You’ll notice that most of my posts this year have been about the new building that our church is constructing. I have not had much time for anything else. Once our building was relatively safe, and all the asbestos glue and green mold had been removed, we began offering tours every few months. The first one was when the building was just a big empty shell. The goal was 

Have you heard about the new app that is just killing it? It’s called Sarahah and it has quickly risen to the new #1 app in the Apple App Store.

It’s marketing push is simple: “Get honest feedback from your coworkers and friends.”

Change. Not a word we always like to speak about as leaders. Personal change is never easy, especially when it involves my own character. And there just seems to be an increased level of difficulty when it involves change of those around me with whom I have influence or responsibility. Like jumping into the unknown. So how do I help others authentically change?

I consider one of my roles as a leader to help shape those in my sphere of influence. Leading is not just about projects. It is more importantly about people.

Today we are on my final post of my “everyday carry” (or EDC) for leadership. It has been extremely helpful for me to think through those essentials that help me to be a strong leader and maximize my influence with others.

I love to run. For me, it is exercise, solitude, soul care, prayer time, thinking time, learning time, me time, all rolled into an hour or so, three times a week. Like many runners, I’m also incredibly goal oriented, so I sign up for half marathons several times a year. And I have a long term goal of running a half in all 50 states. I like to say that I don’t pay gym fees, I pay race fees. (Are runners goal oriented or are goal oriented people drawn to running?) Recently, I found myself in a race hole. One race ended without another one on the books anytime soon. Through it, I learned some important lessons about having ongoing maintenance goals as well as big deadline goals and it’s having an impact on my pastoral work life as well.

Have you ever considered those items that are foundational to your being an engaging leader? You need to. Because no one ever drifts into healthy leadership practices. What are your “go to’s”?

In past posts, we have looked at some of the essentials of what I “carry with me” in order to have a vibrancy and robustness in interacting with people and projects: indispensable reads, personal character traits, and apps that I use that are getting it done for me. 

A good friend of mine is looking for an Executive Pastor to work with him at his church in Portland, Maine. This is a great opportunity to live in an awesome city that desperately needs the gospel and work with a great Acts 29 Network church. Check out description below and reach out to Angel Silva with more questions.

In recent weeks, I have been discussing that necessary gear, tangible or intangible, that is helping me be a more effective leader. I call them my “everyday carry” items for leadership. Part 1 is an ensemble of readings and writings that are making a dent in my thinking. Part 2 articulated four character traits that I deem absolutely essential to “getting it done.”

In part 3 today, I want to share with you four apps that are giving me the ability to manage my day as well as interactions with others. And these apps have both desktop and mobile versions available which give some nice multi-platform functionality.

This post continues the theme of “everyday carry.” If you read my prior post, it is all about those things that we carry with us that we deem as essential and necessary to help us in our day. As an executive pastor, I am all about gaining insights into what can make my day more effective with others. 

In a twist of the term, I wanted to challenge us that there should be an “everyday carry” for us as leaders, those indispensable tangibles or intangibles that make us what we want and need to be as leaders.

In part 2 of my everyday carry for leadership, I want to list four characteristics that have served me well in my almost 30 years of being in various leadership positions.

Last week I had the great privilege of speaking at the XP-Seminar in Dallas, TX on The Soul of The Executive Pastor. Contrary to popular belief, this is not an oxymoron. XP’s actually do have souls! This is something I’ve been doing a lot of thinking on over the last couple of years and

Have you every heard of the term “everyday carry” or EDC? It has become quite the phenomena. At its most literal meaning, everyday carry refers to those things that you carry everyday with you in your pockets or in your bag.

They are the essentials, the things you check for each time you leave the house, those things that you cannot do without. They speak of what helps you feel prepared, those items of utility that help create a more effective day. In another sense, it has fueled a desire for knowing what other people carry with them that they deem to be a great product. 

Check out everydaycarry.com – it provides some great visuals if you have never been exposed to this concept before.

I definitely have my own set items that I deem to be of the everyday carry variety.

Though other means of communication have evolved, email continues to maintain its traction. And one of the ways as a leader that my email gets utilized is for subscriptions. If I am going to lead well, I have to be reading other’s thoughts.

But not all content subscribed to is worth my while. There are those that I want, like an engaging leadership blog, but there are those that I dislike, like the ones for major discounts on monogrammed coffee mugs. Free cat poster included.

(Sigh) Again? Ok, who signed me up for that?

It’s a noisy world, isn’t it?

And I do not mean the noise that occurs from that which we call progress: transportation, production, and commerce.

No, I am referring to the noise of all the words we hear everyday. As I wait for flights at an airport, there is always this low murmur of hundreds of voices all mingling at once. And not one discernible conversation among all of the voices around me.

Recently, I had the chance to chat with Chris Willard at Leadership Network for his Generosity Strategies & Tactics Podcast. On it, I talk through some of the ways we have engaged in follow up after the end of our big generosity initiative last year. I’m posting the audio below. You can also just search for it on i-tunes and subscribe to the podcast. I think you’ll enjoy all of the episodes and interviews that Chris has done. Enjoy!

Have you ever been on Facebook or Instagram and noticed someone from your team posting things that made you cringe? I know I have. A couple times, I’ve even taken a screen shot and sent it to the staff person asking if they might want to reconsider this particular post? The simple reality is that