Ministry Burnout Can’t Be Ignored

(If you would like more great content like this sent directly to you, let us know here.) Being a pastor has been one of the highlights of my life. When I graduated from high school I attended a state university and studied history because I wanted to be a history teacher and a football coach. Toward …

Leveraging for Social Change

Change is equally prevalent in all aspects of life and has a tendency to not remain isolated to any one area, often times moving from one area to another and back again impacting the initial area in a different way (Vago, 2003). The temptation is to approach change with one of two different stances: the …

Advancement Against Human Trafficking

Slavery is alive and well around the globe. In the US, when we think of slavery we are still stuck in the 1800’s focused on the atrocity of our ancestors, however, this focus takes us away from paying attention to the slave trade that is thriving around the globe today. In modern times, though, we …

Wake Up Your Systems Thinking

System dynamics is not a disciple of a select group of people that is elusive for the mass majority of society. In fact, systems dynamics and systems thinking is basic processing of information that even children do. Children are natural system thinkers seeing beyond the linear solution to a problem, but finding the loopholes and …

Transcend Paradigms to Press Leverage Points

Attempting to become a systems thinker is challenging. Since life is a series of interconnected systems, and decisions are attempts of managing these systems, it makes sense to grow in understanding and proficiency of systems thinking. One of the most powerful tools of systems thinking is the use causal loop diagrams. Causal loop diagrams are …

Present With Confidence

Leading presentation of any kind can seem very overwhelming, particularly if you are not accustomed to speaking in front of people. Leading a workshop can create another layer of anxiety because it introduces unexpected interactions that can put a presented in a position of uncertainty. I would argue that a key element of any presentation, …