This is one of my favorite weeks of the year. For the past several years during this week I travel to Atlanta for an amazing conference. As a children’s pastor it was the Orange Conference. Conveniently, as I changed roles to that of a senior pastor/church planter, the people that put on the Orange Conference started the ReThink Leadership Conference. It happens the same week and they even share some of the sessions. In doing this, they took something that I already loved and made it EVEN BETTER. It was going to be great… until it wasn’t. For most of my trips to Atlanta I have driven. It’s only about 7…
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My Nervous Breakdown and Where I Am Now
It’s crazy how time passes. Three years ago I published a post on my blog title, “My Nervous Breakdown, or At Least Almost.” You can read that original post HERE. Since then I have not had another episode as mad as that one. I’d love to say that I haven’t struggled with anxiety at all, but that would not be true. However, I have learned a lot about anxiety, God, and myself since then. So, what have I learned? Anxiety is real. For people who do not, or have not struggled with anxiety it is very hard to understand what it’s like. From the outside looking in you might find…
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Say Something !!! – RIP Robin Williams
Yesterday actor Robin Williams was found dead from apparent suicide. I simply can’t stop thinking about it. Robin Williams is one of my favorite actors, but that’s not why I can’t get it out of my mind. It’s the fact that he represents so many others out there. He dedicated his life to making others laugh while on the inside he had such pain and sorrow. He’s not alone… I remember many years ago I took care of a teenage girl who had taken a bunch of pills in an apparent suicide attempt. I can still see her in my mind as we tied her to the stretcher, as we…
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Book Review: The Anxious Christian
As many of you know I have been struggling with anxiety lately. I friend of mine recommended a book to me, The Anxious Christian by Rhett Smith. In this book Rhett shares how the death of his mother and other’s close to him led to a life filled with anxiety. He shares about this anxiety led to stuttering problem. From here it was a cycle of anxiety that caused him to stutter and stuttering that caused more anxiety. More importantly, he shares how God helped him to deal with his anxiety and brought him through the worst of it. Along the way Rhett shares how he thinks God wants to help…
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Does Anxiety Make Me a Bad Leader?
You may have noticed that I am writing a lot about anxiety this week. If your wondering why you can check out Monday’s post, HERE for the story. There are certain messages that we, as leaders, tell ourselves. These vary from admonitions to never show weakness to things like, “never let them see you sweat.” We can even go so far as to convince ourselves that we can not be a leader if we experience fear or anxiety. If you are anything like me, then your day is filled with a constant stream of internal messages that the people around us have no idea are even happening. What happens when…
