"I understand how to tell people that I can't meet with them soon," I said to my pastor over coffee several years ago, "but how can I possibly tell them I can't meet with them ever?" I was experiencing my first round of influence-itis, the toxic, nagging feeling of being needed by too many people.

The first time I asked this question, I was a volunteer women's director with ...

There's an idea floating around Christian women's circles. I'm hearing it more frequently. I've heard it from missionary colleagues and women at church. I've read it in books and seen it posted in comments on blogs. It goes something like this: If God has gifted and called a woman to lead, teach, pastor, or preach then he will make a way for her to fulfill ...

Every once in a while...especially in busy seasons of life or ministry, I hit the wall.

I know I've hit the wall when:

• I've reached my compliant quota. When one more complaint, question, or criticism will put me over the edge.• Questions become personal attacks. A simple question for clarity feels like a personal attack on my judgment or character.• The idea of being with ...

In a recent article in the Huffington Post, Cathleen Falsani asks readers to list three of the top evangelical women leaders under sixty. Falsani contends it's hard to do and the title of her post suggests the reason why: "Jesus is Still Surrounded By Too Many Men." To lend readers a hand with the question, Falsani suggests that author and speaker, Margaret ...

"The test of your leadership is not what happens when you're there, but what happens when you're NOT there." Ken Blanchard

Just reading that quote makes me a bit anxious. How about you? Have you ever found yourself creating exhaustive notes for your team or maybe even your family in preparation to be away for a few days? Have you ever feared what's ...

It didn't take long to face opposition once I started a career in ministry. Of course, I had a lot of strikes against me from the start. First of all, I was young, fresh out of college, and in my first-ever paid ministry role. On top of that, I was a woman, the only woman serving with the pastoral staff. And, probably most significant, I was hired to launch a brand new ministry–church-wide ...

Groups. We've all been in one where the numbers keep whittling down until it's just you and the leader left.

When you're the one leading, what do you do if people start leaving yours?

1. Don't freak out. This does not stamp you with the World's Worst Small Group Leader award.

Breathe. Chances are the reason they left has nothing to do with you. Sometimes ...

It would take a lot for me to change my mind about allowing men to be alone with my children.

Seven years counseling women recovering from all kinds of horrors experienced at the hands of men, a season that coincided with my first seven years of motherhood, instilled in me a firm belief that men should not be caregivers for kids. At least not for mine.

Yet this month, ...

Recently, my church experienced its first-ever Five Day Challenge, an initiative launched several years ago by Willow Creek Community Church. The Challenge encourages people to eat only small portions of rice and beans at each meal as a tangible experience of the hunger that the bottom economic half of the world endures daily.

Like any good leader, I prepared my team in advance. ...

I am not sure the North American church in general does the right thing on Mother's Day or Father's Day. Then again, I don't always attend church on these feel-good holidays because frankly, they don't make me feel so good.

As a 38-year-old woman who married in her mid-30s, my biological clock ticks on and my womb and arms remain empty, at least for now. I focus on seminary, ...