Issues relating to social justice, government policy, social causes and more.
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matt 5:16 This is probably the best single call to… leadership, self-development, vocation, Christian living, Christian influence and the abundant…
A recent post on my favorite blog–Institute for Faith, Work and Economics,– corresponded with my morning devotion. I thought I would share ideas from both. Tim Hoerr’s post on Why Worship Involves Risk shows how it takes initiative and risk…
He knew I had a heart for him. He saw my potential. He knew that I would listen to his crazy ideas about “blessed are the poor” and “turn the other check.” He saw my potential. He knew I would…
There is one social competency more difficult than leadership. That is the ability to follow well. It takes deep intellectual and emotional preparation and skills to follow well. A friend told me one time that if a person thinks they…
Within our Adventist educational community, one Ellen White often quoted passage is Education p. 17: Every human being, created in the image of God, is endowed with a power akin to that of the Creator– individuality, power to think and…
There are millions of leaders in the world. Not all of them do us good. Last week, one of these leaders was sentenced to up to 175 years for sexually abusing girls. This sentence was based on 7 counts but…
The Lord is My Shepherd, sang David. He sang it well. He knew its truth. All sheep know the truth. We know our fragility (at least we should). We can’t see very far. We get tired easily. We suffer raging…
Not all leaders look the same. Some are quiet. Some are loud. Some plug away at their tasks and draw interested and committed followers by their steadiness. Others use charisma to move crowds to action, using a splash of personality…
God is the source of all good. He creates moral reality because morality emanates from his character. He is love and justice, he is regal and humble, and as such he defines the ideal. But interestingly, that which he is…
This last week I watched from a distance over the horizon of media as my beloved California burned. It was sickening. My wife and I made our first home in Napa. We lived in a little cottage near a grape…
“Every human being, created in the image of God, is endowed with a power akin to that of the Creator—individuality, power to think and to do. The men in whom this power is developed are the men who bear responsibilities,…
The creation story, God creating Mankind in His own image and likeness, is retold often in the Bible. We need to hear it even more often these days as our identity is hid deeply within that story. In Genesis one…
Solomon was one of the most materially successful leaders of all time. Granted, he had a great jump start–very privileged–in that both his earthly father and his heavenly father gave him lots of resources to get him going…stock piles of…
There is a lot of learning needed to lead successfully and maybe even more to follow whole-heartily. Doing both well involves moving through sorrow to joy. Both leading and following operate in a social space where courage, deep commitment and…
“Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.” Is 5:21 One of the signs of moral maturity is self-distrust. We have learned we can be wrong, especially when we thing we are…
I have gone to or worked in schools, colleges and universities for over 45 years. I have attended church for over 50 years. I have been in a family for all my life. These three great social institutions have sustained…
Dan Allender, in his books and youtube videos and traveling/retreat ministry, helps people discover, write and tell their full stories. His work is fascinating and healing. He encourages people to tap into their life stories to see God’s powerful gospel…
God loves us. One way He showed that love to us is He gave us His Son Jesus (John 3:16) as a propitiation for sins, a mediator of grace and power and a soon coming ruler. What a relief and…
Our contemporary mindset has a hard time conceptualizing and relating to “prophets” or to the”prophetic” gift. Recently I was reading two individuals who studied Ellen White’s prophetic gift for their dissertations. One used psychological research, specifically psychotherapy, and saw many…
This series has contrasted servant and beastly leadership. The last 3 posts brought Adventism and America into this contrast. The prognosis of Revelation 13 is that America could abandon its role as servant leader. How? Here, I explore four ways…
In the last 14 posts, I nuanced differences between servant (godly) leadership and beastly (satanic) leadership. The last 2 posts extended that contrast to America and Adventists. I used Revelation 10-14 and Ellen White’s Great Controversy to show how Adventists…
In post #13 on “servant” or “beastly” leadership, I used Revelation 10-14 to show the emergence of Adventists and America in prophecy and as agents of servant leadership. The strongest match was made for Adventists. The identifiers were: use of…
The last 12 posts contrasted beastly and servant leadership, using scripture illustrations to show a great war wages for our allegiance. One side pulls individuals and nations toward evil and beastly leadership, characterized by lots of speaking, limited or poor…
American and Adventist leadership will be our next focus in this long series contrasting servants and beasts. As a review, the last 11 posts covered: Resisting Beastly Leadership: Flowers in the Darkest Hours contrasted Jesus’ representation of God’s leadership on…
Christmas celebrates God’s great love to the world. The gift of Bethlehem’s Morning was a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes. Jesus, Immanuel. God with Us. The King of the Universe stepped down to save his subjects. Jesus would win his…
We should anticipate that the “spouse” of the Lamb and the “spouse” of the Beast to reflect the approach of each of their spouses. And for the most part, they do. The Bride of the Lamb reflects the light of…
This is post 9 in a 12-part series contrasting servant and beastly leadership. This post reviews two symptoms common in beastly powers–lying and murdering. These symptoms are outward manifestations of a deeper disease process. We discuss those symptoms and the…
The Apostle John knew something about the contrast between service and lordship, love and hate, divine leadership and beastly powers. He intimately experienced both styles of leadership. First, his family of origin had “beastly” ways of relating. He and his…
For the several posts I have been using Kuronen, T. and Huhtinen, A. (2016). Un-willing is un-leading: Leadership as beastly desire. Leadership and the Humanities, 4(2), 92-107. I have used their work to explain the difference between good (lamb) and…
“They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among mankind and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb.” Revelation 14: God created humans with his divine image imprinted and implanted in us. And that was just…