One Relationship that Is Rarely Restored
I’ve seen hundreds of terribly damaged relationships restored over the years. Whether the break was caused by adultery, embezzlement, broken contracts, wrongful termination or even physical or sexual abuse, I’ve seen God bring about amazing reconciliations again and again. But there’s one relationship that I’ve seldom seen restored. When pastors’ relationships with their leadership […]
Three Ways to Overcome a Crippling Ministry Loss
One of the most traumatic experiences in life is to be forced out of Christian ministry. Although some of these painful experiences are triggered by theological differences, leadership deficits or moral failure, most of them are the result of relational conflicts that escalated to a crisis point and resulted in a forced exit. I have […]
The Last Human Freedom
“The last of the human freedoms is to choose one’s attitude.” So wrote Viktor Frankl, an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who survived the Holocaust, living through the deprivation and horrors of both Auschwitz and Dachau. Consider the background for his writing about freedom. His wife, parents and brother were killed by the Nazis. His captors […]
Pastor’s Public Confession Shatters His Image
When Andrew stepped into the pulpit to make his public confession, he feared it would shatter his image. It did … but not in the way he expected. He was certainly going against his instincts. Like most of us, he wanted to conceal, deny or minimize his guilt. This dynamic began with Adam and Eve […]
Leadership Meltdown Leads to Amazing Reconciliation
As happens all too often, City Churches’ rapid growth set them up for serious conflict, which led to multiple leadership resignations. (All names have been changed.) Pastor Todd was an outstanding preacher, but organizational leadership was not one of his strengths. This deficiency, along with a few others, became increasingly apparent as the church grew, […]
10 Rules for a Secure, Fulfilling and Intimate Marriage
I’ve mediated over 600 divorces. By God’s grace, over half of these couples reconciled during the mediation process. But nearly half of these couples did not reconcile. As a result, they and their children experienced the heartbreak, trauma and financial pressure attendant to most divorces. Some of these couples experienced such serious, unrepentant sin that […]
Three Wounded Pilots Who Flew Their Teams to Safety
As the Delta Force special ops team flew into Caraccas to capture Nicolas Maduro last week, heavy gunfire erupted from the ground, wounding the pilot in the lead Chinook helicopter three times. Instead of flinching in pain and diverting to safety, he stayed at the controls and delivered the Delta team to the compound where […]
Reconciliation in a Christian School
Last week I received a testimony from a woman who had been involved in a conflict with a fellow teacher at her Christian school. It was so serious that the school hired a conciliator to guide the women through a mediation process. In preparation for their first meeting, the conciliator asked the women to read […]
Six Ways to Defeat Loneliness at Christmas
Three weeks before Christmas, Wolfgang Dircks died while watching television. His body wasn’t discovered until five years later. None of the neighbors in his apartment complex noticed the absence of the 43-year-old. His rent continued to be paid automatically out of his bank account. When the money finally ran out five years later, the landlord […]
The Best Gift You Can Give at Christmas
I hardly noticed the old rancher sitting in the front row of the small Montana church where I was preaching a message on peacemaking, but he was about to make my day. My text that morning was taken from Matthew 5:23-24, which reads: So, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there […]