One of the hardest things I do in ministry is interact with those who are no longer in ministry, but wish they were. They’ve been derailed. They messed up and either they got caught or the guilt got the best of them and they confessed.

In recent years, I’ve had numerous ministry friends who lost their ministry due to moral failure, poor leadership or simply burnout.

You should know I’m a huge proponent for applying grace. I do not believe failure has to define a person indefinitely. The reality is, however, we lose good, effective ministry leaders because they begin to make dumb mistakes. It breaks my heart. If there were any way to stop it—or minimize it—I would certainly try to do so.

That is the point of this post.

Watching this process over the years there appear to be some common reasons failure occurs. It doesn’t start at the failure. It starts months—and, perhaps years—prior. My hope is if we expose some of them we can catch a few people before it is too late.

So, let me ask, do any of these apply to you?

Here are the five ways leaders start to fail:

Thinking it couldn’t happen to me.

I have heard this so many times. The leader thinks they are fool proof. They don’t believe the statistics include them. They don’t need the accountability of others. Their marriage is secure. The things that tempt others don’t tempt them.

Can I give a word of caution? It can. It can. It can. Yes, even to you! Should I remind you the enemy prowls around like a roaring lion?

Refusing to listen to others.

In my experience, God will attempt to rescue those in jeopardy. Refusing to listen to others often dismisses the voice of God. When a leader closes him or herself from the counsel of others they are essentially putting out a welcome mat for temptation to overtake them.

Do you need to heed wise counsel?

Overestimating personal value.

Pride goes before the fall. Oh, how true this warning from Scripture has been proven to me over the years. Whenever I think too highly of myself I set myself up for failure. Those who seek their own applause get phony claps.

Be honest, do you see yourself as better, smarter or more valuable than those you lead? Do you think you’re irreplaceable?

Underestimating the value of others.

Prior to a fall leaders often become guarded in what they release to others. They are over-protective. They attempt to control outcomes. They dismiss the opinions of people on their team.

Do you realize the worth of a team? Do you understand the value other people bring to the table? Do you solicit advice?

You’re on a slow fade.

Failure never starts at the bottom or really even experiences a free fall. It’s a gradual decline over time. It’s allowing temptation to become “little” sins, and a bunch of “little” sins to become a “big” sin.

Have you begun to make excuses for some of your behaviors? Have you drifted from some of your normal healthy disciplines? When you compare your life today to even a year ago—do you  see a slow fade occurring?

Those are a few signs I’ve seen of a coming failure.

Do you need the warning?

I can also remind you: You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. No temptation has seized you except what’s common to man. When tempted, God provides a way out.

Perhaps this post is one way God will attempt to get your attention.

I’m hopeful you’ll find a safe place to get help if needed. It would be better to make yourself vulnerable than to allow yourself to be a statistic.

This article originally appeared here.

One of the ways that children sometimes try to deepen their relationship with their parents is to travel back to where their father or mother grew up. They might visit historical societies, read archives, and gather newspaper stories and artifacts from old friends. Doing so, they build a bigger and better picture of their father or mother and experience a deeper sense of connection with them and love for them.

In a similar way, Christians go back to the Old Testament to build a bigger and better picture of Jesus Christ. By connecting with his past, we connect better with him and deepen our love for him. The Old Testament connects us with Jesus’ past in the following ways:

1. We are reading Jesus’ Bible: The 39 books of the Old Testament are the Scriptures he heard and read. These are the verses he memorized. This was his Sunday school syllabus. He fed his hungry soul on the Law, the Prophets and the Poets. They nourished and edified him.

2. We are learning Jesus’ language: Jesus was so familiar with the Old Testament that his vocabulary was saturated with Old Testament words and concepts. He spoke the Old Testament, taught the Old Testament, applied the Old Testament, and consciously and deliberately fulfilled the Old Testament. Like Bunyan, if you were to prick him, he would “bleed Bibline.”

3. We are singing Jesus’ songs: The Psalms were Jesus’ hymnbook. They were what He worshipped with in the Temple and Synagogue. He used them to express faith, hope and trust; but also fear, anxiety and even abandonment. He sang them on the eve of his death and even many of his last words were Psalm words.

4. We are feeling Jesus’ feelings: Paul prayed that he might know the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings (Phil. 3:10). One of the best ways to do this is to read the Psalms that predict Christ’s sufferings, especially the emotional sufferings, the agony of human betrayal and desertion, and ultimately the horror of divine abandonment (e.g. Ps. 22, 69). We feel Christ’s feelings there in a an even deeper way than in the Gospels.

5. We are hearing Jesus’ voice: We must banish the false idea that it’s God the Father who speaks in the Old Testament and it’s God the Son who speaks in the New. Even if we say that it’s the voice of the triune God we hear in the Old Testament, the Son’s voice is equally joined to the Father’s and the Spirit’s. However, we can go further and say that it is God the Son who is specially speaking in the Old Testament. He is the Word of God, the usual way God speaks to sinners, the one mediator between God and man. “Thus says the Lord” effectively means “Thus says the Messiah” (Rev. 19:10).

6. We are seeing Jesus in action: The Son of God visited the earth as the Angel of the Lord at least 20 times (and maybe many more times that are not recorded). We can see what kind of Savior he was in human form long before he came in human flesh as he frequently brought gracious messages and powerful help to his needy people.

7. We are admiring Jesus’ trophies: In some ways the Old Testament saints are even more amazing than New Testament saints. When you think of how little truth they had, how little of the Holy Spirit they had, how few the believers were and how rare their encouragements, it’s utterly amazing that they believed in the coming Messiah and kept believing. It can only be explained by the almighty work of Christ in the soul by his Holy Spirit. His Old Testament trophies of grace shine with a special luster in his “showcase.”

Open the Bible at Genesis, travel back in time, connect with Christ in the Old Testament, deepen your relationship with him and increase the heat of your love for him.

This article originally appeared here.

Well, it turns out that I want lots of things…and yet perhaps I only really want one thing…or person.

We all have some scale of what is desirous and that which is less so. Sometimes what we desire is what we ought to desire. Sometimes we desire what we shouldn’t. There are times when we know why we desire what we should, but often we can’t explain why we don’t actually desire what we should.

It’s complicated.

Discipleship and Desire

The formation of our soul is the central and primary task of discipleship. Spiritual formation into Christlikeness is the work of discipleship. To neglect spiritual formation is to hamstring our efforts at being faithful to our vocation as the church in the world today. Ignoring the dynamic and often mysterious desires of our soul can relegate our efforts to integrate faith, work and economics into just the next ministerial fad and set of buzz words. May it never be.

As I have been learning more about the complexity of my soul and the essential work of spiritual formation, I have begun to realize that much of what I want is to be all that God really had in mind for me when he first thought of me. I want to be and to do what I was created to be and do. I actually think this is what you want as well. I feel this sometimes…OK, often…like when I’m not the most loving person I should be. I want to be the husband and father that I should be…that I am called to be…and that I deeply long to be. When I listen closely, this is a deep desire.

Our Deepest Desire

But there is an even deeper desire than becoming all that we have been called to be. What really animates us is the desire to be known and loved by the Caller. This is what we were created for. This is why sin is so tragic in the way it prevents us from knowing God. This is why Jesus’ work on the cross was so pivotal, opening the way for us, offering restoration, and meaning, and purpose. Knowing that we are the beloved of God, totally loved, completely forgiven, is actually what our hearts yearn for most.

The challenge for us today is that these animating desires and longings can be easily satisfied by a counterfeit. Meaning and significance? I’ll find it in fame and glory in my profession. Or perhaps I’ll find it in how beautiful, smart and well-behaved my children are. I may tell myself I’ll find it in a growing and influential ministry.

Each counterfeit comes with its own set of desires.

Each alternative brings its own enslaving behaviors.

Desire Shapes Actions

Discipleship and spiritual formation is the work of learning to live life in touch with the deepest longings and not be “distracted by their surface manifestations.” This is important because our desires shape our actions and behavior. In her book Sacred Rhythms, Ruth Haley Barton continues by noting that:

“What shapes our actions is basically what shapes our desire. Desire makes us act, and when we act what we will do will either lead to a greater integration or disintegration within our personalities, minds and bodies—and to the strengthening or deterioration of our relationship to God, others and the world. The habits and disciplines we use to shape our desire form the basis for a spirituality.”

If desires shape our actions for better or worse, how do we shape our desires? Our challenge in discipleship is not that we want, but that we want the wrong things. How, in the words of Dallas Willard, do we fix our “wanters.”

Actions That Shape Desire

Historically, the saints that have gone before us have employed spiritual disciplines or spiritual rhythms to do this heavy lifting. Spiritual rhythms pursued with the right desire and with some structured consistency form what might be called “a rule of life.”

Barton again writes, “A rule of life is a way of ordering our life around the values, practices and relationships that keep us open and available to God for the work of spiritual transformation that only God can bring about.”

What do you want? Isn’t it to grow deeper in your relationship with the Caller? Don’t you want to satisfy the gnawing question of what you are called to be and do on Earth? Tired of chasing counterfeit desires that become gods that enslave you and who can never satisfy?

Upcoming Webinar

Join me when I teach a webinar series for our national partners, Made to Flourish. The seminars will begin to explore the place of spiritual formation, rhythms and a rule of life. This is an introduction intending to make a case for the centrality, indeed cruciality, of spiritual formation in teaching people how to follow Jesus, connecting our Sunday faith to Monday work. Limited spots available.

This article originally appeared here.

In Os Guiness’ excellent book Fool’s Talk: Recovering the Art of Christian Persuasion, he used the phrase ‘weapons of mass distraction’ to describe how people today distract themselves to avoid facing their inconsistent and broken beliefs about God and eternal matters. He writes that while distraction may feel good in the short-term (we avoid the discomfort of inconsistent belief and behavior), it’s disastrous in the long-term. Mass distraction is also a fitting metaphor for how leaders sometimes get sidetracked from the business of leading. Ask yourself which of these four weapons of mass distraction divert you the most from leading at your best.

Multi-tasking.
• Sometimes we get lulled into thinking we can multi-task and get more done…keep email and text alerts on as we prepare a sermon (if you’re a pastor) or as you think through a critical strategy as a leader. We think that giving 90 percent effort to an important task and 10 percent effort to a distraction equals 100 percent of our effort. Actually, each time we shift from one task to another and then shift back, the sum total of our effort gets diluted. It never equals 100 percent. There is a cognitive cost. It’s called attention residue—it takes time for our minds to disengage from the distraction and get back on task. And, researchers have discovered that constantly emailing or texting temporarily decreases our IQ.

• Solution: Turn off your phone and automatic alerts.

Continuous partial attention.
• Linda Stone, a former VP at Microsoft, coined the term. She describes it this way. “To pay continuous partial attention is to keep a top-level item in focus, and constantly scan the periphery in case something more important emerges.” As a result, this “always on” mode puts our brains on constant alert, thus flooding them with too much stress hormone which slows processing.

• Solution: Schedule your best thinking time in a quiet, distraction free environment. I use a niche in my office that blocks me from seeing people pass by my office window.

Dopamine addiction.
• Dopamine is one of over 100 chemicals in the brain called neurotransmitters. Simply put, a neurotransmitter is a chemical messenger the brain uses to send messages from one brain cell (a neuron) to the next. As a feel good neurotransmitter, it kicks in during activities that bring us pleasure—from checking off items on your to-do list, to eating a bowl of triple-fudge marshmallow creme ice cream, to seeing more ‘likes’ on your Facebook posts. It’s also involved in drug, alcohol and sexual addition. Although we may not struggle with serious addictions like drug abuse, we can easily get sucked into social media dopamine addiction when we constantly check to see ‘what’s new’ or ‘who likes me’ on social media. When we see a ‘like’ or a funny cat video, we get a little shot of dopamine and we want more, so we keep surfing.

• Solution: Set aside only certain times of the day when you surf social media. If you are hooked, go on a social media fast to break yourself from this addition.

Striving to get to a next better moment.
• This one is a bit more subtle, but Blaise Pascal captures it in this saying: “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” In other words, one weapon of mass distraction is the inability to be OK in this present moment. We’re often tempted to move to a next better moment to escape the current painful or boring moment, thinking that if I just get to a better one, things will be better.

• Solution: Try mindfulness practice, a scientifically based spiritual practice that helps you learn to live in the present moment. Learn more here about Christian mindfulness.

In our fast-paced, demanding world, weapons of mass distraction lurk around every corner. When we heed Peter’s command in God’s Word, we can counter those distractions.

1 Peter 5.8 – Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Which of these weapons of mass distraction most tempt you? What would you add to this list?

This article originally appeared here.

Problem solving is in the “DNA” of effective leadership.

So how come sometimes it just doesn’t work? Why is it that some attempts at problem solving feel like you’re just butting your head into a brick wall? Why do some of the best-intentioned problem-solving initiatives just fall flat?

Sometimes it’s because, right out of the gate, you haven’t properly sized up the problem you’re about to tackle. The most effective leaders I know have a much higher problem-solving batting average because they start by processing the problem through these three clarifying questions:

1. Is this a problem to be solved, or a tension to be managed?

Before you decide to tackle whatever crisis has landed on your desk, first discern if indeed you really can solve it. It could be a tension that must be managed.

At the 2010 Global Leadership Summit, Andy Stanley unpacked this vital distinction. As Stanley pointed out, not every difficult situation that lands on your desk is a problem you will ever be able to solve. Some of these situations are tensions you must learn to manage.

2. Is this my problem?

Once you’ve determined that the latest crisis really is a problem, and not a tension to be managed, next figure out if it really is your problem.

At the 2004 Global Leadership Summit, Bill Hybels interviewed USC president Steven Sample, and asked him how he responds when a problem is presented to him.

“The first thing I do,” Sample answered, “is to figure out if this is really my problem!”

You might be tackling a problem that really doesn’t belong to you.

3. Just how big is this problem?

As I outlined in an earlier post, one of the first jobs of leadership is to determine the appropriate scale of the problem that has just landed. “Is this a big deal? A little deal? Somewhere in between?”

Always figure out just what the scale and scope of this problem really is. And put the appropriate energy and resources toward it.

Here’s the point. Today, and every day, problems will land on your plate. The cumulative effect can be overwhelming.

But if you’ll apply this three-question clarifying process, you’ll be amazed just how much more effective your problem-solving efforts really can be.

This article originally appeared here.

Fasting is, by far, the least-appreciated and least-practiced spiritual discipline. There is a curious apathy about a discipline Jesus assumed his followers would practice. After all, just as he gave instruction on prayer prefaced by the words “and when [not if] you pray…” he gave instruction on fasting prefaced by “and when you fast…” Both appear to be normal, expected disciplines for Christ’s followers. While Jesus did not command fasting, certainly he commended and demonstrated it. At the very least, if Jesus felt it necessary to fast, it seems unlikely that we are meant to avoid it altogether.

I am convinced that much of our apathy toward fasting derives from our confusion about it. We do not understand why or how to fast and, therefore, we do not fast. Strangely, we seem to want to have a perfect theology of fasting before we practice it. Yet nowhere else do we demand such precision. We begin to pray before we know an adoration from a supplication, and we begin to read the Bible before we know a epistle from an apostle. But somehow when it comes to fasting we allow ignorance to breed inaction.

At heart, fasting is simple—it is refraining from a specific thing for a specific time and a specific reason.

Fasting is refraining from food. Lately I have heard people advocating refraining from other things in place of food, especially during Lent. “I am fasting from Facebook this year,” a friend told me. But biblically, we are to fast from food for this simple reason: Food is something we need, not merely something we want. You may want to use Facebook, but you need to eat food. Thus, in fasting you are withholding from yourself something you need (food) in order to pursue something you need even more (communion with God).

Fasting is for a specified period of time. You can fast for a morning, you can fast for a day, you can fast from sunup to sundown, you can fast for a week, or you can fast for a morning every day of a week. Fasting must only be long enough to feel it physically, to feel the weakness and hunger pangs that remind you of your weakness and your utter dependence upon God.

Fasting is for the purpose of prayer. Fasting is related to prayer in such a way that one theologian describes them as “first cousins.” We are to fill our whole lives with prayer so that we pray continually about every kind of issue (1 Thessalonians 5:17; Ephesians 6:18). We are to unrelentingly bombard heaven with our prayers (Luke 18:1-8). Yet at times we are also to fast, and it seems from the biblical record that fasting is related to prayers that are especially earnest and intense or that come at times of deep spiritual sorrow, desire or uncertainty. It may not be necessary to fast over your prayers for God to help you plan vacation well or to heal your sore knee, but it may be wise to fast over your prayers that God would help you overcome your addiction to alcohol or your pleas that God would grant salvation to your wayward child.

Thus, fasting is something you can add to prayer. You fast in those times you earnestly desire to seek God, the presence of God, the will of God, the power of God and the forgiveness of God. If it is worth pleading with God about it, it’s worth fasting about it. Ultimately, prayer is a means of seeking God himself, and fasting is God’s mysterious but effective means of assisting that noble desire. It is putting aside the satisfaction of food to come to a deeper satisfaction in God. It is diverting the desire for food into a desire for God.

Through it all, remember that God is for you. He is a loving Father who is far more concerned with the orientation of your heart than with your first hesitant actions. You do not need to master a theology of fasting before you begin to practice fasting any more than you need to master a theology of worship before you begin to worship. Ultimately, fasting is the school of fasting just as prayer is the school of prayer. Learn to fast by fasting.

This article originally appeared here.