Division is not new. In the twentieth century alone, we watched governments weaponize difference with devastating efficiency. Nazi Germany built citizenship around bloodline. Apartheid South Africa organized daily life around racial hierarchy. Belgian colonial policies in Rwanda hardened ethnic distinctions into permanent identity categories, setting the stage for unimaginable violence in 1994. Each of these systems relied on … Read more
Hope may be one of the most misused words in Christian leadership. We often talk about hope as optimism, relief, or resolution. Hope becomes shorthand for things working out, pressure lifting, or circumstances improving. In that framing, hope functions like escapism. Resurrection hope is something different. In Scripture, resurrection does not erase suffering or rush past it. It … Read more
Leadership looks different depending on where you stand. That may sound obvious, but it is a lesson I keep relearning every time I travel to Rwanda. Not because leadership principles change across borders, but because context exposes assumptions we do not realize we are carrying. The longer I lead, the more convinced I am that leadership formation … Read more
One of the most humbling lessons leadership keeps teaching me is this: being present is not the same thing as paying attention. I can be physically in the room, emotionally invested in the mission, and sincerely committed to people, while still missing what matters most. That realization has shaped how I think about leadership, discernment, and formation more than any leadership … Read more
There is no shortage of innovation in education today. There would probably be no “Dr. Serrano” without these innovations. I took my first college course by way of correspondence back when I was a private first-class in the US Army. My first Bible college diploma? Earned via distance education. In fact, I earned all of my degrees through online, asynchronous … Read more
In an earlier post, I wrote about listening as a leadership discipline. That post focused on what leaders choose to attend to and how intentional listening shapes discernment over time. This post addresses a different, and in many ways more sobering, reality. Even disciplined leaders can lose sensitivity. One of the most dangerous leadership failures is … Read more
God. Authority comes from God. All authority belongs to Him. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s dig in a little deeper. Authority is one of the most misunderstood words in leadership. For some, authority is equated with position. Titles, credentials, and organizational charts become the primary sources of influence. For others, authority … Read more
One of the most underdeveloped leadership skills is not vision, communication, or decisiveness. It is listening. That may sound obvious, but most of us confuse listening with hearing. Hearing is passive. Listening is not. Listening is a discipline, and like all disciplines, it must be practiced, protected, and cultivated over time. In leadership, what we listen to … Read more
“There is a great market for religious experience in our world; there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sign up for a long apprenticeship in what earlier generations of Christians called holiness.” – Eugene Peterson In the little town of Bethlehem, a man named Jesse had a son named David. As … Read more
“Grace is not opposed to effort; it is opposed to earning.” – Dallas Willard If you look for an excuse, you will find it every time. I know, because I’m an expert in making excuses! I find myself thinking about excuses often. Sometimes it comes up in conversation with people walking through real pain. Sometimes it surfaces when a student is feeling every piece of … Read more
