Mankind is Made for Conflict

Conflict theory argues that social behavior can best be understood in terms of the tension and conflict that arises between individuals and groups in pursuit of their individual ideologies and agendas (Vago, 2003). Many times these conflicts revolve around scarce commodities, and the pursuit is change rather than order, and social change is the process …

Change for God’s Sake

In his 1978 song Everything Must Change, Benard Ighnar takes a look at change with a longing sadness as "the young become old and mysteries do unfold". For those of us who are in ministry leadership, it is easy for us to lament the challenges we face when trying to motivate church attenders to embrace …

Social Theory from God’s Perspective

Social change is a fact of life that we must have a proper understanding of if we are to maintain a Kingdom mindset in line with God’s plan for our lives. Bishop and Hines (2012) propose 10 different theories of social change and depending on our culture of origin, or the culture we identify with, we …

Capitalism Only Half-Baked

When I was a junior in high school I took a missions trip to Belarus, which was a part of the former Soviet Union. I was impacted greatly by the differences between a socialist/communist world and a capitalist world. For the first time in my young life, I understood the rewards of living in a …

Egotism of Ministry Leaders

The world of ministry leadership can be rather confusing. There is a constant tension between utilizing charisma and battling egotism that many ministry leaders lose. Over the last thirty years, there has been a long list of reported ministry leaders allowing their charisma to cross over to egotism which has led to some very destructive …

Leading From Love

To embark on a journey to be a leader is to venture down a road of discovery to understand the fine line between influence and fear. Every individual is familiar with both and susceptible to both, but most have a tendency to respond to fear more readily and with greater commitment. Leaders learn this very …