Author Archives: Tree of Life Church

Jesus told us that the Pharisees “strain at gnats but swallow camels” (Matthew 23.24). It means they got upset by tiny things and didn’t get upset at great big things. I have met pastors like that – really upset that a baby cried in the service, but not upset about how mean they were. IContinue reading “Pastors Don’t Do This 04: Become Pastor Pharisee (Part 3 – Be Prickly Over Small Things)”

One of the things that happens to me disturbingly regularly is the amount of people who offer to be my pastor. I’ve had people who ran a church into the ground and it closed down offer to pastor me, I’ve had Bible College students who haven’t finished Bible College yet, I’ve had Bible College studentsContinue reading “Pastors Don’t Do This 03: Become Pastor Pharisee (Part 2 – Leading Where You Have Never Been)”

I have seen more than one pastor turn into a Pharisee. Normally, they have been pastoring for a while, and it has not gone so well visibly for them. And then the pastor transforms from being anointed to being a Pharisee. It’s an amazing transformation. How anyone with a Bible can end up like aContinue reading “Pastors Don’t Do This 02: Become Pastor Pharisee (Part 1 – Thinking You Are the Greatest)”

I think that the church as a whole is suffering because it has become earth-bound. It’s great to teach about how to prosper and have abundance. It’s great to help people get promoted, get out of debt, pay their mortgage off early, how to invest, start businesses and be in the market place. I amContinue reading “Pastor Don’t Do This 01: Become Earth Bound!”

Jesus said very clearly that whatever you want people to do to you, you should do also to them (Matthew 7.12). The Passion Translation reads: be careful to treat others in the same way you’d want them to treat you. That is a standard of character that we all should be keeping to as anContinue reading “Character Matters 05 The Golden Rule”

You need to be honest to have character, and you need to start off by being honest with yourself. The hardest people to pastor and lead are the people who are lying to themselves. We have had to deal with leaders before who are not honest with themselves, and it always comes out, they stopContinue reading “Character for Leaders 04 Be Honest!”

There has been a sort of understanding across the world that character is just for your personal life. It’s got nothing to do with ministry, business or politics. But that’s absolute rubbish. A lot of the crisis in business today is a crisis of credibility due to a crisis of character. Students are cheating inContinue reading “Character for Leaders 03 Character Matters Everywhere”

So many people think a win is measured in numbers and finances! Now we love more people coming to Tree of Life because we know we disciple them. We love having more money because we spend it on advancing the kingdom. But all the people and money in the world won’t matter if we doContinue reading “Character for Leaders 02 There is No Victory Without Character”

A lot of people are fed up of leaders for one reason – their lack of character. Politicians lie and break the very rules they make. Business CEOs are dishonest and deal without ethics. Sportsmen cheat, paying judges, taking illegal substances, and so on – not to mention their character off the pitch or field!Continue reading “Character for Leaders 01 Leaders Need More Character”

Last week we looked at leadership lessons from Noah, today we skip forward to a remarkable leader, Abraham. He started the Jewish nation and religion, and was a man of remarkable faith in God. He took a long time to get to the point where He fully trusted God, but eventually He found out youContinue reading “Biblical Leaders 02: Abraham”