Millennials in Relational and Mental Health Crisis
Two days ago, I had the privilege of participating in a panel discussion with Dr. George Barna and several other distinguished experts as we focused on the...
Please Help Us Help Others
Our ministry is dedicated to doing all we can to help alleviate the following tragedies and to strengthen relational skills in the church, but we need your...
A Wave of Confessions Saves a Church
At last he had his chance. Clutching his prepared statement in his hand, Mark sat down in the front pew, ready to get even with the elders (all names have...
A Needed Reassessment of Christian Conciliation
On November 16, 2021, Live at Peace Ministries released a public confession describing how they had failed to respond effectively to ethical complaints that...
Daddy, is that you? (A Wedding Day Reconciliation)
Becky looked forward to her wedding with a mixture of excitement and sadness. Mark was the man of her dreams, and she was thrilled about becoming his wife....
Free Training for First Responders
In recognition of the sacrifices that first responders make for our country every day, RW360 is offering free registration for our 2021 Sowing Peace...
Free Training for U.S. Military Personnel and Their Families
In honor of the men and women who have served in the U.S. military, RW360 is pleased to offer free training in relational wisdom to all active and retired...
Building Passport
I have dozens of passports, and I need to renew them constantly. No, I’m not James Bond or Jason Bourne. I don’t fly from country to country using alternative...
Round Four with Cancer … and It’s Still All About Relationship
My December 2021 update is included at the end of this post (click here). The last thing you want to hear from your doctor after three battles with cancer is,...
A Cripple Walks, Leaps and Runs!
2021 Harvest Report The COVID crisis crippled our live training this year … but we serve a God who loves to display his grace and expand his kingdom by making...
The Night My Father Died
My mother passed away twelve years ago on Christmas Eve. She was totally at peace and eager to see her Savior face-to-face. Not so my father. He was terrified...
Please Help Us Help Others
A few days ago, an exhausted nurse named Samantha requested a scholarship to our online training. Here’s what she wrote to me: “I work in our COVID unit and I...
Five 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...
Give the Gift of Relationship
The holiday season often presents three challenging questions: First, “What meaningful gift can I give to the special people in my life this Christmas?”...
10 Ways to Connect Deeply at Thanksgiving
Would you like to move beyond superficial conversation during your Thanksgiving gathering this year? Would you like to connect deeply with your family and...
32 Ways to Enjoy Highly Relational Holidays
If you're like most people, the coming holiday season will be either the best time of the year or the worst time of the year ... and it will probably depend...
Asking Parents to Give Up Their Keys
One of the hardest things I’ve ever done was to ask my mother and my mother-in-law to give up their car keys. Doing it with each of them on the same day...
20 Ways to Prevent and Resolve Conflict in the Church
The COVID crisis, combined with heightened racial and political tension, has triggered unprecedented conflict throughout our nation, as well as in the local...
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,...
17 Ways to Respond to Explosive Politics
In a little over a week, millions of people will be rejoicing or weeping as the 2020 political season comes to its climactic end. The emotions that are now...
Can You Read Faces and Eyes?
Thirty-two years ago a trial attorney read a distressed look in my eyes and responded in a way that changed the course of my life. The ability to read the...
To Mask or Not to Mask … That Is the Divisive Question
Masks are dividing churches all around the country. Some church members are willing to continue following government COVID-19 mandates to wear masks during...
Reflecting Christ in a Chaotic World – Using the Upgraded RW Small Group Study
Have you ever seen a time like this? A time when relational tensions are threatening to divide so many families, churches and communities? The dangers are...
Four Amazing Church Discipline Cases
I’ve been involved in dozens of church discipline cases, both as an elder in my church and as a conciliator assisting other churches. Some of these cases were...
What You Can Do About Racial Tensions
As I watched the George Floyd memorial service this afternoon, I was grieved more than ever by his tragic death, the loss that his family is feeling, and by...
Five Ways to Bless Your Mother This Sunday
This Sunday is Mother’s Day. If you’re tired of doing the same “card and gift” routine, allow me to suggest something that will blow your mother (or your...
Serving a Barista
She was working the early shift at a small Starbucks counter in Dulles Airport. The young barista had probably been up since 4 or 5 a.m., and she already...
SOG vs COVID-19
We are surely living in unprecedented times! Who would have ever thought that churches, businesses, schools and parks throughout the world would be void of...
EI/RW Training During Covid-19 Crisis
Relational wisdom is an enhanced form of emotional intelligence that helps to deal with the stress created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bringing RW and the Gospel to Soldiers, Teachers and Nurses
Our country is blessed every day by over two million men and women who serve in our military. In addition to protecting our nation from outside threats, many...
10 Ways to Connect Deeply at Thanksgiving
Would you like to move beyond superficial conversation during your Thanksgiving gathering this year? Would you like to connect deeply with your family and...
15 New Training Options and Opportunities
Including New Group-Study DVD Sets! During a seminar in southern California, a business owner volunteered that he was “successfully failing in his business.”...
Daniel Project: Washington DC Update
Washington DC is an interesting place, to say the least. Politics, power, money … countless temptations, continual controversy … and thousands of people whom...
The Daniel Project: RW in Washington DC
Over the next few days, I will have the privilege of presenting relational wisdom to congressional and military leaders in our nation’s capital. I’m both...
Here’s Looking at You Kid
You’re in for a treat today. Humphrey Bogart is providing an unforgettable example of relational wisdom. His platform is Casablanca, a movie that has...
Papa, Clean Me!
When he was two-and-half-years-old, my grandson, Andrew, came across a fresh pile of dog poo in the yard. Having been told repeatedly to stay away from dog...
Gracious Eyes
Years ago I completed a particularly sad divorce mediation. The husband had tried for years to meet his wife’s expectations, but she was adept at finding...
How Well Do You Love Your Enemies?
Do you have an enemy today? Someone who has has done you great harm or is out to get you right now? Perhaps it's not been quite that bad. Perhaps someone has...
Five Ways to Bless Your Mother This Sunday
This Sunday is Mother’s Day. If you’re tired of doing the same “card and gift” routine, allow me to suggest something that will blow your mother (or your...
Three Qualities that Improve Every Relationship
I’ve hired many people … and fired only a few. My best co-workers thrived because of three key character qualities. The disappointing ones struggled because...
Before It’s Too Late
Years ago, one of my clients was in the hospital with only hours to live. He had no interest in seeing his stock portfolio one more time. Although he had...
Leadership Transitions: The Good, the Bad and the Clumsy
I’ve seen a lot of leadership transitions over the past thirty years. Like the characters in an old Clint Eastwood western, they generally fell into one of...
Has Your Strength Become a Weakness?
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...
Are You Relational or Informational?
Many pastors are much better at imparting information than they are at building relationships. They are comfortable in their studies. They love their...
Preventing a Breach
I learned the hard way how easy it is to breach a dam. When I was fourteen, my dad hired a contractor to enlarge a stock pond on our ranch by building a dam....
No Excuses
I failed a friend. Badly. No, not just badly … very badly. It took me a while to face it. When I finally realized what I’d done, embarrassment kept me from...
One Solution to Political Polarization
A week ago today, I had the privilege of teaching relational wisdom to our Montana State Legislators and their staffs. I was warmly welcomed by every person I...
7 Ways to Redeem an Offense
I recently received a complaint from a woman who I will call Ruth (not her real name) regarding a video clip I used in one of my blog posts. The video is...
“Chutes and Ladders” Evangelism
During a recent seminar in California, I was approached by a man named Ross who told me he is “successfully failing” in his business. Ross employs over a...
The Two Treasures
My mother-in-law lived with our family for twenty years. For six of those years, my mother also lived with us. Corlette and I called them “the Two Treasures.”...
Redeeming Your Weaknesses
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...
Preparing Children for Life
When Corlette and I were raising and educating our children, we struggled far more with relational challenges than we did with academic content. Put four...
Springing from Adversity to Worship
Adversity tends to pull us down. It hurts when others sin against us, take us for granted, fail to stand up for us, or break their commitments to us. Such...
Download the RW360 Smartphone App!
Would you like to have hundreds of articles, videos and downloadable ebooklets on relational wisdom, biblical peacemaking and Christian conciliation available...
Reputation vs Character
Jeff’s reputation was being trashed by people in his own church. He was respected throughout the city for his outstanding Sunday school classes, which had...
Really Nice Pants
In today’s movie clip, Will Smith demonstrates the enormous benefit relational wisdom (RW) can have in the workplace. The clip comes from the movie Pursuit of...
Getting Wind Under Your Wings
After weeks of nonstop travel, I was running out of energy. As a result I was unusually apathetic as I walked into the conference center for one of my recent...
What Is Their Story?
Includes 90 "Getting-to-Know-Others" Questions! Many of us waste golden opportunities to deepen relationships during family, church and business...
The Power of Words
Do you want to learn how to connect with people? Really connect? To touch others heart-to-heart, life-to-life? To convince them you understand and care about...
Hooked
Cindy and Alicia, both seventeen, walked out of the mall after a fun afternoon of shopping. Just as they reached Cindy’s car in the parking lot, two young men...
Changing a Murderer into a Minister
Businge Peter Simon passed the long hours in his prison cell dreaming about how he would murder the man who sent him there. But before he could put his plot...
The Compassionate Boxer
Cinderella Man is packed with examples of relational wisdom. Russell Crowe plays the part of a real life hero named James J. Braddock. Once a successful...
A Severe Mercy
One of my dearest friends and coworkers passed away ten days ago. Gary Brook had been fighting a respiratory illness for nearly a decade but had finally been...
7 Ways to Apply RW in Combat, Congress and the Church
In memory of the military personnel who have risked their lives to protect our freedoms, I am reprinting a post that describes how a highly respected Army...
A Lost Translation … Almost
XYZ Translators (all names changed) was about to lose a ten-year investment in learning the language of a remote tribe in Africa. John and Janice had lived...
Overcoming Artificial Maturity
Thousands of high school and college seniors are about to graduate and launch into the next season of their lives. Most of them are less prepared for that...
Are You Velcro or Teflon?
Kelly can be one of the best friends in the world. She’s thoughtful, caring, and always eager to encourage and serve others. The people in her Bible study and...
Emotionally Hijacked Official Loses Job
I inherited my love for practical jokes from my uncles. One of them was particularly adept at catching me off guard. Like the time he called me on the phone...
Two Free eBooklets on Empathy
Every person on the face of the earth has a God-given capacity for empathy and compassion. Like every other ability, however, empathy does not improve on its...
Lincoln’s Relational Wisdom
The current political climate, at both state and national levels, has highlighted the close connection between politics, pride and emotion. In an outward...
Reagan, Lincoln, RW and You
Study Ronald Reagan and Abraham Lincoln and you’ll learn a great deal about how to relate to your spouse, children, co-workers and the people in your church...
What Makes Powerful People Cry
I recently learned what makes some of the most powerful people in the world cry. Dr. Michael Lindsay, President of Gordon College, has interviewed 550 of the...
Confession Killers
If you want to diminish the value of a confession, use one of these three phrases. “I’m sorry if I’ve done something to upset you.” When you use "if" in a...
The Most Compelling Kind of Influence
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...
Destroy Your Enemies
As the Civil War was coming to an end, it seemed inevitable that the North would prevail. President Lincoln had many discussions with administration...
Glory to God and Peace Among Men
My mother passed away ten years ago on Christmas Eve. She was totally at peace and eager to see her Savior face-to-face. Not so my father. In the last hours...
500,000 and Counting!
Just before Christmas, I learned that over 500,000 copies of The Peacemaker are now in circulation in seventeen different languages. I also discovered that we...
Your Legacy
What is the greatest legacy you could pass on to your children and grandchildren? Lavish Christmas presents? Money? Property? Investments? Family name? Social...
Be Kind
She stood in line quietly crying, holding onto a metal sign to steady herself. I’d just arrived at the airport gate, ready to catch my flight back to...
Two Huge Doors
The Lord has opened two huge doors for us in 2018. One of them would enable us to train hundreds of Christian leaders in 145 countries. The other would allow...
The Golden Result
We all know the Golden Rule: “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” But do you know the Golden Result? It’s a direct corollary to the Golden Rule:...
10 Ways to Connect Deeply at Thanksgiving
Would you like to move beyond superficial conversation during your Thanksgiving gathering this year? Would you like to connect deeply with your family and...
Stupidity of Bitterness
Indulging in bitterness is one of the most stupid things we ever do. How stupid is it? Well, think about it this way. Imagine that someone stabbed you in the...
Marty and the Woman at the Well
Today you are going to meet people who are hiding great emotional and relational pain. They will typically smile and say a few superficial words, but they...
Opportunities in Europe
Amidst all the social and political turmoil in Europe, God is moving to renew the biblical church and re-evangelize countries that have forgotten their...
7 Steps for Leaving a Church Wisely
I’ve talked with many people who left their churches. Some did it for valid reasons and made the transition wisely and graciously. Others were driven by...
Five Ways to Amaze People Who Leave Your Church
A few days ago, a woman told me a heartbreaking story about her pastor. Cindy was born and raised at First Church, and Pastor Smith’s teaching had laid the...
Two Things You’re Not Designed For
There are two things you and I were never designed to experience: death and rejection. That is why they both feel so foreign and hurt so much: they are...
A Stolen Baby, $200M Lawsuit and an Astonishing Reconciliation
Cindy and Clark went to their pastor, Paul, for marriage counseling (names changed but story used by permission). After several meetings, the three of them...
A Common Lust
I share a lust with St. Augustine. Although he was a pillar of the church, he regularly prayed, “O Lord, deliver me from this lust of always vindicating...
Seven Benefits of a Smile
My daughter, Megan, was eighteen months old when she decided to test her smile on a Hells Angel. Just before a vacation in Jackson, Wyoming, she had learned...
Curse or Consecrate
Three months before graduating from law school, I decided I did not want to be a lawyer. Two years of interning for a plaintiff’s attorney had shown me that...
Defusing Explosive Meetings
Have you ever been in a meeting that was about to explode? You could feel the tension building with each person’s comments and knew it was just a matter of...
Five Ways to Weave RW into Your Life
One of the most popular features of our training program is that we summarize all of our key principles in simple acrostics that can be easily memorized and...
8 More Principles of Relational Leadership
In last week’s post, I described seven principles of relational wisdom that are illustrated in Congressman Steve Russell’s gripping book, We Got Him: A Memoir...
7 Ways to Apply RW in Combat, Congress and the Church
What is the common link between commanding soldiers in combat, passing a bill in Congress and leading a church or ministry? Answer: Success in each of these...
Teaching RW in Washington, D.C.
Our entire nation was stunned by yesterday’s shooting at a Congressional baseball practice. Rep. Steve Scalise was still in critical condition this morning,...
“The Talk”
Shortly after I graduated from law school and moved back to Billings to work in Federal court, I received some life-changing advice from a man I’d never met...
Barnabas: Portrait of a Peacemaker
When Peacemaker Ministries launched its initial training on biblical conflict resolution, my dear friend and founding Board member Jim Soft contributed this...
RW Training Strengthens Both Businesses and Families
Would you like to find an investment that consistently produces a return of $1.50 to $6.85 for every dollar you invest? What if that investment had the...