The life and work of a mentor, coach or professional supervisor, really any career in Christian leadership, comes with many different seasons. There will be beautiful warm springs full of hope and productivity, and long hot stretches of summer full of life and passion for the calling. However, there will also be chilly autumns full of uncertainty and doubts, as well as cold and harsh winters that may give in to depression, stress and burnout. Of course, the seasons of a Christian leader’s life rarely line up with the annual changes of weather, but the awareness of the good times following the bad, the difficult seasons following a happy and hopeful one, is an ongoing pattern. This is a truth that all leaders need to accept and anticipate…

It seems natural to contemplate what makes a seasoned Christian leader during this season. Easter Sunday was an excellent reminder that our leadership should always come from a humble imitation of Christ. Christ calls us to take our cross and follow him as His disciples. The seasoned Christian leader participates in understanding the wonders that God brings us and the comfort that we receive in Jesus’s ministry, in His grace, and by welcoming and including others into our community…

Being a mature disciple comes down to two primary commitments: the commitment to the Great Commandment – loving others and loving God and the Great Commission – spreading the good news of Jesus. Of course, these two commitments are linked because if you genuinely love others, you want them to experience the same blessings that you experience. If you are having a great meal, you want to share your food with them. If you read an excellent book, you want to pass that book onto them, and if you love Jesus, you want to introduce them to Him, too. However, if you try to follow the commission of spreading the news without loving the people you want to reach, you come across as arrogant, manipulative or judgmental. These two commitments should always be lived out together…

Who are you working for? You might have a boss, a manager, a board, or you might run your own business, but who are you really working for? We must remind ourselves that we are ultimately working for God and, while God is our provider, “the Lord is our shepherd,” we still must take responsibility for our time, our treasures and our talents. Are we using them how God desires us to use them? 

When God made man, he instructed Adam and Eve to ‘be fruitful and multiply’, to replicate themselves in body, in knowledge and in love for God. Replication is inherent in creation—in humans and animals and plants. We are designed to share our passions and our love with others. This is also what makes a mature disciple—the replication of ourselves by making disciples, and going a step further to make disciples who replicate themselves…

What does it take to be a mature disciple? A mature disciple is dedicated to the great commandment: to love God and to love each other, and they are committed to the great commission to share the good news…

Christian leaders spend a great deal of time reading the Bible, studying scripture and applying it to their daily lives. We return to Scripture for obvious reasons: we read it primarily to hear God’s word, and also for instruction on how to live like Christ, be a better disciple, and be a better leader. Daily reading also helps us with personal discipline, the practice of reflection and a reminder of God’s great love for us. Reading the Bible and applying its words can bring transformation…

What are the most essential qualities of a mentor? There are, of course, an abundance of skills and competencies that are required to work in the field of professional mentoring or supervising, but there are a few that stand out as foundational…

Improving the Lives of Clergy A team of researchers from Rosemead School of Psychology at Biola University invites you to participate in their research to improve the lives of clergy. Their study is testing a new measure of health for Christian leaders, and they hope that this tool will become a faster and more effective way of identifying warning signs of poor health to empower clergy to intervene before disaster strikes…