My late grandfather Elmer Baumgartner left quite the “wake.” The term “wake” comes from clinical psychologist and best-selling author Dr. Henry Cloud, who compares the idea of leaving a legacy to a concept he calls “the wake.” Just as a boat leaves a wake in its path when it goes through the water, so a […]
Many choose to step back from senior leadership or veteran positions, but still want to offer insight, mentoring, and valuable coaching to those coming up behind them. That’s where the Nav Encore Mission comes in. Our Nav Encore Leadership Team recently had a lengthy discussion about Numbers 8:23-26, a passage that talks about “retirement” as it […]
A dog food company hit some hard times. Sales were low and the CEO tried everything he could think of to improve the bottom line. He hired a new advertising firm, but that didn’t help. Next, he fired his entire marketing department and hired a new team. After several months, however, nothing changed. Sales numbers […]
Perhaps you’ve heard the old story about a U.S. Navy warship that was heading through the fog one night when a distant, faint light appeared directly in its heading. As the light got brighter, a voice came over the ship radio and said, “Attention. Calling the vessel traveling on a 220 heading. Adjust your course […]
Why is prayer so often a last resort? Even though we were in Irkutsk, a city of 750,000 people, and had a map, we couldn’t make use of either because we didn’t know Russian! We stood for a moment thinking about which direction to head. We felt helpless. You see, after two days in Russia, […]
Some years ago, a southern gentleman passed on to me a memorable comment on the idea of service to our Lord. The elderly saint said it this way: “A servant should always be sitting on ready.” I saw this in action with the recent transition of the AFAM Network from my wife, Jane, and me to […]
Communication is great. Connection is better. John C. Maxwell expands on this idea in his book, Everyone Communicates, Few Connect: What the Most Effective People Do Differently. He writes about three key questions that people ask when we seek to make a connection with them. If we can answer “yes” to all three of these questions, […]
To know is to listen. If I want to get to know people, I must draw them out; and if I draw them out, I must learn to listen. Listening, though, requires patience and discipline. It is not natural, at least not for me. I would rather tell than listen, and every time I do […]
“When a boy turns 13, put him in a barrel and nail the lid on the top. Feed him through the knothole. When he turns 16, put a plug in the knothole!” That’s Mark Twain’s tongue-in-cheek child-rearing advice when it comes to young men. Having been a teenage boy myself, and having raised two sons, […]
As City Campus Director of the Nashville Navigators, I can’t say enough about the ministry impact we’re experiencing locally through the efforts of Helen Ebert, who is a part of our Nav Encore Mission. Frankly put, we need Helen! Our ministry in Nashville is exploding on campus, with numerous students coming to faith in Christ and deepening their […]
