We are hanging out at the beach with our family this week. The annual beach vacation is great fun every year! But it hit me this morning … we are in an enjoyable season at this stage. I remember some previous seasons of dragging all kinds of paraphernalia and crying babies to the beach … seasons with teenagers going through teenage stuff … but now, life is so relaxing. Despite the hard seasons, I learned a ton. I would not trade those tough times for anything else...

Last week I was in Rwanda, which reminded me that seventeen years ago more than 800,000 Rwandans were slaughtered by their own people. On that dreadful night in April 1994, neighbors whose children had played together for years took machetes and savagely murdered their friends and neighbors who were a part of the “wrong tribe.” The devastation lasted for three horrendous months. Some of the murderers were religious people who attended church every Sunday. How could church-going people be so cruel and not have the love of Jesus in their hearts? The scriptures tell us that the heart is deceitful...

The nature of vision is beyond reality. That’s why it is called vision; it is forward thrusting, compelling, and pulling us into the future of what the Lord has for us...

Sometimes we believe we have a vision from God, but in reality it may only be a fantasy. We may attend a seminar and begin comparing the vision we have for our business or church to another business person or pastor who seems to be more successful. Although it is extremely important to learn from others, it seems to me that many leaders fall into the trap of following the vision or good idea of another that has never been meant for them. It becomes more of a fantasy than a God-given vision...

My father, Harold Kreider, was an amazing man. He went to be with the Lord last evening after fighting a courageous battle with cancer during the past few months. LaVerne and I were with him when he passed from this life to the next. Here are just a few of the reasons why my father was so amazing...

Most of us hate conflict. But learning to respond to conflict in a healthy way is a key to our growth as a leader. Ken Sande, in his book, “The Peacemaker,” says, “As you evaluate your role in a conflict, it is helpful to clearly define the issues that separate you from other people. Conflicts generally involve two kinds of issues: material and personal...

Healthy communication is a key to effective leadership. Peter Drucker in his book, “The Effective Leader,” says it like this: “Communications have been in the center of managerial attention these last twenty years or more. In business, in public administration, in armed forces, in hospitals, in other words in all the major institutions of modern society, there has been great concern with communications. If communication is not clear, people will speculate and draw their own conclusions...

Coach John Wooden, who coached high school and college sports for more than forty years and whose teams won more than 80% of their games, claims a key to success is team spirit. “Team spirit,” says Wooden in his book Coach Wooden’s Pyramid of Success, “is a genuine consideration for others … an eagerness to sacrifice personal interests of glory for the welfare of all.”...