By: Kally Elliott on April 11, 2024
The Church has potential to be a breeding ground for domineering leadership. Open up your news app and you’re sure to see yet another story of a church leader’s downfall. But this is not just a current problem. According to J.R. Woodard, in his book, The Scandal of Leadership, it is a historical issue, as…
By: Kari on April 11, 2024
“I will dialogue but I won’t fight.” This has been my motto for the past 11 years living as a Christian in a Muslim-majority country. Statistics say my country is 99.9% Muslim. The 0.1% is admittedly expatriates living in the country. To be a citizen of my host country is to be a Muslim. To…
By: Scott Dickie on April 10, 2024
Christian leaders that consciously or unconsciously follow the leadership patterns of the world (which are animated by the unseen Powers) will inevitably wield power in unhealthy and destructive ways. Christian leaders that model their leadership after Christ will humbly serve and ensure others flourish. That, essentially, is the core message of Jr Woodward’s, The Scandal…
By: Adam Cheney on April 10, 2024
Let me lay my cards on the table to start this conversation. I believe COVID was a real pandemic. I believe most pastors and leaders were making the best choices they could make at the time given regional restrictions and political temperature of their churches. I believe most restrictions were ineffective and draconian. I believe…
By: Graham English on April 10, 2024
I’ve observed that when the church engaged in political debate, it ended up creating an even greater barrier for people to receive the gospel. As a Canadian church leader, I follow politics. I have my theologically formed convictions. I preach Jesus and call people to surrender to the Lordship of Christ. I have also been…
By: Jennifer Eckert on April 10, 2024
If Catholicism was a sport, author Matthew Petrusek would undoubtedly be the spirit team captain. Complete with metaphorical pom-poms and rah rahs, Petrusek penned his book, Evangelization and Ideology in a full display of loyalty to his “coach,” Bishop Robert Barron, by elevating and arguing in support of the bishop’s views on Catholic social teachings.…
By: Ryan Thorson on April 10, 2024
“It’s Not The Battles We Lose That Bother Me, It’s The Ones We Don’t Suit Up For.” – Toby Ziegler This quote is from a character in one of my favorite shows growing up, The West Wing. In this American TV drama, witty dialogue, thoughtful complex situations to solve and lessons on leadership shaped me…
By: Debbie Owen on April 10, 2024
My youngest sister joined some random atheist organization a few years ago and posted it on Facebook. She’s been an atheist since she was twelve years old – at least – and we’ve just had to agree to disagree. I have not been brave enough to engage her in a deeper conversation because I have…
By: Becca Hald on April 10, 2024
My son was diagnosed with autism in 2004, at the age of 5. I would tell people, “My son has autism.” I would not say, “My son is autistic.” There is a subtle difference between these two statements. One is descriptive. “My son has blue eyes. My son has blond hair. My son has autism.”…
By: Diane Tuttle on April 9, 2024
I will start by admitting when I began reading this book I wanted to shut down. It probably did not help that my work week got very stressful after someone threatened to shoot at one of my group homes with a real gun after he used a paint gun on our cars and windows of…
By: Esther Edwards on April 9, 2024
Having grown up in church circles and having been in ministry since my mid-20s, I had never experienced domineering leadership until I viewed a church that a relative attended from a distance. There was high energy and much emphasis on winning the lost. The pastor preached with enthusiasm and passion. However, as time continued, some…
By: Greg McMullen on April 9, 2024
In late January, I sat on an examination table, and my mind raced with many diagnoses and possible outcomes for my situation. The question that weighed heavily on me was how I would be able to keep doing my ministry. My goal was to make it to graduation with school, church, and food ministry and…
By: Pam Lau on April 9, 2024
“It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church: we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares: they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where…
By: Kari on April 9, 2024
I used to take pride in multitasking. I even tricked myself into thinking I was good at it. Years ago, I was introduced to the idea that no one can truly focus on multiple things at once. I heard this while listening to a productivity podcast[1] and attempting to multitask. This started my journey of…
By: Joel Zantingh on April 9, 2024
Reading Dr David Rock’s “Your Brain at Work” is something like hearing a pep talk for one’s brain, in relation to something that happens everyday: decision-making. He addresses it, though, from the vantage point of neurobiology, to help us understanding what is going on in our prefrontal cortex, that “small, fragile, and energy-hungry brain region”…
By: Glyn Barrett on April 9, 2024
Understanding the complexities that Matthew R. Petrusek explores in ‘Evangelization and Ideology’ requires more than a mere week’s dedication to reading. He digs deeply, providing a guide to finding God within the political culture that surrounds us.” He writes to analyse four of the major secular ideologies of our day, namely, Utilitarianism, Classical liberalism, Progressivism…
By: Russell Chun on April 9, 2024
Pale kaua no ko lākou mau ʻuhane – Armor for their Souls, in Hawaiian Introduction Part 1 – What others are saying Part 2 – What I learned from the U.S. Army and Woodward Epilogue – Armor for the Soul Introduction By unmasking the Powers of domination (Satan and his principalities), J. R. Woodward,…
By: Travis Vaughn on April 8, 2024
Church leadership in the West has had a rocky road in recent years. Bobby Duffy and clergy trust In the UK, trust in clergy has been on the decline. Public policy researcher Bobby Duffy actually noted this before the pandemic in his book Why We’re Wrong About Nearly Everything, during a time when many other…
By: Tim Clark on April 8, 2024
In November 2012 a new Broadway Musical debuted in the Neil Simon Theater in New York. The production, called “Scandalous: The Life and Trials of Aimee Semple McPherson”, lasted for 29 regular performances before it closed that December. It’s not at all surprising that there was a musical written about the vivacious founder of The…
By: Jennifer Vernam on April 8, 2024
In today’s reality, there is an epidemic of church leadership failures-to the point where it has almost become the expectation rather than the exception. In this current climate, J.R. Woodward steps in with his Scandal of Leadership: Unmasking the Powers of Domination in the Church[1] with the intention of compelling church leaders to intentionally adopt…
