Rhythms of Leadership

"To be deeply formed for racial reconciliation means we must open ourselves to the truth that things we hate in others we also find in ourselves."--Rich Villodas, The Deeply Formed Life, p. 87Click HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

“How come pastors do not often deal with the 'issues beneath the issues'?  They do not because they are pastors and because they are people.  Pastors do not deal with the real issues because they are pastors, and they do not deal with the real issues because they are people."--Michael MacKenzie, Don't Blow Up Your Ministry, p. 71Click HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"Spiritual leadership is the power to change the atmosphere by one's presence, the unconscious influence that makes Christ and spiritual things real to others."--John Oswald SandersClick HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

“Jesus desires for his church to faithfully fulfill the call he has entrusted to them--even in a changing environment."--Mark Strong, Who Moved My Neighborhood?: Leading Congregations Through Gentrification and Economic Change, p. 17Click HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

“David's story reminds us that shepherding leaders are forged on the anvil of obscurity and refined in the crucible of visibility." --Tom Nelson, The Flourishing Pastor, p. 40Click HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

“False self is an identity based on what you have, what you do, and what others think about you. I am not what I do. I am not what I have. I am not what people think of me."--Basil Pennington (Trappist Monk)Click HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"In a post-Christian culture, we need less training on how to speak the gospel and more training on how to listen for the gospel longings in those around us."--Jon Ritner, Positively Irritating: Embracing a Post-Christian World to Form a More Faithful and Innovative Church, p. 64Click HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"Christianity in the Western world is often marginalized as a life accessory rather than the means of powerful life transformation."  (p. xiv)--Rich Villodas, The Deeply Formed Life: Five Transformative Values to Root Us in the Way of Jesus, p. xivClick HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"Telling creates resistance. Asking questions creates relationships."--Andrew Sobel, Power Questions: Build Relationships, Win New Business, and Influence OthersClick HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"My level of perfection doesn't determine my expertise.”--Jeff HolmesClick HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

“It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life.”Click HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

“Spiritual guidance in our day is a complicated subject and discipline that we seemingly have little time to consider. We are distracted by the frenetic pace of technology and the wide range of promises, from whiter teeth, better bodies, and faster cars, to more money, passionate love, and of course, a happier, more fulfilling life than our current everyday existence.”--Robin T. Jennings, The Door to Renewal: Spiritual Growth Through the Mind of St. Paul, p. 37. Click HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"Overcoming adaptive challenges requires shared leadership and 'sounding together,' because no single leader is smart enough to figure everything out alone."--Bryan Sims, Leading Together: The Holy Possibility of Harmony and Synergy in the Face of Change, p. 11Click HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

“Good reflection leads to action, and action is not completed until it has been reflected upon.”--Robert Schreiter, Constructing Local Theologies, p. 92Click HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

“It is important that when others are opening their griefs to us we discipline ourselves to be quiet.”  --Richard Foster, Celebration of DisciplineClick HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"Anything we do in the story of God becomes prayer."Click HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

“I'm learning to participate with things as they unfold, to expect to be surprised, to enjoy the mystery of it, and to surrender to what I don't know and can never know. I was well trained to create things – plans, policies, events, programs. It hasn't been easy to give up the role of master creator and move into the dance of life.”--Margaret Wheatly, Finding our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain TimeClick HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"The default by so many Christians toward earning their salvation by good works and dutiful church service has to be halted, and indeed, resisted.  For this reason, the followers of Jesus need to be re-gospeled on a regular basis." (p. 178)--Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch, ReJesus: Remaking the Church in Our Founder's Image, p. 178Click HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"A man who is travelling in a wrong direction, has all the trouble and gets none of the good."--Conferences of John CassianClick HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"It is time for those of us who are professional leaders in the local church to be humble enough to decenter ourselves from the life of the church and take up the call to equip every member to operate out of their gifts and calling."--Jon Ritner, Positively Irritating: Embracing a Post-Christian World to Form a More Faithful and Innovative Church, p. 48Click HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"A good leader is the cultural architect.  Leaders don't change everything in these complex contexts, but they do create the culture (environment) in which transformation becomes possible."--Bryan Sims, Leading Together: The Holy Possibility of Harmony and Synergy in the Face of Change, p. 14Click HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

“St. Peter grew in this grace and knowledge, and he was given the keys to the kingdom of heaven. One key that Peter holds out is the key of spiritual growth. This key is designed to fit and unlock our own hearts. It is the key that turns our life in Christ into a blessing—right now.” --Robin T. Jennings, May You Live in Christ: Spiritual Growth Through the Vision of St. Peter, p. 121Click HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"We must admit that both of us are somewhat obsessed with mission and what it means to be missional people.  But we both remain convinced that it is Christology that remains even more foundational and therefore the primary issue."--Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch, Re-Jesus: Remaking the Church in Our Founder's Image, p. 4Click HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

“Many capable people are kept from getting to the next level of contribution because they can't let go of the belief that everything is important. An Essentialist has learned to tell the difference between what is truly important and everything else.”--Greg McKeown, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of LessClick HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"Death reveals the self-annihilating quality of poverty in all its fullness. We slip away from ourselves entirely. Our freely fashioned destiny is concealed and taken out of our grasp. In the obedient and suffering acceptance of these depths of powerlessness, we are left with only the power of self-abandonment. At this point poverty comes to full achievement. Its meaning comes to full clarity in the cry of Jesus on the Cross: “Abba, into your hands I commit my Spirit” (Lk. 23:46)."--Johannes Baptist Metz, Poverty of Spirit, pp. 44-45Click HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"We don't worship the habits. Habits help us worship" --Sue DonaldsonClick HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"Kenosis is the means for Christian poverty alleviation."Rob Gailey, Development in MissionClick HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"Refusing to take the social location of the 'expert,' they rightly suggest that we think of ourselves as 'participant witnesses' rather than 'participant observer.'"--Mary McClintock Fulkerson, Lived Theology, pp. 118-119Click HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"When I was a young adult, I joined the Beatles in singing 'All you need is love.' For me, the words of the Beatles song have mellowed over the years, and I no longer sing but reflect on the words 'All you Need is God.'”--Robin Jennings, A Letter to the Church and the Next Generation: Spiritual Growth Through the Witness of James, p. 61Click HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"Subsequent religious tradition has by and large encouraged us to take the Bible seriously rather than to enjoy it, but the paradoxical truth of the matter may well be that by learning to enjoy the biblical stories more fully as stories, we shall also come to see more clearly what they mean to tell us about God, man, and the perilously momentous realm of history."--Robert AlterClick HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"Sadly, many majority culture Christians have lost the sense of strangeness inherent in their identity and called for by the Gospel message; they rather like their surroundings and want to keep the strangers out!"--Daniel CarrollClick HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"We argue that the ultimate aim of transformational development is to participate in the life and mission of God, and we contend that we do this by following the way of Jesus."--Rob Gailey, Development in MissionClick HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"Like a muscle that can be strengthened, we can train to see with eyes of compassion.  I try practicing this when I am walking down the street or am ina crowd.  I look into the face of each person and silently whisper, 'Child of God, may you be well.'  This interrupts my normal tendency to label and judge."--Mark Scandrette, The Ninefold Path of JesusClick HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

''Live a life to engage others, not make it all about you. We are not the hero. Jesus is the hero."--Bob GoffClick HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"I have found that when it comes to people's brokenness there is often a core belief (lie) that drives everything else.  It is like their thesis statement."--Michael MacKenzie, Don't Blow Up Your Ministry, p. 119Click HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"You can surely get through life without a developed sense of wonder, but you would lack certain sensibilities that enrich the texture of human existence."--Robert C. FullerClick HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"Winning isn't always learning; but learning is always winning."--Dan SullivanClick HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"People find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right."--Albus DumbledoreClick HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"All transformation begins with story transformation."--Ian Morgan Cron, The Story of YouClick HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

“There are no formulas—no definitive how-tos—for growth in the inner character of Jesus. Such growth is a way of relentless seeking. But there are many things we can do to place ourselves at the disposal of God, and ‘if with all our hearts we truly seek him, we shall surely find him' (Jeremiah 29:13 PAR). Or as the prophet Azariah said, ‘If you seek Him, He will let you find him' (2 Chronicles 15:2). We can count on his goodness.” --Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart, p. 94Click HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"The first task for any group that is immersed in an adaptive challenge is to discover for itself that change is necessary…."--Richard Pascale, Mark Milleman, and Linda Gioja, Surfing the Edge of ChaosClick HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"When a Christian leaders' identity is grounded in the love and the call of God, secure in believing that, even in this challenge, God is completing the good work within us and in our organizations, then identity, security, purpose, and meaning are assured even when we face failure, resistance, and rejection."--Tod Bolsinger, Tempered ResilienceClick HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"Develop the discipline of losing arguments… In a discussion where you are about 60% convinced, intentionally side with the 40%… why?… because when your leaders see that you don't have to win every singe battle, they will see that the church matters more than you."--Scot McKnight and Laura Barringer, A Church Called TovClick HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

“When we are alone and quiet we are afraid that something will be whispered in our ear, and so we hate the silence and drug ourselves with social life.” --Friedrich NietzsheClick HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"Proud people focus on the failures of others. Broken people are overwhelmed with a sense of their own spiritual need."--Nancy Leigh DeMossClick HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

“Yes, we have to find the courage to embrace our own brokenness, to make our most feared enemy into a friend, and to claim it as an intimate companion.  I am convinced that healing is often so difficult because we don't want to know the pain.” Henri Nouwen, Life of the Beloved, p. 93Related Rhythms of Leadership episodes:Ep 29: Believe the Truth About Yourself, with Brian RussellEp 31: Embracing Your False Self, with Markus WatsonRelated Spiritual Life and Leadershp episodes:Ep 10: Meeting God in the Darkest Places, Sermon on Jonah 2:1-10Ep 11: Discipleship and the Twelve Steps, with Kaye SchneiderEp 38: You Are God's Beloved, with Markus WatsonEp 121: Rewrite Your Story, with Ian Morgan CronClick HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

“The impostor must be called out of hiding, accepted, and embraced.  He is an integral part of my total self.”  Brennan Manning, Abba's ChildClick HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"Christians are reticent about telling God things that God presumably knows, though they are then oddly unrestrained about itemizing what God should do even though they recognize that God could work this out… [The Psalms] imply that if God can be provoked to act, God can be left to work out precisely what to do."--John GoldingayClick HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"Oh, God, help me believe the truth about myself no matter how beautiful it is."--Macrina WiederkehrClick HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

"Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on my a sinner."--The Jesus PrayerClick HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.

“The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.”--Mother TeresaClick HERE to download my free online course, "Leading Your Church Through Change." Or go to markuswatson.com/leadchange.