Author Archives: Tree of Life Church

I am the founder of a first generational church planting movement called the Tree of Life Family. We have in the last ten years planted eight churches and are about to plant another two. Before I started I assumed incorrectly my major hurdle would be raising the finances. That’s not true – the hardest andContinue reading “Dumb Things Leaders Do 07: Promoting the Broken Over the Brilliant”

You cannot plant a church, build a church, build a leadership team, raise up leaders or help people dream big unless you accept the fact that you will have conflict if you do so. A lot of leaders value a fake harmony over difficult constructive useful conflict that is difficult but essential for growth andContinue reading “Dumb Things Leaders Do 06: Never Rocking the Boat”

I was reading Mark 4 today, it’s a passage I go back to over and over. The sower sows the Word. And today, I saw something that I had never seen before. Something that I realized was true a long time ago from experience, but something I had never realized was in the Word! ItContinue reading “All Preaching is a Gamble!”

One of the things I see so many leaders to is try and hold onto all the money and hold it as tight as they can. When they have nothing they can cope, but when money comes in, they start to trust in the money over trusting in God. It is time for every singleContinue reading “Dumb Things Leaders Do 05: Becoming Tight With Money”

Is being busy the new religion of the modern age I wonder. We are moving so fast now – faster than ever before. There is so much to do! But what should our priorities be as Christian leaders – not doing, but rather thinking, dreaming, praying, listening, resting, planning. We need to ensure that asContinue reading “Dumb Things Leaders Do 04: Being Too Busy to Dream”

Isn’t it interesting that the Bible says that the fear of God is the start of wisdom but the fear of man is a trap (Proverbs 29.25). You cannot do both. You could equally say the fear of man is the end of all wisdom – trying to please everyone is dumb, and it isContinue reading “Dumb Things Leaders Do 03 Trying to Make People Happy”

After David killed Goliath, the ladies in Israel wrote a song for him, including the line “David killed his tens of thousands” (1 Sam. 18.7). That line is a blatant and total lie. David at this stage in his career had slain a grand total of one person! Now, granted it was a giant, butContinue reading “Dumb Things Leaders Do 03 Believing the Songs Others Sing”

One of the things leaders seem to do a lot is compare themselves to others. It’s what I call “The Comparison Trap”. It is amazing what people compare – attendance, offerings, salary, car, houses, responsibilities, miracles, fruitfulness, achievements, pulpits you preach for, anything it seems that can be compared is compared. This is not wise.Continue reading “Dumb Things Leaders Do 02 The Comparison Trap”

I want to do a short series on the kind of mistakes leaders make, the dumb things leaders do. I thought I would start with the dumbest thing any Christian leader can do, and sadly, it’s something almost all of us have done. We make ministry an idol. We make ministry our god, and displaceContinue reading “Dumb Things Leaders Do 01 Making Ministry Your Idol”

If you are a leader of people, especially in a church context, one of the questions that many people will ask you is this: why am I here? They may re-phrase it, what is my purpose, what has God called me to do, what should I do for the rest of my life. But isContinue reading “Create a Better Future for Others 05: Unveil God’s Will to People”