Honor Where Honor is Due
Dr. O. S. Hawkins will conclude his service as president of Guidestone this week. O. S. and his wife, Susie, are a gift from God to Southern Baptists. Their impact through pastoral ministry, denominational service, and entity leadership has shaped and blessed a generation of leaders and their legacy will reverberate through succeeding generations. Much could […]
Providence
A newer book on the development of the early church, The Global Church, by Donald Fairbairn has captivated my recent attention. In the first section of the book, Dr. Fairbairn traces the development of the church from Pentecost until about 300 AD. His book focuses on the developing church in Asia and Africa, not just […]
Racism, Rioting & Community Leadership
In May, Dr. Iorg invited his pastor, Dr. Brian Kennedy, onto his podcast to discuss racial tensions in America. Dr. Kennedy is senior pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Ontario, California, and Gateway alumni. He previously served for eleven years as Los Angeles area director of Prison Fellowship, a ministry dedicated to bringing the […]
Changing Your Image of Evangelism
Evangelism has an image problem. Many believers envision evangelism in negative ways. According to a recent Barna study, Reviving Evangelism, almost half of millennial Christians believe sharing the gospel and asking someone to change their religious beliefs is wrong. About one-fifth of boomers agree with this conclusion, with each intervening generation stair-stepped in the percentage which […]
Biographies
Leaders are readers. We need a steady input of new ideas, dialogue with bright minds, people to challenge our perspectives, and the contemplative reflection reading makes possible. For the past few years, most of my vocational reading has focused on leadership and evangelism – my primary professional passions. But within those subjects, a particular genre has been […]
A New Urgency
Over the Christmas Eve/Day weekend, we attended five different churches in Southern California. Although the churches were diverse in their size, constituency, and methodology, there was one common emphasis—a somewhat surprising emphasis given the season—in those Christmas services. At each service, the pastor presented the gospel and urgently called people to respond. A gospel presentation […]
Mission Discipline
Mission discipline is when most aspects of organizational function line up with the organization’s mission. No organization is perfect, so expecting all aspects to align totally with the mission is unrealistic. But the more an organization’s behaviors (actions, policies, budgets, personnel choices, rewards, etc.) align with the mission, the healthier the organization will be. Leaders […]
Christmas Ornaments
One of the best traditions in our family is putting up the Christmas tree. Of course, it’s just Ann and me doing it these days. But it is still a meaningful time for us because of a tradition we started many years ago. For years, we have collected or made a Christmas ornament as a […]
Crossfire
A recent Wall Street Journal article outlined the growing tension on college campuses about free speech. How ironic—institutions founded to exchange and analyze ideas are now under fire for suppressing certain viewpoints. Donors are pushing back. Cornell University is one example. They asked a California alum for a seven-figure gift. He balked, citing his growing […]
Making the Most of Christmas
It’s Halloween, which means Christmas decorations are going up in public places and holiday advertisements are everywhere. A phrase has been coined to describe the expansion of the Christmas season earlier and earlier into the Fall—Christmas creep. Serious studies have been done on this phenomenon, published in places like the Harvard Business Review. Despite the […]