Leading From Alignment

Difficult people go to church. Difficult people work at the company you lead. Not all people who go to church are difficult. Not all people you work with are difficult. The vast majority are not. But the few who are difficult can make life miserable for a leader. Leaders who intend on leading for the long-haul need steel in their spine. Today’s episode focuses on how to think—from God’s perspectiv...

How do you make sense of life when you feel God is leading you down a confusing path? Most of the time, His directives are logical. The numbers add up. The pieces fit together. But sometimes the numbers don’t add up when it comes to discerning God’s assignment for a particular season in your life. Today’s episode will look at three quick takeaways that hopefully will help you if you’re in a season...

It’s not easy to finish. It’s even less easy to finish well. Question is, how do we live today to increase our chances of reaching the finish line tomorrow? Today’s podcast will explore three behaviors—going upward; going inward, and going outward. These three actions will help you finish your life’s race with a flourish.

A good night’s sleep is a leader’s cheat code. It’s an undervalued weapon in a leader’s quiver. In today’s pod we’ll explore several reasons why sleep matters, and practical ways we can leverage its power to lead our organization better and more effectively. If you’re a leader, you’re running a marathon, not a sprint. Only well-rested leaders can run the long-distance race they’ve been called to.

According to an extensive Barna research study of 14,000 U.S. lead pastors, published in January 2017, 37% of lead pastors are at medium to high risk of burnout. A whopping 66% say they have no deep friendships. 40% are not energized by ministry work. Expastor.com reports 47% of pastors suffer from depression. Many of the moral failures we read about (and those that never make the news) can be tra...

What drives you? Passion? Or adrenaline? Passion is an intense desire or enthusiasm for something. Adrenaline is a hormone secreted by the adrenal glands, especially in conditions of stress, increasing rates of blood circulation, breathing, and preparing muscles for exertion. Passion gets us out of bed in the morning, ready to take on the day. Adrenaline keeps us up at night, unable to let go of t...

Transition is a reality every leader has to deal with at some point in their work life. The majority of leaders who leave for supposedly greener pastures do so prematurely. Some stay too long. Some leave at the first sign of sustained trouble—some stay in toxic environments that have no realistic hope of changing. So . . . how does a leader know: “Should I stay or should I go?” Today’s episode wil...

One of the biggest mistakes I made as a young lead pastor was spending too much time trying to get uncommitted people to be committed. It’s a losing strategy to spend more time with problem people than with promising people. Today’s pod will shed light on how we use our time leading an organization or a team. Why do some of us fall into the trap of obsessively chasing the unfaithful fringe? We’ll...

If you’ve answered the divine call to pastoral ministry, you’ve signed up for both a fulfilling and stressful journey. It’s one thing to know what forces create and sustain stress in your life. It’s another thing to know what to do about them. Today’s pod offers five practical hacks pastors can use to address five common stressors ministry leaders face: Difficulty separating from work; the wear an...

In Episode 6, we introduced the concept of personal alignment and its impact on our professional leadership. Being misaligned personally leads to a host of problems: Anxiety and depression. Fatigue and lack of energy. Isolation and loneliness. In last week’s podcast, we considered the first 3 components of personal alignment: First, spiritual – basically, developing our walk with God. Second, medi...

06 - The Simple Yet Amazing Power of Alignment - Part 1 by Converge Coaching

When a leader casts a bold vision or enlarges their facilities to accommodate growth, it’s almost always accompanied by a certain percentage of people leaving. It throws some of these leaders into a bit of a panic: “Wait a minute! How can anyone not be excited about the clear direction we’re heading toward? How can they deny the energy and momentum we’re experiencing? Why don’t they see what I see...

The other day I was talking to a bi-vocational associate pastor who was “the guy” for 3 months while his lead pastor was on sabbatical. He said something stunning to me: “Now that our pastor is on sabbatical, it’s like a switch turned on with our people. They know they have to step up, that they can’t rely on him to do all of the work because he’s not here! And it’s been an amazing season for us!”...

Have you ever wondered how your calling in life can at times be so hard? You heard the voice of God calling you to do something special, exciting—and yes, maybe even risky—and you jumped in with both feet. You’ve felt fulfilled in that calling, watched God help people through your calling, and even pinched yourself thinking: “I can’t believe I get to do this for a living!” And then comes the inevi...

How often do we think: “I’ll be happy when the church I pastor grows to 400 people” or “when the business I lead reaches $10 million in revenue” or “when I get my Master’s degree” etc.? Leaders tend to wait to be joyful until they arrive at a certain destination, and discover when they get there, they often find themselves disappointed because they imagined they’d feel happier. Jim Branch writes:...

Questions to ask yourself when your mission feels drifting.