Here’s an?excerpt and reflection from Eugene Peterson?s book about David in Leap Over a Wall [San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1997]. I think you?ll appreciate it. ??preachers?bring us into focus in the story. The art of preaching is to somehow or other get around our third-person defenses and compel a second-person recognition, which enables a first-person response.? […]
Training Leaders as Player-Coach
I?ve mentioned before how much I?ve benefitted from the writings of Elton Trueblood, a Quaker author and professor of philosophy from the last century. He had much to say on themes of spiritual formation and ministry. I came across this little treasure as I was reviewing some of my excerpts from his book The Incendiary […]
The Difficult Work of Reconciliation
The difficult work of reconciliation is very difficult to write about. In reflecting on the events of the Ashley Madison website hack, I struggle to make sense of it all. As some of you wrote back to us, there is an inability to see how reconciliation can even be an option. Reconciliation is grace-infused, redemptive. […]
What is the Christian Life?
Editor’s Note: For those of you waiting for?David Costillo’s final post on vulnerability, check back here on Saturday. One of the questions we at The Leadership Institute often ask leaders who come to our training is a simple one: ?What is the Christian life?? I sometimes notice impatient glances that seem to say, ?What a […]
What We See in the Light
Those who seek to walk more closely with God may think that it will help us feel better about ourselves. But what if coming out from the shadows into the bright light of God?s presence causes us to see our flaws and mess all the more plainly? What then? Listen to this good spiritual direction […]
Vulnerability: One Step at a Time
Typically, when I hurt my wife with my words or injure a friend verbally, it wasn?t my intention as I started my day. Instead, when I?sin, it is usually accidental, a result of choosing or saying the wrong thing in the moment, rather than preplanned malice. Some sin grows over time. There are little decisions […]
What We Can Learn from Josh Duggar’s Mistakes
Let?s face it, we?ve all made mistakes. And it?s with this in mind that I write the first of a series of posts?on the importance of vulnerability for us leaders. We’ll?define ?leader? as anyone with a sphere of influence. In last week?s news in the United States, it was reported that leaders Jared Fogle, popular […]
