Understanding the strengths of team members will assist the young leader in two ways. First, it can build confidence in the team members’ ability to carry out assignments. Second, it will help the young leader determine which assignments should be delegated to specific team members. And, hopefully, they will learn that there are those on... Continue Reading

A lot of us investors and founders often confuse metrics. In the early days of the mobile apps, we would ask developers how many downloads they had. “You have 5 million downloads? Great! This must be a very successful app!” In fact, just 10% of those 5 million downloads actually used the app. That’s not... Continue Reading

A school, even a Christian school, has no real mechanism for dealing with sin, nor is it their role to do so. If they have a code of conduct with that includes both not having premarital sex and not plagiarizing, then they are in a bind. If a student plagiarizes or cheats, are they now... Continue Reading

While God makes it clear that we must preach the Word, he does not specify one method over the other. I wonder if we have veered too far in one direction. This, after all, is our tendency in nearly everything—to swing from wild extreme to wild extreme.   In many ways, the Reformed resurgence of... Continue Reading

Michelangelo’s poems are more transparent than his sculptures. Most of them are prayers to God (with echoes of Augustine’s Confessions, which he probably knew well). What he mourned mostly was his struggle with sin (“Fain would I wish what my heart cannot will”) and the time wasted in futile pursuits, including his art (“What’s the... Continue Reading

Downing has faithfully served the ministry for almost ten years.  In that time, he has facilitated over 40 national/international Embers to a Flame conferences, led numerous Spiritual Foundation Retreats for churches desiring spiritual growth, and shepherded dozens of  churches through our coaching ministry, Fanning the Flame.   The Embers To A Flame Ministry has announced... Continue Reading

“The pressure Farron felt rings familiar to American evangelicals, who are continually grappling with their place in public life and the future for their convictions. Earlier this month, a Trump administration appointee was challenged during his confirmation hearing over his belief in salvation through Christ alone.”   Amid mounting scrutiny over his evangelical faith, the... Continue Reading

“According to a Greenville News article about same-sex couples seeking the city’s first marriage licenses after a federal court order finding South Carolina’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional took effect on Nov. 20, 2014, Sarratt and Swearingen met six years earlier at Greenville First Baptist Church, when Swearingen served the church as an intern.”  ... Continue Reading

Dead are James W. Stockdale, 21, and Kathryn B. Stockdale, 54, his mother. Sheriff George T. Maier said Jacob T. Stockdale, 25, fired a shotgun at his mother and brother, killing them, then shot himself. He was taken by ambulance to Canton’s Aultman Hospital and then by helicopter to Cleveland Metro Hospital, where he was... Continue Reading

My father went through all he did on Okinawa, and throughout World War II, and never showed the slightest hint of it to his son or daughters. He dealt death to others not happily but because it was his duty. He watched his closest friends and comrades die beside him. He spared me all that... Continue Reading