Play to Your Strengths

Today for Leadership Journal I interview the wildly popular author, speaker, and blogger, Jon Acuff. Besides being the proprietor of the very funny Stuff Christians Like blog, Jon is the author of several bestselling books, including his latest, Start. It was a wide-ranging interview in which Jon gave me some great thoughts. The first question I asked him was […]

Don’t Judge Me By My Worst Day

I was driving home the other day and flipped on the local sports radio station here in Chicago. I enjoy listening to sports talk–particularly ESPN 1000, WMVP. For the most part the talk is lively, there are good interviews, and the discussion is about something that takes my mind off of the other pressing and […]

The Invisible Line

This post was inspired, in part, by an ironic blog post I recently written by a progressive evangelical on a controversial subject. You can guess which subject it is and when you guess, you will be right. But what was funny, ironic, and sad at the same time was this idea: The Church is too […]

Laboring in the Word of God

Today, for my Leadership Journal interview, I had the privilege of speaking with Dr. Philip Ryken, President of Wheaton College. Prior to coming to Wheaton, Dr. Ryken was pastor at the historic Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. I’ve enjoyed Dr. Ryken’s preaching and his books. They seem to combine excellent scholarship with an easy-to-read pastoral […]

It’s a Big Boy Game

On Sunday I enjoyed a rare privilege: since it was Father’s Day, Angela and the kids allowed me to kick back and watch the NBA finals with the San Antonio Spurs and the Miami Heat. We don’t have cable, so I was able to watch the game on broadcast–ABC 7 being one of the few […]

The Story Overtook Me

Today for my Leadership Journal interview, I spoke with Rebekah Lyons, cofounder of Q Ideas and the author of a new book, Freefall to Fly. In this book she shares her personal struggles with anxiety, depression, and tensions between motherhood and ministry. I asked her about the writing process and she told me this: This story overtook […]

Celebrating Father’s Day

As we celebrate Father’s Day, I thought I’d link to some of my posts on fatherhood: 10 Things Nobody Tells You About Being a Dad This is, by far, my most popular post. In this I share some serious and some not-so-serious reflections on the surprises of fatherhood. 5 Things Every Daughter Needs to Hear […]

5 People We Should Pray For Even Though We Don’t Want To

Let’s be honest. There are certain types of people we are conditioned, by our culture, to not like. These are the people that nobody is going to give us credit for liking, the people we tend to distance ourselves from. For good reason. And yet, these are the sinners Christ most likely would have sought […]

What Is the Lord Asking of Me In This Moment?

I’m currently reading through Marilynne Robinsons’ beautifully written, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Gilead. Here’s a quote from the main character, Congregationalist pastor, John Ames: This is an important thing, which I have told many people, and which my father told me, and which his father told him. When you encounter another person, when you have dealings with anyone […]

No Balance is Necessary

Today for Leadership Journal, I had the privilege of interviewing one of my favorite pastors and authors, Kevin DeYoung of University Reformed Church in Lansing, Michigan. If you haven’t read DeYoung’s books, Just Do Something, Why We Love the Church, and Hole in Our Holiness, well then you need to read them. You should also follow his blog, […]

Five Common Mistakes Christian Parents Make

My wife and I are in the throes of parenting and are surrounded, in our church and among friends, with other parents in the throes of parenting. So my parenting radar is hot. I’m learning, growing, repenting everyday as I ask the Lord to make me a faithful dad. It’s often easier to learn how to […]

Compassion for Those at the Back of the Line

I watched this message by Larry Osborne on compassion for those who may not be as spiritually developed as we’d like them to be. And, well, it convicted me in a million ways. You really should watch it. Here’s a quote: “If our definition of a disciple doesn’t have room for a Joseph of Arimathea, then […]