Keeping Positive

Confrontation is inevitable.  In fact, there is such a thing as Positive Confrontation. The Bible admonishes, “As much as it depends on you be at peace with all people.”  That’s a worthy goal.  But, how do we do it?   It may be…

February 07th, 2018

I fear the church is shrinking in size and influence, and that means fewer opportunities for children with challenges to get the assistance they need from the community best equipped to help them.  I also believe there’s a direct link between…

Self-Interest

I am convinced that every church, civic group, or ministry, no matter its size or resources, is enriched when it fulfills God's mission.  But more practically, when churches step out in faith to care for those in need they grow spiritually…

Epistemology

Epistemology is big fancy word that means the “study of knowledge.”  Epistemology tries to answer the question, “how do we know what we know?”  There are two ancient ways of knowing something: theology and philosophy, the queen and…

Complexity Paradox

Here is a principle that will take some thought to grasp, but will pay rich dividends to those who get it. The simple is false and the complex is unusable, and by unusable, I mean - unsustainable.  Some know it as the Complexity Paradox. The…

Wet Boards

Wet boards conduct electricity, but copper wires do it better. This principle describes the value of effectiveness and efficiency.  The mission of a nonprofit or church requires time and energy.  There’s simply no way around it.  Increasing…

Synergy

Together we can do more than the total sum of us individually.  It’s simply the principle of teamwork. There is no substitute for teamwork. When individuals work together a synergy forms that actually creates greater output than all of them…

Three Kinds

Russian author Leo Tolstoy, believed there were two kinds of people who followed two very different methods of human activity.  One uses their reason to learn what is good and what is bad, and they act according to this knowledge.  The other…

Our Assumptions

One Christmas morning we’d opened all the presents under the tree.  Everyone was taking inventory of the gifts they’d received, giving thanks to those who gave them.  But my wife, who keeps track of what every child receives, decided that…

Suffering

Have you ever thought about how much we owe to sorrow and suffering?  Perhaps you have never stopped to consider that tribulation has produced some of the greatest written works of mankind.  Most of the Psalms, for example, were born in a…