Category: Leadership

1/22/2026 0 Comments

I Have Observed

I remember, as an eighteen-year-old, living with my aunt and uncle in Coeur ‘d Alene, Idaho, who graciously took me into their home while I awaited my move to New York to attend West Point. Norm let me drive his Ford Ranchero and paid me to move pipes and water his crops. Whenever I got in a bind, he would flash his trademark Norwegian grin, which could be translated as “You are such an idiot.” I felt like a little kid in his presence. Given my mechanical stupidity, I’m sure he wondered how I would ever make it in an engineering school. Had it not been for God’s help and classmates like Kevin Stewart, who spent hours tutoring me, I would never have survived the Academy, and I wonder what would have become of my life. Wondering can be a healthy exercise in appreciating God’s sovereignty. This surely must have been the case for one of the world’s greatest leaders.

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9/10/2025 0 Comments

Tender

Meditation
2 Kings 22:18-20--Say this to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the Lord: This is what the Lord God of Israel says: As for the words that you heard, because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and because you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I Myself have heard you—this is the Lord’s declaration—therefore, I will indeed gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster that I am bringing on this place.’”

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7/18/2025 1 Comment

Leadership: Weak Versus Strong

The Biblical book of 2 Samuel, chapters 15-19, provides a clear contrast between a weak leader (Absalom) and a strong leader (David). Recently, I shared what I learned from this study with a group of leaders who meet weekly to encourage one another in their faith. As it is self-explanatory, I have included it below for your reference with minimal comments. Notice that both weak and strong leaders sin and make mistakes.

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6/12/2025 0 Comments

He Couldn't Handle Success

Have you ever known someone who had the traits of likeability, kindness, and concern for others until they were promoted or achieved some recognized measure of success? The person you thought you knew is now impatient, less approachable, defensive, self-absorbed, and uninterested in your life and the lives of others. You try to imagine what happened to make this person so different.

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2/25/2025 0 Comments

Crafting Circles Not Cliques

Todd Foreman

My West Point classmate Todd Foreman is the most generous person I know in helping those around him, whether they be friends, coworkers, family, or those who are underprivileged, disabled, neglected, or hurting. Todd has a soft spot in his heart that is bigger than the state of Texas, where he resides. Sometimes, to his detriment, he puts the needs of others before his own needs in keeping with the Apostle Paul’s admonition, “Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3,4). Todd is a make-the-circle-bigger kind of leader.

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1/14/2025 0 Comments

Reframing

West Point classmate Paul Mango shared about an address delivered by the Israeli Prime Minister to a group of McKinsey partners. “Leadership is NOT about being on top; it’s about being out in front.” This observation reframed the audience’s perspective on leading. Paul went on to note:
This metaphor unlocks a leader’s thinking in that it absolves him of the burden of having either all the answers or having to always know more than his team. Instead, the leader “out in front” ensures his team has the resources, information, and support needed to develop breakthrough ideas with guidance and input from the leader. Giving the team the combination of resources and accountability energizes and liberates the team and leads to superior outcomes.

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9/24/2024 0 Comments

On a Quest

Have you ever felt like you were on a journey to nowhere? Does life seem unfulfilling and taxed by unnecessary hardship? Do you find that what you thought would be meaningful is meaningless or empty? Imagine how the Israelites felt as they were exiled from their land by the Assyrians and Babylonians. Their lives revolved around loss, shame, and suffering. God told them, “You will be delivered by returning and resting; your strength will lie in quiet confidence. But you are not willing” (Isaiah 30:14). Like most people, the Israelites believed that they could solve problems and live however they wanted. God restored them to a worthwhile life only when they came to the end of themselves and recognized and renounced the evil of their rebellion.

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7/15/2024 3 Comments

Assassination Attempt

The report was shocking. How did Thomas Crooks get into a line-of-sight position after being spotted by local Trump supporters and then fire off multiple shots, killing former fire chief Corey Comperatore and critically wounding others while grazing the ear of his intended target, former president Donald Trump?[1] But for an inch . . . had the Secret Service been more vigilant, Crooks might have been neutralized before shooting anyone. But for an inch . . . Trump could have died. But for an inch . . . an entire nation might have experienced gargantuan turmoil.

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6/5/2024 1 Comment

Humiliated

Chester* and his team of five saw that their boss, Attila, was in trouble. Without consulting his managers, Attila hastily overcommitted his company to fill an order of 1000 Demoplastique to a client with zero patience for lateness. Attila’s company experienced 600% growth since COVID and shipped to over 120 countries. Lately, however, they had more orders than they could fill in time, and a missed deadline with BroadStar could result in a slew of lawsuits because their CEO was a cutthroat, unforgiving leader.

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5/11/2023 1 Comment

Repetition

A Russian proverb says, “Repetition is the mother of learning.” Zig Ziglar noted, “Repetition is the mother of learning, the father of action, which makes it the architect of accomplishment.” Great leaders are masters of repetition and recognize it as a tool for more effective leading.

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4/20/2023 1 Comment

The Critical Importance of Mentoring

Will is a senior at Liberty University and a member of the Army ROTC program. He will commission as an officer in less than a month. I was blessed when he asked me to help him create a sponsorship program for their ROTC department. In this case, sponsors are older men or women who have served in the military as senior officers or NCOs and who are willing to be mentors to any of the cadets who would like to be paired with them to meet and learn and become better prepared to serve as officers. With the help of four mature individuals I was able to recruit, we shared with several cadets who came out on a Monday evening to learn about the critical importance of mentoring.

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3/8/2023 4 Comments

Land of Cabul

Hiram, the king of Tyre, provided King Solomon with all the cedar and cypress logs, and gold, he desired for his construction projects. His servants cut the timber and then assembled the logs into rafts to transport down the Mediterranean Sea to Israel. His fleets brought goods like almug wood and precious stones from distant lands. In return, Solomon yearly provided Hiram with 100,000 bushels of wheat and 110,000 gallons of olive oil (5:8-11). After 20 years of this cooperative effort, Solomon gave Hiram twenty towns in Galilee.

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1/14/2023 8 Comments

Navigating the Christian Life

Author Geoff Davis

Over forty years ago, on April 1, 1982, I pinned on a US Army Ranger Tab. When I began that program on February 2, 1982, I started with some of the Army’s best soldiers. God used it as one of the most formative lessons in my walk with Him, so that I might know Him better.

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12/6/2022 2 Comments

The Best Message Never Preached

Dan with Ralph Holland

Ralph was invited to preach by pastors who had seen his television program broadcast throughout Latin America. Two pastors met him at the airport and took him to the venue—an auditorium full of worshipers. As the service progressed, the host pastor asked Ralph to be finished preaching by 9:00 p.m. so people who required public transportation could make the last bus. Two groups provided music and even played some of the same songs. An offering was taken, and the person facilitating it decided to preach a short message and then had one of the bands come up and play yet another song. By the time Ralph was introduced to speak it was 8:55!

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8/26/2022 1 Comment

Give Us a King!

The old prophet Samuel’s sons were wicked, and the elders of Israel were not about to have them lead the nation. So, they visited Samuel at his home in Ramah and demanded he appoint a king to be their judge and leader, just like all the surrounding nations (1 Samuel 8:4,5).

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8/19/2022 1 Comment

Reproduction

My dad loves to teach the men he is discipling the five steps in training a man (applicable to men and women):
1. Tell them why they should follow Christ—Matthew 4:19.
2. Show them how to follow Christ—John 14:21.
3. Get them started in following Christ—Luke 9:23.
4. Keep them going as it relates to following Christ—John 15:4.
5. See that they pass it on . . . reproduce what they have learned—Mark 6:7,12.
Let’s focus on the fifth step establishing that training effectively occurred.

1 Comment

6/12/2022 1 Comment

Followership

Across the planet, leadership is a relevant and popular topic. It is heavily researched and widely championed from the time we are children to the end of our lives. But when was the last time you heard a school teacher, a CEO, a pastor, or a manager tout the benefits of being a follower and place that emphasis on equal footing with promoting leaders? “Followership is a process whereby an individual or individuals accept the influence of others to accomplish a common goal.”[1] It is not a term we hear mentioned often yet it is a very important concept.

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5/7/2022 0 Comments

Buried Like a Donkey

Meditation
Jeremiah 22:18,19--Therefore, this is what the Lord says concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah: They will not mourn for him, saying, “Woe, my brother!” or “Woe, my sister!” They will not mourn for him, saying, “Woe, lord! Woe, his majesty!” He will be buried like a donkey, dragged off and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem

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4/13/2022 1 Comment

Protecting Boundaries

Jed, Samantha, and Rob work for a nonprofit organization that helps military veterans. They mostly love what they do, but they struggle immensely with the poor manner in which their organization is run. Their leader flips from one project to the next, often pulling them to work on a new requirement with no advance notice. They feel jerked around by the tyranny of what is most urgent—a reoccurring pattern that is not well thought through. Decisions are sometimes made for them in areas where they are subject matter experts without seeking their input or advice. They feel unheard and underappreciated. They are emotionally and physically exhausted because there are no work boundaries or protected times for them to rest and relax.

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2/10/2022 0 Comments

The Bad Leader

We have all experienced them—leaders, who exhibit selfishness in the midst of a crisis. One of the reasons why I believe the Bible is the greatest book on leadership is the plethora of examples of good and bad leaders. So let’s look at a man who shows us what not to do.

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