THE LEADER'S TASK -- KEEPING HOPE ALIVE When we were holding a Crusade in Brisbane, Australia, we were taken to the place where Douglas MacArthur had his headquarters during World War II. He had come…
Sermon Illustrations
PERFECT PASTOR After hundreds of years, the Perfect Pastor has been found. He is the church leader who will please everyone. He preaches exactly 20 minutes and then sits down. He condemns sin, but never…
SF Oct88 PRECONDITIONS FOR CHURCH GROWTH I am increasingly convinced that the two indispensible preconditions to vigorous, sustained church growth are a pastor who wants the church to grow and a congregation of people who…
TIME I have never been much occupied with my past; it has never held my deepest interest. I have always cared most for the present and the future, for the work that I can do…
THE ROLE OF THE LEADER A leader is a dealer in hope. Napoleon Bonaparte
COST OF LEADERSHIP A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.
STAND OUT The nail that sticks out is hammered down. Japanese saying, Campbell's Notebook.
THE GOOD LEADER A good leader is not the person who does things right, but the one who finds the right things to do. Anthony Padovano, Inspiring Quotations, Ed. Wells
CONFIDENCE A good leader inspires other men with confidence in him; a great leader inspires them with confidence in themselves. Inspiring Quotations, Ed. Wells
CONCENTRATED COURAGE Heroism is the brilliant triumph of the soul over the flesh, that is to say over fear: fear of poverty, of suffering, of calumny, of illness, of loneliness and of death. There is…
BOHEMIAN MARTYRS In preparing a series of sermons on the precursors of the Reformation I read again the classic, Fox's Book of Martyrs, edited by Forbush (Zondervan). During the persecutions of the Bohemian protestants following…
MORE THAN SKIN DEEP The jackass brays mightily, but the forest does not tremble; the tiger's paws barely press the fallen leaves and all rush for shelter. Paul Eldridge, Maxims For A Modern Man
THE COURAGE OF JOHN HUSS Behind all else in Huss' teaching stood his devotion to the Scriptures as the ultimate guide of life and thought. Here we run decisively upon one of the major issues…
FOOTNOTE ON HUSS Matthew Spinka, in his book John Huss: A Biography observes that a great deal of the reforms of John Huss have been vindicated by Vatican II in our century. He writes: Hus'…
THE QUIET COURAGE OF STOOP LABOR -- THE SUMMER OF '83 I love strawberries. For a few years we grew a row or two in our garden. The birds enjoyed them with us. This did…
THE VIRTUE OF THE NO-SAYER ". . . As Nicolai Berdyaev reminded us, 'There is a sainthood of daring as well as of obedience.' I take this to mean that faith itself is a standing…
COSTLY COURAGE This last week I started reading Will D. Campbell's fascinating memoir Forty Acres & A Goat. It is a rich source of true stories, including the following two involving costly courage. Will is…
DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES ON COURAGE When school began in Nashville, we watched with fear and sorrow the effectiveness of Mr. Kasper's community organizing. Rioters gathered each day at the schools where the nine black children were…
TWO KINDS OF DISCONTENT There are two kinds of discontent in this world: the discontent that gets to work and the discontent that wrings its hands. The first gets what it wants and the second…
TOUGH COURAGE THAT MAKES FEW FRIENDS In 1981 I was attending Bible Col1ege in Houston, Texas in order to prepare for the ministry. That year I was employed by Fleming Foods, a large grocer supply…
