ShepherdLeader.com

I love your metaphor. How wonderful it is for us to know the shepherd who leads even though we do not necessarily know at any particular time where he is leading. How wonderful also to have the mind of Christ. Like a bride who knows her betrothed and waits eagerly and expectantly for his return, we ...

Sacrificial death of self manifests itself in strange and unforeseen ways. As I prayed for a friend this morning I envisioned that person struggling with understanding and reconciling personal difficulties that have come with the faith and willingness to step out in obedience to God and lay his life...

I just finished writing a mini commentary on the cultural and historical background for the parable of the teaching on the cost of discipleship from Luke 14:25-35. It is a project to go along with the video clips from the Luke video, for oral learners, something I am doing for our Vernacular Media S...

O can I ever relate to that! I was an only daughter among four brothers...and then became the black sheep of the family. I got so lost that the Lord himself came to find me and direct me apart from any other person or church. Now I am the only Christian in my family ( though those in my family lay c...

Thanks for your reminder and definition regarding imagination. Having come from the 60's drug culture I tend to define imagination as the antithesis to reality. Yet living in God's reality is certainly another world.I recently took a personality test that asked about whether I was imaginative (I had...

This morning I was reminded that sometimes the places in our lives can be so overwhelming, so crushing, that all we can do is pluck at the 'notes' or bang away in frustration. Maybe even simply stare at the instrument and remain paralyzed and numb at the prospects of where we are in life. Remember, ...

Home - to me that conjures up the idea of stability. We (my family) have not lived in the same house at any one period for more that four years since 1989. We've lived in three different houses since 2004 and will be moving again in another two months. 'Home' is wherever we happen to be, transient a...

R.C. Sproul's publication, Tabletalk, had an interesting reading for today. Apparently diplomas are often referred to as "sheepskins" because this is what they were originally printed on. Dr. James Montgomery Boice noticed the irony in Jesus' warning about wolves in sheepskins. Many high l...

This chapter was a wonderful exhortation to each of us to employ all three methods of leading in our leadership. Jesus is our perfect example: sometimes leading us tenderly by our side, sometimes straightforward, ahead of us, and sometimes pushing us beyond what we thought we were capable of, from b...

I was recently working on some background info in Luke 12:35-48, the parable of the coming of the Son of Man. Having just read the first chapter of While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks (for the third time), and thinking about the importance of having faithful, responsible, mature, leaders in the churc...

All this talk of what we ought to be feeding the flock and the fact that in so many 'seeker' churches the 'food' is easy to reach and partly digested, and the problem with getting people to reach for and seek the food that is nutritious reminds me of what Jesus said in John 6:53-58. His words drove ...

What a good point. It reminds me that even Peter was called 'Satan' when he mistepped his bounds with the Lord. I do think we are all capable of morphing at one time or another. Obviously we play the part of shepherd and sheep - we may step out of bounds and become as a wolf, also, if we are not car...

As I listened to my son working on a piece of music for classical guitar it occurred to me that our flocks, like our own lives, are similar to music. Like a complicated piece of music written specifically for us we learn to respond/play through most of it well. But some sections are rough because we...

As a mother, daughter, wife I am encouraged and challenged by the idea of providing "greener pastures" and a safe non intimidating place for those who are under my charge and who look to me for provision. Am I providing a safe place for my family? Do I take the time to address each individ...