Chief Shepherd

America has become very transient. My grandfather’s generation was so brand-loyal, they would continue to go to their church until almost everything had dried up and they continued to support their church no matter what. My father’s generation was also fairly brand-loyal and remained with the church although toward the end of his pastoral experience, you began [...]

I’ve been in leadership at my local church, in state and territorial offices and within my denomination since I was 14 (38 years). In those years, like all leaders I have gleaned tons of good advice and learned many valuable lessons by experience.  For the next several days, I plan to post 8 of my [...]

This is a re-publication of an article written by Jason Isaacs on his & (his dad) Bill Isaac’s Forward Leadership Blog. No comments are allowed here. If you have a comment, please visit the Forward Leadership site:  http://forwardleadership.org/blog/?p=989 ————————————————————— I recently read a book by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff called “Groundswell” you can find out more [...]

Where are you going? Why are you here? Why are you reading this? Did you just happen to visit this place? I don’t believe that we are here by coincidence. Actually, I don’t believe in coincidence – or luck. What I do believe is that God’s providence has ordered my steps (compare Ps 37:23 KJV) and [...]

I’ve been struggling the past few days with some strange and fearful thoughts about life and faith. I recognize the enemy at work and so I’ve been reading God’s Word and finding strength in worship and prayer. Each day, God has been “showing up” in my life responding to my need and [...]

We might wish our lives were predictable and manageable, defined within clearly identifiable boundaries and absent the unexpected or unplanned-for moments that create our anxiety and fear. It is fun to live life with the wind at your back…to feel the push of momentum taking you to an intended destination with little effort and only [...]

During the late fall of 2008, God began to nudge my heart for a new passion for evangelism. In prayer, I felt strongly convicted that my own preaching had become too “general” and not focused on pointing the unbeliever to Christ. At the same time I was finishing the manuscript on A Life [...]

Len Sweet gave a talk at Catalyst Labs last year that I saved to mp3 and have listened to often. He listed the following trends which are likely to shape the USA church in coming years… Small is the new “BIG”…downsizing will be the thought process of the decades to come…getting smaller will also impact [...]

As a pastor, how do you measure SUCCESS? Is success measured in the number of attenders at your church this Sunday? Is success measured by the financial statement of this month’s receipts? Is success measured by the lack of infighting, struggle and stress? Hardly.  In fact, one of the challenges we have as pastors is to not buy-in to [...]

It is a wonderful thing when our public officials are not ashamed to give their Christian Testimony! Bobby Jindal was elected Governor of the State of Louisiana a few months ago and has been such a success that he has attracted national attention – even being on the short-list of possible running mates with the [...]