I was with a young man who had just completed the biggest business deal of his career and if managed right left him with a fortune that would provide for he and his family for the rest of their lives.  I asked him how he felt and he said ” "I'm afraid.  I know I don't deserve this and I might lose it as quickly as I made it.  God might take it away."  That reminded me of Jesus' calling Peter in the boat on the lake.  They just had the biggest catch of their lives and suddenly Peter says” "Depart from me Lord for I am a sinner." It's…

  I used to kid our youngest daughter that she came into this world saying “Let’s go guys.”  She was five when we set up a lemonade stand in the front yard. She was ready to flag down all the passing cars.  I stepped inside for a minute and when I returned she was nowhere in sight!  I looked down the street and she was standing at our neighbor’s front door with the pitcher and cups.  I ran down and asked her what she was doing and she said ” “They weren’t stopping.”  That same word (except in Greek) for “let’s go guys” is dierchomai  and Jesus uses it to…

  In a few days I'll be in a leadership seminar.  There will be hundreds of others in the room with me to watch speakers and consultants on the topic from all over the country via live feed.  I know there will be some thought provoking content but I doubt this thought by G.K. Chesterton will be part of it.  "Distribute the dignified people and the capable people and the highly businesslike people among all the situations which their ambition or their innate corruption may demand but keep close to your heart keep deep in your inner councils the absurd people; let the clever people pretend to govern you let…

  A local acquaintance made a very large donation to a worthy non-profit a couple of years ago and I attended the dinner honoring him and his wife.  This was not their first major contribution but it was far more public and caught everyone by surprise.  While everything was done with great taste to honor them and they were extremely appreciative ” there were a number of whispered comments. “I had no idea they had that kind of money.” “We’re going to see if we can get them interested in our project.” “Did they do this spontaneously or had someone been working on them for a while?” The evening concluded…

  My last piece on entrepreneur church leaders reminded me of a dinner I had one night with a number of Wal-Mart executives in Rogers Arkansas.  I was seated next to a man whose responsibilities were doing site selections for new stores – especially Sam's Clubs.  Being naturally curious I asked him what process he used to select sites.  I wanted to know how he started with the broadest general survey of the whole country (those stores were relatively new then) and narrowed the options down to a particular site in a local community.  Needless to say it was a science he had perfected.  Of course it was not just…

  A friend in Dallas asked me last week “What’s the reason for megachurches?”  That’s an easy one to answer!  Since I worked for twelve years with megachurches as President of Leadership Network in what some consider to be the period of largest growth for these churches I’ve been thinking about his question.  Coincidentally I was with Bob Buford the founder of Leadership Network a couple of weeks ago and he told me that while there had been 300 megachurches when we started in 1984 there are now over 3 “000 in the United States alone.  That’s quite a growth curve. However” I don’t think my friend was looking for…

  “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life ” and only a few find it.” John 10:13-14 This was the lesson assignment on Sunday and” frankly ” I was not too enthusiastic about teaching it.  A good part of that is residue from the wars over Rob Bell’s “Love Wins” and I did not want to get into a big (or small) discussion about who goes to hell.  As you know” the version of the passage in Luke begins with the question…