Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

If you have kids (even if you don’t), the morning can be crazy. You stayed up too late watching that last episode on Netflix or the game, hit the snooze button too much, and now you are racing out the door, throwing lunches together, and stuffing breakfast into your mouth.

There is a lot at stake in what we do with our mornings. The most productive people maximize their mornings.

Here’s the reality: If you don’t make the most of your morning, you will feel behind all day.

If you don’t make the most of your morning, you will feel behind all day.
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If your morning determines your day, how do you make the most of it?

Here are six ideas:

6 ways to make the most of your morning.
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1. Get up before everyone. If you want to make the most of your morning, whether single, married, or have kids, you must get up before everyone else. It would help if you were up before people started sending you texts and emails.

Something happens in the quietness of a morning when it is still dark out.

I know you are exhausted and not a morning person. I get it.

When we started our church, I would work late into the night because I hated the mornings, but the reality is that most people do their best work and best thinking in the morning. I certainly do. 

There is a definite difference in my day when I am up before everyone else and when I am not.

Parents know this truth because they feel behind if they wake up when their kids do.

2. Pick a spot. The place is vital to many people, particularly when it comes to focusing on your heart. Choosing a location you return to each morning to recharge, focus, and pray is essential.

This might be a porch, a spot in your room, or a favorite chair.

Wherever it is, don’t simply make this haphazard. Choose a spot that will help to quiet you and focus your heart.

The consistency of a spot and place will signal in your mind that it is time to relax, think, and connect with Jesus. This becomes a very powerful part of maximizing your time.

3. Read/Journal. Focusing on your day will often come through feeding your soul first.

For me, it is spending time reading my Bible. Being able to have space to read, process, and write down what God is doing in your heart and mind is critical.

What things stand out to you while reading your Bible? Write them down.

Many people find a lot of relief from getting their thoughts and feelings out of their minds and onto paper. This is often a great stress reliever but also a place to leave something behind. You can also track what you are praying for and when those prayers are answered.

4. Pray/Think. In the busyness of life, especially with kids, if you want to have time to pray and think in silence, you will have to carve it out. This is why you need to get up before everyone else. If you want quiet, you have to make it happen. Quiet does not magically find you.

Quiet does not magically find you; you must plan it.
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If you are a leader, this is very important.

Part of your job as a leader is thinking and praying about what is next for your organization, church, and family. As a parent, you must believe and pray about what is next for your marriage and your kids.

Recently, an older leader challenged me on this and said, “Josh, if you don’t spend time thinking and praying about what is next for your church, who do you think is?”

5. Tackle your most challenging task first. If you’ve noticed, you haven’t done any work yet. For many people, you might be wondering when you start being productive.

But I would say that all of the above will bring greater productivity and success.

As you think through your day, do what takes the most mental energy, the most challenging task that will move the ball the furthest in your life and career, first.

For many pastors and me, this is sermon prep, not a meeting or a counseling session. Tackle the tasks that are not only hard but move the ball furthest in your life or work.

6. Turn on the electronics. Notice: This is last; depending on how long everything else took you, it might be until lunchtime before you check email, Facebook, or Instagram. That isn’t bad (unless your boss would be mad at you about checking your email that late, which is a different topic). Side note, if your boss doesn’t like that, have a conversation about how you can be more productive if you don’t check your email first thing in the morning.

Why does that help?

An email has a way of hijacking your day and brain. It sidetracks you. I don’t check my email on sermon prep mornings until I am done. It keeps my head clear.

6 ideas to make the most of your morning.
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In reality, no one else is responsible for making you successful, effective, or productive. You are. If you aren’t, as much as we don’t want to admit it, that is often on us.

Take control of what you can control.

The post How to Make the Most of Your Morning Routine appeared first on JoshuaReich.org.

Every week when a pastor preaches, they talk about the sin that binds the people in their church, the idols they battle, the lies they quickly fall into, and the truth of Jesus that frees them and destroys sin and death.

Pastors, by and large, often struggle to apply this same medicine to their sins.

Pastors, by and large, often struggle to apply the gospel they preach to their sin.
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Much of the identity and idols that pastors fall into are residing in what happens on a Sunday morning at church. High attendance, strong giving, and loud singing were good days. A pastor will float through Sunday night, post about all that God did on Instagram, and wake up ready to charge hell on Monday morning.

Low attendance, a down week in giving, few laughs, and no one sings, and the pastor will go home, look at social media, get jealous of the megachurch down the road, wake up Monday morning ready to resign, and get another job.

The difference between the two examples?

The heart of the pastor.

Over the years as a pastor, I’ve ridden this roller coaster more than I’d like to admit. It is easy to do.

So, how do you handle this as a pastor? How do you protect your heart?

5 ways to protect your heart as a pastor.
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1. Keep Sundays in perspective. What happens and what you feel as a pastor on a Sunday morning can be misleading. Just because it felt great doesn’t mean that it was. I’m amazed at how many times I feel like a sermon was so-so, and the response from people is, “That is exactly what I needed to hear.” And how many times do I get off the stage thinking I preached my greatest sermon, and no one says anything.

While Sunday matters, it does not tell the whole story of what God is doing in the life of your church or its people.

2. Be cautious about what you see on social media. A friend of mine who is revitalizing a church called me and said, “It’s so hard to watch the megachurch down the road baptize more people on Easter than we had in attendance.” And that’s a real struggle.

Be cautious about what you follow on social media and when you look at it. If you are exhausted and feeling down on Sunday night, Instagram may not be the best spot for your soul.

Another thing to remember is percentages. This is important. Every pastor would say that every life matters, but when you see thousands getting baptized or a massive move of God, it is hard not to feel jealous or inferior. But a megachurch and a church plant are not the same, just like the small start-up isn’t the same as Amazon. For example, if a church of 5,000 baptized 80 people on Easter, that is incredible, but they baptized 1.6% of their church. If your church of 250 baptized 10, that is 4%. Yes, they both matter the same, but, and this may seem silly to you, percentages have helped me to keep things in perspective when my heart gets out of line.

3. Celebrate what God does in the church down the road or across the country. The flip side of this coin is essential. Celebrate what God is doing in other churches, don’t despise it. Don’t say, “They must be watering down the gospel; that’s why they’re growing.” Just celebrate with them, and thank God for how His Spirit is at work.

Learn to celebrate what God is doing in other churches.
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4. Make sure you do something life-giving on Sunday or Monday. Many pastors, when they get home on Sundays, are entirely spent. While it is exhilarating, it is also exhausting to preach, counsel, pray with others, and often leave church shouldering the people’s burdens in your church. That is part of what a pastor does. But in that, you must make sure that you refill your tank.

Too many pastors go home and sit down in front of the TV or scroll on their phones. While there is a place for this, you need to schedule some life-giving things for you.

We try to take a long walk on Sunday afternoon to get outside and move our bodies. Some reading time or a family game, and one of our practices on many Sunday evenings is to have another family or friends over for dinner.

Whatever is life-giving for you, a hobby, exercise, community, reading, do that on Sunday or Monday. Refill yourself after pouring so much out.

Pastors, refill yourself after Sundays.
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5. Spend time with Jesus and friends. Friends and community are critical. And many pastors struggle with this. And I get it. It can be hard to have close friends within your church because you are always the pastor to them. It can be worked through, but you need friends, whether in your church or outside.

It would help if you refilled your soul after pouring it on a Sunday. On Mondays, make sure you spend time alone with Jesus and read a book that fills your soul that isn’t related to sermon prep. Grow yourself.

If recent studies are any indication (and I think they are), it will continue to be a challenge to be a pastor.

You must make protecting your heart a priority.

5 ways to stay in the pastoral ministry.
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The post The Things that Sneak into the Heart of a Pastor appeared first on JoshuaReich.org.

Recently, our family had to quarantine again because of being exposed to covid, and a few of our kids tested positive with covid.

When covid first started, the idea of quarantine sounded nice. Staying home, meetings on zoom.

But then, once you are in it, the reality of being at home, alone, sets in. Eventually, you run out of things to read, things to watch, and things to do. You are reminded how much you crave connection with people. How much we need others and how much we enjoy the routines of life.

Here’s why this matters so much: Loneliness has reached epidemic proportions. Even before covid, but I think that covid has exasperated it.

Recently, in researching a sermon, I came across these stats:

• 1 out of every 4 Americans says they are always lonely or lacking friends.
• 50% say no one knows them well.
• More than half a million people under 40 haven’t left their house in the last 6 months in Japan. That is incredible. That was before covid!
• With social media, on-demand TV, door dash, uber eats, we can stay in.

In fact, researchers have found that this increased loneliness in our culture, especially among students, leads to an increased sense of life that is meaningless and devoid of purpose.

As a parent, I’ve spent a good bit of time researching relationships, social media, phones, and loneliness as I help my kids interact with others and prepare for the future.

The effects of phones and social media on teenagers.
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Do you know, the younger you are, the more likely you are to suffer from loneliness and not be truly present?

According to Sherry Turkle, a professor at MIT (so not against technology), in her book Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age, this happens for several reasons:

• Studies show the rise of social media, people getting a phone younger and younger, has led to an increase in loneliness, an inability to hold a conversation and be present with others.
• For the first time, our whole lives are seen on a screen through social media. Every embarrassing thing we’ve done will show up as a Facebook memory.
• The typical cellphone user touches his or her phone 2,617 time every day. That’s the average. The extreme is as high as 5,000 times a day.
• When Turkle’s research team asked teenagers and young adults why they are on their phones at mealtimes while sitting at the table with others, do you know the number one answer? My parents did it.

And what is fascinating about our culture is how we can be alone in a crowd, because of our phones. Turkle said, “Remember the power of your phone. It’s not an accessory. It’s a psychologically potent device that changes not just what you do but who you are. Don’t automatically walk into every situation with a device in hand: When going to our phones is an option, we find it hard to turn back to each other, even when efficiency or politeness would suggest we do just that. The mere presence of a phone signals that your attention is divided, even if you don’t intend it to be. It will limit the conversation in many ways: how you’ll listen, what will be discussed, the degree of connection you’ll feel. Rich conversations have difficulty competing with even a silent phone. To clear a path for conversation, set aside laptops and tablets. Put away your phone.”

So, how do we handle quarantine and our phones?

While some people will throw their phones away or get off social media, and if that’s you, that is great.

But we need to set some limits. In the same way that we set screen time limits for our kids, we need to do the same.

How to use your phone during covid.
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Here are a few ideas:

• The next time you think of texting someone, call them or facetime them.
• Read your bible before you look at your phone, email, or social media.
• Turn your phone off an hour before bed and read a book. This will help your mind to relax and prepare to sleep.
• Take a walk without your phone.

This is a hard time but can also be a great time for connection if we are intentional about it.

How to be more intentional with your phone and social media.
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The post Phones, Loneliness and Our Deep Need to Connect appeared first on JoshuaReich.org.

It feels like more and more our culture is becoming more and more divisive.

Whether it is politics, religion, sexuality, race. Everyone has a take, an opinion and we shout it as loud as we can from every corner of our lives and social media.

One of the saddest things for me is watching the way Christians interact not only with each other but also with people they disagree with who don’t follow Jesus.

It’s an easy trap to fall into and one I’ve fallen into more times than I’d like to admit.

Christians and social media.
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Right now, I’m preaching through the book of Daniel and I’ve been struck by the friendship that Daniel has with the kings in the book.

It’s important to understand Daniel’s heart and view of his life. We are told again and again how everything falls under the rule and reign of Jesus:

… to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. Daniel 4:17

… till you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. -Daniel 4:25

… that you know that Heaven rules. -Daniel 4:26

… until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. -Daniel 4:32

… for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’ -Daniel 4:34 – 35

Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven. -Daniel 4:37

This is crucial because one of the reasons Christians shout as much as we do is because we often see social media or government as more powerful than Jesus.

Christians often see social media or government as more powerful than Jesus.
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King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and it troubled him, so he called on Daniel.

The king told him the dream: I saw a high tree in the middle of the earth. It grew strong and its top reached to the heaven and the whole earth could see it. It was beautiful and its fruit was abundant and you could see it anywhere on the earth. People fed on it, birds lived in it, animals stayed under its shade. Then a watcher came heaven, a holy one, and he told me to chop down the tree, its branches, take off its leaves, scatter the fruits. Let the animals scatter. And to leave the stump.

In verse 19 of Daniel, were told that Daniel was dismayed and his thoughts alarmed him.

How to disagree on social media.
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He did not want to tell the king what it meant.

And the king sensed this so he told him, “Tell me what it means, don’t be alarmed and don’t keep silent.”

Before telling him the dream, Daniel tells the king that he wishes the dream and its interpretation were for the king’s enemies, for someone else.

This is important in our culture today because many people who claim to follow Jesus or more interested in being right than being loving.

In the gospels, were told that Jesus wept over the people who didn’t love God.

On social media, do you weep over the people who don’t know Jesus or do you find yourself trying to figure out how to win a fight or pick one? In your family, does it break your heart the people who don’t know Jesus or do you have contempt for them?

Too often our attitude is we’re glad we know Jesus and want others to know how sinful they are, how wrong they are, how superior we are morally more than we want them to know that Jesus loves them.

Here’s a question: Are you more interested in being right or helping people find life in Jesus?

With this heart, Daniel tells him the interpretation of the dream:

The tree is the king himself, whose greatness has grown and dominion now reaches the end of the earth.

But the tree is chopped down. Which means the king and his kingdom.

But the stump stayed, the roots stayed so there is hope he will grow again.

Only we don’t know how long.

The king was driven from his kingdom and made to eat grass like an ox, his body was wet with dew, his hair grew as long as eagles feathers and his nails were like the claws of birds; so that he would know that God rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whoever he chooses.

The king is learning, what we need to know, all things in our lives fall under the rule of Jesus.

Again, this is a crucial lesson for Christians in our culture.

Daniel’s heart is for this king. They may have been friends at this point.

How to engage lovingly on social media.
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Daniel is a great reminder of the kind of heart we are to have towards those over us, those we disagree with and those who make life difficult for us.

The post Christians, Social Media and Having a Caring Heart appeared first on JoshuaReich.org.

It’s the weekend…finally. The perfect time to grab a cup of coffee and catch up on some reading. Below, you’ll find some articles I came across this week that I found helpful as a leader and parent and hope you do as well.

Before diving into those, in case you missed them this week. Here are the top 3 posts from my blog this week that I hope you find helpful:

• How to Recover from Preaching
• When You Preach a Bad Sermon
• How You Know You are Being Divisive (And Sinning)

Now, onto the articles I came across that I hope will help you:

Trevin Wax shares The Boy Scouts and the Disappearance of Paths as they’ve recently announced they will now allow girls to join the boy scouts. As my kids have gotten older, we’ve talked more and more about paths, passages, etc., which I think are crucial for kids and something that is lost in our culture.

Hiring is difficult for most pastors and leaders. Marty Duren has 15 questions to ask a potential hire at your church. Many of these are normal ones most churches ask, but there were a few that were new to me.

I’ve mentioned before that Katie and I have been spending a lot of time talking about technology and the role it plays in our family and with our kids. I’ve really appreciate the insights from Jon Acuff on this and he shares The first social media challenge your kids will face, that is incredibly insightful.

I’m reading Sam Storms new book Practicing the Power: Welcoming the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in Your Life, which has been incredibly helpful. He wrote a post this week about the relationship between Jesus and the Holy Spirit that is great and I think a very overlooked part of Christianity. 

I have a daughter and so dating is something I’ve been thinking about and how I prepare her for it. Most of what Christians, especially dad’s have to say on the topic is ridiculous and fear based. With good reason, but that’s why I appreciated this article from Jen Wilkin on On Daughters and Dating: How to Intimidate Suitors. I love how she champions raising a strong woman. We need more of that, not less.

The post Links for Leaders 11/3/17 appeared first on JoshuaReich.org.

My elders have been kind enough to give me a longer summer preaching break than normal this year. Because of that I won’t be posting anything new on my blog until July 6th (at which time I’ll be back with some great new stuff for you), so that we can rest, recharge and enjoy some time as a family. I’ll also be posting less on social media, but I’ll be posting fun pictures of our adventures on Instagram.

In the meantime, here are some of the most recent top posts on my blog to keep you company until I get back:

Healthy Marriage

• How to Keep Your Marriage Special
• Why Dating is Easy and Marriage is Hard
• How Your Past Affects Your Marriage
• How to Enjoy Your Marriage
• 10 Questions You Should Ask Your Spouse This Summer
• 18 Things Every Husband Should Know About His Wife

Healthy Church

• Church Growth and the Work of God
• Two Overlooked Parts of Church Growth
• How to Build a Healthy Elder Team
• How Leadership Capacity Affects the Growth and Health of a Church
• How to Create a Leadership Growth Plan

Healthy Leadership

• How to Lose Weight as a Leader
• Loving Relationships
• How to Recover from Preaching
• The Weight of Leadership and Leading a Team
• Being a Pastor’s Wife

Healthy Faith

• How to Grow in Holiness
• Family Devotions, Praying Together as a Couple, Train Wrecks, and the Grace to Move Forward
• The God of Psalm 23
• How to Ask God for Help
• How to Trust God When It’s Hard to Trust God
• How God Turns Guilt and Shame into Joy

Healthy Preaching

• When You’re Stuck in Sermon Prep
• 1 Way to Prepare a Sermon
• The Pressure of Preaching
• How to Recover from Preaching

If you’re curious about what I’m reading this summer, here you go (and yes, Katie and I take a suitcase of books on vacation):

For you book worms out there. Here’s what I’m taking on summer vacation (yes @katiereichphotos and I take a suitcase of books on vacation for us and our kids) & what I have left on my book list for the year. We’ll see if I get through them! What are you excited to read this summer? Have you read any of these?

A post shared by Josh Reich (@joshua_reich) on May 22, 2017 at 12:50pm PDT

Have a great summer!

The post Summer Vacation Here I Come! appeared first on JoshuaReich.org.

Recently I heard an older pastor say that the most important thing to do on vacation and sabbath is to not be productive. As a leader, this is not only hard, but also one of the most important things to keep in mind.

The most important thing to do on vacation and sabbath is to not be productive.
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It isn’t decisions, meetings, counseling or preaching that tires me out (although that can do it sometimes), but it is the production of things. The pressure (real or imagined) that I feel to produce something, to prepare something.

To be productive.

How do you stop producing and rest? How can you take a weekend off? How do you turn your mind off from it? From the pressure, the deadlines?

I’ll be honest. On a weekly basis (when I’m trying to take my sabbath day), this is my biggest struggle. I can survive without social media and email, but it is stopping myself from thinking about work. Being willing to not read a book for a sermon or for leadership and just stop producing.

I feel guilty about it.

But it is necessary and important to your health as a leader, to your family and to your church.

Here are 5 things I’ve learned that might be helpful for you this weekend and on your next vacation:

1. Decide ahead of time what unproductive will mean and entail. This might sound counterintuitive, but the first step to being unproductive is to be productive. Set yourself up to succeed.

If you are married, sit down with your spouse and ask them, “If I was unproductive for a weekend, a week, two weeks, a month, what would that mean? What would we do?” One reason leaders struggle to rest is the constant movement of ministry and leadership. It is addicting. As much as my heart, mind and body need a break from preaching, when I do take a break I get antsy and have a hard time functioning. That is not only a sign that I need it, but it’s also a sign that I have some heart work to do around that.

To be truly unproductive, you must decide what that will mean.
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For me, here are some things that being unproductive means: no blogging or writing, no leadership or theology books (I read spy novels or historical books on vacation), sleeping in (or letting Katie sleep in), taking naps, extended game time with my kids, extended time with friends.

Answer this simple question: What would refresh me and recharge me? Are there certain people who will do that? Spend time with them.

Too many pastors work on vacation and prepare for upcoming things (you need to plan that for a different time). Your weekend or vacation is for refreshment, recharging and reconnecting with your family in a different way.

2. Set yourself up for success. If you don’t decide ahead of time, you’ll end up coming back for the fall exhausted.

One of the things we’ve done in years past is for me to take a one or two night retreat at a monastery before we go away. Leaders have a way of crashing at the start of vacation. I’d rather do this alone than crash on my family. It starts your time off on the right foot.

If you are tired of church or have a hard time going to church without thinking about your church (which happens more than you think), take a Sunday off and sleep in. Watch a podcast (but not for ministry purposes).

The bottom line is, if you know and have decided how to be unproductive, it makes it easier to reach it. It increases the likelihood of resting and recharging.

One of the best ways to set yourself up for success is to take social media and email off your phone. In fact, on vacation Katie changes my passwords so I can’t even get on them in a moment of weakness (which never happens).

At the end of your week, finish things up. Set up some kind of ritual at the end of the day or week that says, “I’m done. I’ve done all that I can, the rest is in God’s hands”, so that you can be done mentally and emotionally.

3. Give yourself grace. Because you are a leader and are trained to be productive and critical, you will struggle to not be productive and critical. When you think about work, a person, a situation, give yourself grace and then move on.

On your weekend, when you start to think about work, write it down and let it go. Give yourself a moment to reconnect to being off and be okay with that. Your weekend or vacation isn’t ruined in that moment. It can be if you let it, but it isn’t yet.

4. Get out of town. This isn’t always possible, but get out of town. There are so many retreat centers and housing for pastors and their families that you can do this inexpensively. In fact, we have stayed at the same place in San Diego four different years, and each time it was free. Just plan ahead (and Google pastor’s retreat) and start making calls. Our kids look forward every year to vacation because we’ve planned it. This also means we don’t do things during the year for this time to happen, but we got out of town when I was making less than $500 a week (and working four jobs) planting our church. So you can do it!

On your weekend, find fun things to do if that will recharge you. Go swimming, take a hike, go to a fair or a market. Get moving. You may stay in your town, but get out of your house. Changing the scenery is crucial to resting and recharging.

5. Your church will be fine. Many pastors fear leaving their church as if they are the glue that holds their church together. Now if you are a church planter, you are the glue for much of your church but not all of it. You can get away for a long weekend or a week and everything will be fine.

Too many pastors live with the pressure that if they take a week off, someone will be mad. They might, but you’ll live. They get vacation time, too.

Often pastors will ask me, “What do I do if I don’t have someone to preach?” Simple, show a video sermon of someone. Go download a Tim Keller, Matt Chandler or Craig Groeschel sermon and show that. Better yet, download four and take four Sundays off from preaching.

This Matters (A Lot)

Let me tell you why this matters. I’ve led my church since 2008, and being unproductive for a little bit of time is not only good for me and my family, but also for my church. A refreshed pastor leads a refreshed church.

A refreshed pastor leads a refreshed church.
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A tired pastor leads a tired church.

A tired pastor leads a tired church.
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The post How to Not be Productive on Vacation appeared first on JoshuaReich.org.

Each Friday I share some posts that I’ve come across in the last week. They range in topics and sources but they are all things I’ve found interesting or helpful that I hope will be interesting and helpful to you. Here are 9 posts I came across this week that challenged my thinking or helped me as a leader, pastor, husband and father:

1. My Big Predictions For Social Media In 2017 by Steve Fogg
2. 5 Questions to Up Your Parenting Game by Sherry Surratt
3. How to Be a Real Leader And Great Manager by Lolly Daskal
4. Why Kids (and Parents) Need Routine by Jenna Scott
5. 7 Ways To Live Out The Gospel in a Post-Truth, Post-Fact Culture by Carey Nieuwhof
6. Three Probing Questions every Pastor should Ask Himself by Charles Stone
7. Leaders Answer the Questions No One Asks by Jonathan Pearson
8. 6 Things Millennials Need From Pastors by Joe Hoagland
9. How Senior Pastors Can Schedule Their Week For Maximum Impact by Brian Jones

The post Leaders Answer the Questions No One Asks & 8 Other Posts You Should Read This Week appeared first on JoshuaReich.org.

I’m often asked about books I’m reading or enjoying. I used to write long book reviews for books, but that takes a long time and I don’t like reading long book reviews. I want to know what it is about and if someone liked it.

So, if you’re looking for a book to read next, here are five you might want to consider:

The Whole Christ: Legalism, Antinomianism, and Gospel Assurance—Why the Marrow Controversy Still Matterss by Sinclair Ferguson

If you are like me, you have no idea what the marrow controversy is and why it matters. I didn’t before reading this book, but wow, it is packed with good gospel truths. I probably highlighted half of this book and got so much out of it as it relates to understanding God’s grace, being set free from legalism and performance based Christianity.

A book to help you understand the assurance you can have in Christ.
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This is a heady book, so be ready. But it is incredibly worth reading.

Generational IQ: Christianity Isn’t Dying, Millennials Aren’t the Problem, and the Future is Bright by Hadyn Shaw

If you listen to experts and statisticians, you will hear someone say, “The church is dying. Millenials aren’t going to church.” Are churches dying? Some are. Are millenials going to church? Some are.

A book to help pastors see how to relate to the changing culture.
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This book was helpful on two levels. One, as a pastor, this is a great book to understand how different people in your church relate to each other and to God. Depending on when someone was born has an enormous influence on how they relate to God, how they worship, and how they view the Bible and community.

Two, as a parent it is easy to think my child will connect to God the way that I do. Shaw walks through multiple ways for parents to understand why their child is so different from them when it comes to spirituality.

A book to help parents relate to their kids when it comes to spirituality.
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If you have a millenial child or want to reach millenials, this is an incredibly helpful book.

You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit by James K.A. Smith

I love the idea of habits and how people make changes that stick. This book took a totally different approach on that topic by looking through the lens of the stories we tell ourselves, the stories we pick up from the world around us and how those stories make an impact on our life and spiritual habits. For parents, there is a lot in this book about how to pass your faith on to your child.

A book to help you create spiritual habits you’ll keep.
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American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America by Colin Woodard

This one is obviously different than all the others, but really interesting.

Let me make a confession first. It is really popular right now to read history books. I love history and I try, but I never make it past page 50. This one was different.

Woodard looks at the idea that America was never a united nation, that we were settled by 11 different nations in different regions. The ones who settled New England or the Deep South still impact how the people and cultures work in those areas, how they handle business, think about government and laws, etc.

A fascinating study of how our nation was founded.
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On a personal note, this book also helped me to see why some people move to Arizona and don’t stay, and also about 28 states I never want to live in.

The Power of the Other: The startling effect other people have on you, from the boardroom to the bedroom and beyond-and what to do about it by Henry Cloud

This one is a book I will re-read. The ideas in this book are so powerful. We often underestimate the power others can have on us and the power we can have on other people.

A book to help you understand the power others have on you.
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Cloud walks through what healthy relationships and healthy attachment looks like, what prevents you from it, and how some relationships you have you need to end or put boundaries around.

He also helps you to see if you are creating unhealthy relationships in your world. Bill Hybels said at this year’s leadership summit that this was the best book he read all year.

A book to help you understand the power you have on others.
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Happy reading!

The post 5 Books for Leaders to Read this Month appeared first on JoshuaReich.org.

Here are 5 posts I came across this week that challenged my thinking or helped me as a leader, pastor, husband and father. I hope they help you too:

1. Your Pastor’s Wife Should Have Church Friends by Whitney Putnam
2. 5 Ways To Increase Volunteer Training Attendance by Dan Reiland
3. 5 New Rules for Digital Parenting by Jon Acuff
4. 21 Ideas for how Your church can Use Instagram Stories by Steve Fogg
5. Six Reasons Why Church Members Choose One Worship Service Over Another by Sam Rainer

The post 5 New Rules for Digital Parenting & 4 Other Leadership Posts You Should Read appeared first on JoshuaReich.org.