When I started Leading Saints, I figured my target audience was leaders in the church. Almost 13 years later I realize the target audience for Leading Saints is much more expansive. (Not to mention, the audience is much more female than I expected it would be.)...
There is a huge benefit of being in a formal church leadership role that rarely gets mentioned. It’s simply this… Friendships Brotherhood Sisterhood Community A decade of my life was spent in bishoprics and a stake presidency, and it was an amazing way to be in a...
I’ve heard a handful of individuals make the observation that those who leave organized religion are able to replace most of the benefits that religion has to offer; however, rarely are they able to replace the type of community they find in religious traditions. This...
I was recently listening to an interview on Bronco Mendenhall’s podcast where he was talking to another Division 1 football coach. By the way, if you haven’t listened to my interview with Bronco Mendenhall, do so ASAP. Anyway, in this interview, these two coaches...
I received a thought-provoking email recently. It read like this: “Something I have been musing upon lately is the practical qualities of a ‘good’ church leader. (Of course, you would first have to define ‘good,’ to whom? In what way?) Certainly, we can easily...
I typically write this newsletter for the general Leading Saints audience. However, this week I need to speak to one person in particular. You know who you are. You see, I was reminded of you when I met Judy a few weeks ago at a conference. She approached me with...
In my last newsletter I talked about one of the phrases we say in our culture that isn’t helping: “You need to forgive.” Next, I’ll share another overused phrase that’s been on my mind recently and with which you’ll probably disagree: “Stop judging.” We need to stop...
I have an electronic note that I keep adding to, titled, “Things our culture says…”. It’s a list of interesting phrases we have been saying for decades as a faith community that either have a different meaning depending on who you are talking to or are so cliché that...
A bishop recently sent me the following question: How do you measure your success? I struggle trying to figure out if I am doing a good job. Even on my mission, we had numbers that we kept track and unfortunately, many missionaries based their overall feeling on...
Leadership roles can cause us to be more influenced to say YES, to as many things as possible, instead of saying NO. Mainly because as a leader we don’t want to disappoint anyone we lead. If we disappoint someone we lead they can be dissatisfied with us as a leader,...
