The Mission Central Blog
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Earlier this week I led a team training on the StrengthsFinder assessment, a popular tool for discovering and naming personality strengths. The assessment is based on the work of Don Clifton, a psychologist whose ideas on leadership have proved so influential that they are now commonplace. Clifton argued that, instead of trying to shore up weaknesses, people should focus on working and leading from their strengths. There’s more than
Sometimes, life is disappointing. Lately, I learned that one of my high school friends just got divorced. Most of the children of a pastor influential in my childhood are hostile to the Lord. And if I lose my stainless-steel straw anytime in the next year, I might as well have been using plastic the whole time. I aired
In just a few weeks, I will marry the most beautiful woman in the world. Sophia Smith can laugh without words. When she smiles with her eyes, a room rings reminiscent of sleigh bells on Christmas; wonder of wonders, I hear it said, “this gift is for you.” But of course, it
When you think of the marketplace giants in the nineteenth century, few people loom as large as John D. Rockefeller. His company, Standard Oil, serves as the foundation of our modern anti-trust legislation, the set of laws that exist to prevent the creation of monopolies and regulate anti-competitive business behavior. And yet, for all his ruthlessness in business, Rockefeller also considered himself a devout Christian.
When I was a teenager, I read Mark Cahill’s One Thing You Can’t Do in Heaven. The title of the book refers to evangelism: In heaven, there won’t be anyone who doesn’t know Jesus to share the good news with. The time to change lives for eternity is now! Despite Cahill’s winsome
You’re on the treadmill doing some light cardio to finish off a Tuesday morning workout next to your believing gym-buddy Melissa. Chatting about plans for the weekend, Melissa comments, “Lent starts on Monday.” “Lent?” you repeat, bemused. “Yes, for the Orthodox, Lent starts on a Monday,” she says. “You’re probably used to
Soft sunlight flooding your room at the crack of dawn whispers the fresh promises of a new day. The trees slowly stir and dance for joy as the wind jostles their branches; they clap as the sun rises, awakening the dawn with silent swayings of joy. “Out of Zion, the perfection of