Romans 1: 20. "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the expanse of heaven His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their sound has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world." -Psalm 19: 1-4. Life is infinitely too complex to have come into being randomly and by itself. There are so many interdependent systems that are necessary for the existence of life on earth; and the degree of refinement, accuracy, and perfection in the coordinated performance of all these operations necessary for life are too complex to exist apart from design. They are independent yet dependent and interdependent, and the...

Mark 6: 45-52. "Immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side...Then He saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them. Now about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by." This story is full of spiritual implications, but I will point out only a few. [Please feel free to post any comments or questions that merit further discussion]. “He made His disciples get into a boat.” The “boat” is significant because it represents a context from which we can not easily escape. The disciples, on that small boat in the middle of the sea, could not simply change their minds and walk away from the problems and issues at hand. They could not escape the process; they had to ride it out. The Lord desires to work deeply and significantly in our lives, but He knows that human nature wants to run from the fire and will attempt to escape if it has the option to do so. We would rather tha...