Articles for tag: Accountability Partner

Avoiding Leadership Burnout

By Jerry Harris  All church leaders are dealing with stress right now. Stress can come from every area of our lives.   You might be under pressure, facing big changes, feeling a lack of control, shouldering heavy responsibility, or feeling uncertain about the future. You might be facing multiple issues simultaneously or feeling the effects of past experiences.   Your stress might be triggered by illness, injury, parenting, infertility, bereavement, abuse, marriage, divorce, relationships, or caregiving. You might have lost your job, or be seeking a new job, or just started in a new role. Perhaps you retired recently. You might be

Sex Offenders in the Church

By J. Robert Ross The minister at my church recently refused to allow Sam (not his real name), a convicted sex offender in my treatment program, to attend services at our church. I understood his fear, but I cannot agree with his decision to turn Sam away. I suspect his reaction, and the reaction of many others, is motivated by anxiety rooted in several misconceptions about sex offenders, their offenses, and their victims. A common misconception, aided and abetted by the media, puts all offenders in the same boat. Anyone convicted of a sex offense is automatically labeled a “sexual

Our Own Defense of Marriage Acts

By Mark A. Taylor Last year, just before my daughter”s wedding, a friend e-mailed me about the big day. “My daughter”s wedding was the most exhilarating and exhausting day of my life,” he said, and soon I would know what he meant. But it occurs to me that exhilarating and exhausting describe the whole gamut of married and family life. For example, it”s exhilarating finally to hold a newborn baby, especially after an exhausting labor and drawn-out pregnancy. Likewise, each milestone of the new preschooler”s life is exhilarating: first words, first steps, first everything! And keeping up with her is

What About Accountability?

“ They come in cycles. A long period of time goes by when everything is copasetic, then bad decisions hit the light of day and another minister falls. The cause? An “inappropriate relationship.” The last few months have seen a spate of them, and they bring us back to the inevitable question where is the accountability? I know of more than one well intentioned minister who had an accountability plan in place at the exact time he chased the wrong dream down the wrong alley. In each situation I asked, “Why didn’t you call your accountability partner?” The answer was

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