"Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers." So goes the sage advice from president Harry Truman. I have books filling cabinets, nightstands, and bookshelves.I have full shelves in my office, my home, and my study. My wife, Darlene, has always been incredibly patient with all of this and doesn't ask me too often to clean things out and get rid of a few bo...

Growth in leadership is something every leader in the world will tell you they want.Yet, too few are willing to pay the price.Why is that?Because it requires sacrifice. Two key ways a leader grows is by: 1. Reading and Listening to Speeches, Talks, QA's and Messages From Leaders You Want to Emulate. My literary hero, F. W. Boreham, used to sit in courtrooms and listen to...

crucible/ˈkro͞osəbəl/A place or occasion of severe test or trial[1] I live just a few miles from Parris Island, South Carolina. It's one of two locations in the United States where the United States Marine Corps (U.S.M.C.) trains its recruits. Before a recruit can become a Marine, each recruit has to endure and complete 'The Crucible.' Here is how the U.S.M.C. desc...

When I was a fledgling youth pastor, not much older than the students I was pastoring, I bought myself a ball cap. It was white with two bright red bills. One pointed toward the left and the other toward the right. Emblazoned in large lettering across the front it read: "I'm Their Leader. Which Way Did They Go?"That message seemed so appropriate to me at the time. As a fir...

In his book, A Table in the Presence, Lt. Carey Cash, U.S. Marine Corps chaplain for the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment during Operation Iraqi Freedom, recounts how his battalion experienced God's presence and power in an amazing way during Operation Desert Storm in Kuwait and Iraq. When they were up against the wall, God came through for them time and time again. He ...

I vividly recall on one of my first trips to India, I was traveling alone, in the back of a taxi, on my way to meet people I did not know, being driven by a Hindu who spoke very little English, inhaling the incense he was burning in the taxi, in a city I had never been in before.It occurred to me that I may be headed down a dark alley somewhere where my friendly taxi drive...

The African impala can jump to a height of over 10 feet and cover a distance of greater than 30 feet. Yet these magnificent creatures can be kept in an enclosure in any zoo with a 3-foot wall. The animals will not jump if they cannot see where their feet will fall. John Emmons said, "Faith is the ability to trust what we cannot see, and with faith we are freed from the fl...

Author Max Lucado reminds us in his book, Traveling Light, that the prefix, "dis", D-I-S, changes everything. "With dis, obey becomes disobey. Respect is changed to disrespect. Regard is suddenly disregard. What was an ability becomes a disability. Engage is now disengage, and grace is transformed into disgrace. All because of dis. We would be hard pressed find a more pot...

Beginning on Thursday, October 1, I will be taking a two-month sabbatical.I want to thank the elders of LowCountry Community Church for not only making this break possible, but strongly encouraging it. As a person with workaholic tendencies, it would be my style to just keep pressing on. But there are good reasons for God's command to regularly practice the princ...

My guess is that things have not always gone as you have planned. Sometimes life is anything but easy and your walk with Jesus has more worries than victories. In Philippians chapter one, Paul addresses some of his personal challenges then quickly moves to the problems facing the Philippians believers. He's told them that he will win either way, that his circumstances will...