There is always a penalty for procrastination. Mine was that I had to step into a Victoria’s Secret to finish my Christmas shopping. A just punishment for putting it off until it was too late to order my wife something online. I braced myself as I walked the parking lot. This is no big deal. […]
Favorite Posts from 2010
Thanks to all of you who read what I write here. After just over 8.5 years of blogging, your encouragement keeps me going. Based upon the number of readers and/or my personal preference, here are my favorite posts of 2010 (in order of appearance):1. Unacceptable Email Drop-In2. Cursing Church3. Why Do Storyteller’s Embellish?4. The Hardest […]
December 28, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Let’s Go Gigging!
When I was a boy, my family spent many of our Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays in Port Aransas, Texas. We were there for one purpose: to gig flounder. Every night we’d put on our waders and load up our equipment and head to the ship channel where we’d spend most of the night walking around […]
December 15, 2010 by 6 Comments
The Starbridge Novels
When I read fiction, I almost always read “guy fiction.” If spies, explosions, and covert operations aren’t involved, then I have a hard time paying attention. I’m shallow that way. Every now and then, I find an author who keeps my attention without blowing anything up. I love the Harmony Novels, and I’ll read just […]
December 9, 2010 by 2 Comments
The F-Word
In this post, I want to noodle around a bit with an idea and see what comes of it. Over the past few weeks, I’ve had several friends gently, lovingly, but forthrightly challenge my use of the word “failure” in a few of my recent posts. It seems that some have done so because they’re […]
December 7, 2010 by 11 Comments
A Way Closed Behind Me
The final lesson I mentioned in a previous post was that there are some things about yourself (and God) you’ll never know until you step out in faith and try something new. Many who watched Fulcrum from afar have had a hard time understanding what went wrong. We seemed to have everything a new church […]
November 29, 2010 by 22 Comments
Are You a Differentiated Leader?
Here’s a great summary of Friedman’s theory of differentiated leadership. Thanks to Mark Riddle for the heads up. I also can’t recommend Friedman’s Generation to Generation and A Failure of Nerve enough. Get em!
November 24, 2010 by Leave a Comment
10 Lessons from a Failed Church Plant
I’ve promised myself that I’m not going to spend too much time on this blog rehashing why Fulcrum didn’t work out. However, I think it will be therapeutic for me, and hopefully beneficial to some of you, to share some of the lessons I’ve learned from this experience. Before I get into the lessons, let […]
November 19, 2010 by 21 Comments
You Gotta Know When to Fold Them
Yesterday I met with The Fulcrum Community Management Team in Midland, Texas. The team consists of representatives from the various churches and organizations that have been supporting us in this endeavor. The purpose of our meeting was to formally and officially bring an end to the Fulcrum Community. This came after several weeks of discernment […]
November 10, 2010 by 18 Comments
What Should I Do?
I’m fascinated by LeBron James’ latest Nike commercial. “The Decision” was a mistake. I take the very existence of this commercial as an admission of such, even if James never explicitly says so in the ad. I hated that ESPN aired “The Decision” and I hate that I watched it. Where an athlete like LeBron […]
November 2, 2010 by 6 Comments
Telling Stories, Asking Questions, Learning Lessons