Lord willing, this morning I will have the privilege of teaching a three-hour relational wisdom seminar to congressional staff on Capitol Hill. This training was arranged by a U.S. Congresswoman who has become an advocate for RW and peacemaking in our nation’s capital. If this seminar goes well, it could open the door for further
By God’s grace, our recent Sowing Peace Conference was a great success. In addition to enjoying outstanding worship and warm fellowship, we were blessed with 40+ keynote sessions and workshops that deepened our ability to model, practice and teach relational wisdom, biblical peacemaking and Christian conciliation. All of these recordings and the related handouts are
The Christian church has been rocked once again by a major sexual abuse scandal, which involves the largest protestant denomination in the United States. As one of last Sunday’s headlines read, “Southern Baptists Refused to Act on Abuse.” The subtitle to this article was even more heartbreaking: “SBC Executive Committee staff saw advocates’ cries for
To find your greatest weakness, first identify your greatest strength and then look right behind it. That’s one of the tragic results of sin: it twists our strengths into weaknesses, just as (-1) x 100 becomes -100. Are you highly intelligent and well-studied in the Bible? Look out, because your knowledge can puff you up
Forced pastoral exits are costing the American church millions of dollars a year. The kingdom cost for these forced exits is far higher. Consider these sobering statistics[1]: 23 percent of all current pastors in the United States have been fired or forced to resign from past positions. The average pastoral tenure in a local church
Moses made a major mistake that many church leaders are still making today. He tried to single-handedly resolve all of the relational tensions and conflicts among the people God had placed under his care. When his father-in-law saw what Moses was doing, he admonished him with these insightful words: “What you are doing is not
The apostle Peter’s denial of Christ is a classic example of a neurological/emotional failure that today is commonly referred to as “amygdala hijacking.” As Peter demonstrated all too painfully the night he betrayed Jesus (Luke 22:54-62), this process typically involves sudden, intense emotions that trigger an impulsive reaction that is soon regretted. Most of us
In 1997, Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt won Academy Awards for Best Actor and Actress for their roles in the romantic comedy, As Good As it Gets.* Throughout the movie, Helen Hunt demonstrates one of the most powerful ways to influence others. Before I describe her simple strategy (which you can use in your family,
Jerry’s wife had filed for divorce. She was willing to mediate the legal issues but made it clear she had no interest in reconciliation. Ted had a similar problem with his church. Months of unresolved tensions had overflowed in a contentious elders meeting, with a few of his elders urging him to leave. Both men faced
After two painfully intense mediation sessions, Dave and Don were still miles apart and more bitter than ever. Best friends since high school, Don had hired Dave to manage his construction crews. Working long hours together, they built a highly successful company. But then a series of management disagreements escalated into a heated argument that