The Paradox of the Second Chair

July 11, 2012

Whether it’s a paid or unpaid position, formal or informal, most churches have a strong leader serving under the lead pastor. In smaller churches, this person can be a prominent lay person. In larger churches, the position is often an executive pastor. Numerous titles describe this position, including associate and administrator. Other church leadership positions can be second chairs as well, such as a worship pastor. In this article, I refer to the position simply as the second chair. The second Read more [...]

Personal Reflections on Pastor Fred Luter

June 26, 2012

In one of the most historic events for my denomination, last week the messengers at the annual Southern Baptist Convention elected their first African American president. Pastor Fred Luter of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans will be the man tasked with leading our denomination. I believe his election will be a marker for major changes in the SBC. My denomination was founded in 1845, in large part, due to a split with northern Baptists over the issue of slavery. In 1995 we passed a Read more [...]

My New Place of Ministry

June 11, 2012

Yesterday I announced to my church a new season of ministry. Erin and I have accepted the call to Stevens Street Baptist Church in Cookeville, TN. We are excited, but the transition is bittersweet. We leave behind many good friends in Murray. I’m being sent from a great church with a heart for missions to another great congregation passionate about God’s global mandate to reach the lost. I was blessed to serve in Murray. I am now blessed to serve in Cookeville. Below is a letter that I wrote Read more [...]

When Perseverance Endures Long after You’re Gone

May 24, 2012

Like you, I get a lot of emails. I try to answer all of them within 24 hours, but sometimes it takes me a couple of days to get through them. When I noticed an email from Icaro, I did not read it immediately. I do not know an Icaro. When I read his message two days later, I realized how important it was. In 1923, my church sent a group of missionaries to Brazil. Joseph Brandon, his wife, and four children were among them. Sometime in 1935 a six year-old orphan named Emilio heard Brandon preach and Read more [...]

When Collective Vision is Critical in a Crisis

April 20, 2012

One of the most difficult calls in leadership is deciding how many people to pull into important, timely decisions during a crisis. Decisive leaders tend to react swiftly, making unilateral decisions. Some leaders are made to guide people through emergencies, taking the bull by the horns (or the bull horn) and charging forward so everyone else can follow. Not all crises, however, necessitate this style of leadership. For example, a recent WSJ article discussed how two cities—Joplin, MO and Tuscaloosa, Read more [...]

The Trap of Availability

February 23, 2012

Nothing traps you in the urgency of the moment like availability. A leader that is always available never has the time to lead. He or she simply becomes an order taker for the next person who happens to stop by. Required office hours create a cage, a punch clock prison. Or the other extreme—when all your followers are your gatekeepers, there are no fences. Your life becomes a field of chaos. I recognize the above hyperbole. But perhaps you have felt the teeth of this trap from time to time. For Read more [...]

The Leader of the Artists

January 13, 2012

Creativity is not necessarily art. Art requires creativity, but not all creative processes produce art. I like to consider myself creative (but not an artist). As a researcher, my creativity is different than an artist’s creativity. My spreadsheets are no works of art. I doubt they will ever be displayed in a museum, or in my church’s heritage room for that matter. But I do take pride in creatively communicating statistics in ways people can grasp. So an artist I am not, even in my most inspired Read more [...]

Five Leadership Resolutions for Your Followers

January 9, 2012

New Year’s resolutions are often self-centered; it’s understandable. Successful people often reflect on who they are. They try to be more self-aware. They desire to develop themselves. So, good leaders often make resolutions involving individual goals, desires and objectives. Many leaders have resolve — the determination to see a goal and achieve it. Too often these goals involve what individual leaders can do on their own. By the nature of their roles, however, leaders have people around Read more [...]

The New Geography of Megapolitan Communities

December 9, 2011

USA Today recently published a graphic that grabbed my attention. As shown below, this graphic reveals what some demographers predict will become “megapolitan” communities. While I might draw the lines differently on some of the physical boundaries of these communities, the concept of megapolitan areas is fascinating to me. The article (which reports on this book) defines these megapolitan areas as “having at least one metropolitan area of 2 million people by 2040 that's connected — via Read more [...]

Why We Romance Poor Leadership

November 4, 2011

There is a romance of leadership. Most studies in leadership focus on the top roles. Many leader-centric approaches assume followers are mere recipients of leader-driven change. To romance leadership is to exaggerate its importance relative to followers. Leadership is extremely important, but it exists only because followers collectively interpret someone (or a group) in such a role. Romancing leadership leaves out half the relationship. Followers are just as important. Obsessing over leaders at Read more [...]