DLGP

Doctor of Leadership in Global Perspectives: Crafting Ministry in an Interconnected World

Actions Over Words

By: on February 9, 2021

“The past cannot change what is to come. The work that you do each and every day is the only true way to improve and prepare yourself for what is to come. You cannot change the past, and you can influence the future only by what you do today.”[1] (A part of a preseason team…

12 responses

“A Spoke in the Wheel”

By: on February 8, 2021

In March 1933, Dietrich Bonhoeffer penned an essay he entitled: “The Church and the Jewish Question.”  This was sparked by what was called the “Aryan Paragraph” – an order that only those of Aryan descent would be allowed to participate in civil service. Metaxas writes that Christians in Germany a unified Christianity that was “strong…

9 responses

Bonhoeffer & Leadership: Uncommon Friendships

By: on February 8, 2021

A theological prodigy who achieved his doctorate at the age of twenty-one, young Bonhoeffer found himself in a bit of holding pattern. To qualify for ordination in the Lutheran Church, he had to be twenty-five. To bide his time, he pursued lectureships and pastorates abroad. It was in these immersions into Barcelona and Rome that…

17 responses

Complicated Love

By: on February 8, 2021

Mussolini’s years in leadership found him to be an able diplomat. In 1923, some Greeks murdered an Italian general and three soldiers over Graeco-Albanian concerns. Italy gave Greece an ultimatum; war was imminent. Greece ultimately conceded to Italy’s terms and war was averted. But the nearness of the possibility of war alarmed Mussolini, causing him…

11 responses

Pedigree

By: on February 4, 2021

It is not uncommon for leaders to display their credentials, tout their educational pedigrees as well as their personal accomplishments.  In some cases, it may be required and advisable. I find it assuring and almost comforting when visiting my rheumatologist’s office, and see his multiple degrees hanging on his wall. It assures me that he…

8 responses

Winning One for the Roughrider and the Gipper

By: on February 3, 2021

Doris Kearns Goodwin’s “Leadership in Turbulent Times” is the story of four US American presidents. Each begins with his upbringing and earliest recognition of leadership abilities, then shifts to formative life experiences that shaped his leadership, and finally a description of a major leadership challenge that would define his presidency. Theodore Roosevelt assumed the presidency…

9 responses

Bonhoeffer & Leadership: Being “in Process”

By: on February 3, 2021

Two realities seem as evident and disastrous today as in the time of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Idolatrous Religion & Racism. The former is an experience of religion built upon arrogant orthodoxy that centers performance and piety as the means by which God’s attention and affection can be seduced. The latter is a set of behaviors that…

12 responses

“The House of Your Church is on Fire”

By: on February 2, 2021

In 1933, Bonhoeffer was invited by Bishop Theodore Heckel to pastor the two German congregations in London. Metaxas writes that there were two reason Bonhoeffer wanted to go: To engage in the grounding experience of honest “parish work” and to push away from the church struggle in Germany to gain perspective on the bigger picture.[1] In…

11 responses

The Power of a Skillfully Crafted Facade

By: on February 1, 2021

In 1922, Italy’s government and King were powerless to bring about change for the struggling nation. With a general strike from populous looming, the might of Mussolini and his followers rose to the occasion. On October 27, 1922, the Fascist March on Rome was met with zero opposition from the Italian Army or police. Rome…

13 responses

Imagine

By: on February 1, 2021

…as imagination bodies forth, The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen, Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing A local habitation and a name.” Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, vi.14-17 Effective leaders stoke the imagination. Anytime we move beyond, in our mind’s eye, where we are now, that’s imaginative. The imagination should…

7 responses

Revolution, heart.

By: on January 28, 2021

Jail. So, with that word, once read and, just let it sit in your mind for a second or two, look at it there, what comes to mind? Now, say it out loud. Close your eyes and think about who comes to mind? How do you feel about the word, the idea? I’m not comfortable…

9 responses

Lincoln’s Team of Rivals

By: on January 28, 2021

Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th President of the United States in part because the election of 1860 was a four-man race. With the Democrats divided over Stephen Douglas and John Breckenridge, and a Constitutional Union Party candidate on a ballot, the Republican Lincoln was able to carry the northern states and receive the most…

11 responses

The Waters in Which We Swim

By: on January 27, 2021

From an early age, Mussolini was tossed into the deep end of the political pool. His father supplied the water from Socialist journals and the local newspaper; Mussolini had little choice but to dogpaddle his way along. By the age of 19, Mussolini began to come into his own understanding of politics and philosophy. He…

14 responses

Failure: To Learn or Not to Learn

By: on January 26, 2021

Our perspective is often skewed by the circumstances of life until something happens that helps us see beyond our current perspective into something beyond ourselves. Have you ever questioned your presumptions about failure? How we perceive failure is critical to being an effective leader.  John Maxwell points out that we often look at failure through…

8 responses

The Driving Question

By: on January 25, 2021

In each of our journeys, there is a question that drives and guides the paths we take. While that may seem confining to some, the reality is that the question evolves and morphs as the journey continues. The question that drives us is not static, but it is dynamic. New information, new experiences, new insights,…

13 responses

Words.

By: on January 25, 2021

Allow this reflection on the onset of journeying with Frederick Douglass to be the opening line of a sonata. I’ll introduce a theme in its simplest form here only to be revisited, experimented with, hidden, transposed, modified, and returned to at the conclusion. The thread of melody that plays throughout the life of Frederick Douglass…

9 responses

Bonhoeffer & Leadership: Immersion

By: on January 25, 2021

Immersions are experiences that move us beyond the realms of comfort, safety, and certainty. They are moments of displacement that generate within us theological and existential crises. If navigated humbly, these are the experiences that move us beyond “What do I do?” to the more important question: “Who must I become?” Immersions are the portals…

12 responses

Lonely to Home

By: on January 24, 2021

Time does not always provide healing. For some, time can be the medium whereupon trauma arrogantly dances and sadly increases in volume. When trauma-terror strikes, darkness imposes, is gripping and salvation can seem lost. When terror strikes, being in a safe place with loving people can be salvation enough. Jesus provided a safe place for…

3 responses

Mussolini: An Introduction

By: on January 20, 2021

Over the winter break, I clicked upon Rick Steves’ “The Story of Fascism in Europe,” on PBS. Having never had much interest in history, I knew little of fascism. But in recent months, the term had been tossed around enough through various mediums that my interest was piqued. Ten minutes into the episode, Steves’ shares…

11 responses

For Such a Time as This

By: on January 20, 2021

Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Pulitzer Prize winning, “Leadership in Turbulent Times” explores the early lives, the formation, and the unique leadership circumstances of four US American presidents, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson. Each of these presidents faced crises in American history. One of the questions she explores is “do the times make…

11 responses