Author: Wes White

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The Benefit of Not Talking in Bulldoze Mode

Sometimes I talk in bulldoze mode. It’s not something I want to do. It’s something I can do without thinking. It’s something I want to change.

What is bulldoze mode? It’s a way of trying to force your opinion through. You get in a mode of talking where you make it clear to people that if they contradict you or even try to nuance what you are saying, they are going to have a fight on their hands. You may start interrupting. You may speak more loudly. You may just say something in a way that warns people against any challenge.

Bulldoze mode is connected with anxiety. You may feel anxiety that something you feel is important won’t be heard. You may feel like you are no longer safe to share your opinion or that you are not respected. When anxiety goes up, people can either become completely silent, withdraw, talk to someone else, try to fix it, act helpless, or seek to bulldoze an opinion through.

The advantage of going into bulldoze mode is that it does release some anxiety. When you prepare yourself to fight, you feel like you are doing something productive. There is a payback of some sort, or no one would do it.

The problem is that people may not feel safe talking to you. They may not want to be with you or work with you. They may feel more comfortable talking behind your back. Continue reading “The Benefit of Not Talking in Bulldoze Mode”

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Key Biblical/Theological Distinctions for Thinking Clearly About Theology

Over the years, I have come to realize that people can be talking past each other in theology. One reason is that they do not distinguish the ways that words are used. This is not always easy to figure out. The Church spent several hundred years learning how to talk about who Jesus is and how that fits in with our understanding of God. Over the years the church has sought to clarify these matters. If we listen carefully, we might be able to avoid some of these pitfalls ourselves. Our church has a lengthy document that explains what we are understanding in the Bible called the Westminster Confession of Faith. You can ready it here. For me, I have come to realize that the key to this lengthy document is understanding about 20 theological distinctions. Here is my list.

  1. Being & Persons: God is one being, but He exists in three persons: Father, Son, & Holy Spirit.
  2. Primary & Secondary Causes: God is the primary cause of all things, but man is a real, though secondary, cause.
  3. Decree & Providence: Both refer to God’s government of everything that happens, but the decree is God’s planning of everything while providence is when He actually brings it about.
  4. Guilt & Corruption of Sin: When we sin, we become guilty, i.e., liable to punishment, but sin also corrupts us, i.e., makes us worse people.
  5. Covenant of Works/Covenant of Grace: The covenants are the terms of our relationship with God. The covenant of works required perfect obedience to have a life with God. The covenant of grace requires faith in Jesus Christ and His perfect work in order to have life with God. It is “do this and live” over against “believe, and you will be saved.”

    6. Continue reading “Key Biblical/Theological Distinctions for Thinking Clearly About Theology”

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Leadership Diagnostic Questions

Over the past few weeks, I have been writing about leadership. Here are a few diagnostic questions that you can use to examine your own leadership, see how you are doing, and, with the help of the Lord, move you toward better leadership.

  1. Do I have a clear vision of where I want people to be? Read about this here.
  2. Do I know what things about me could hinder my leadership? Read more about this here.
  3. Have I connected with those I want to lead sufficiently to make an impact on them? Read about this here.
  4. Do I know what they need to do to get where they need to be? Read about this here.
  5. Have I communicated the vision and the means to get there sufficiently and with clarity? Read about this here.
  6. Is my own life consistent with what I am telling people to do? Read about this here.
  7. Do I believe that my leadership can make a difference? Read about this here.

Questions on how to help people move forward:

  • Am I expecting too much change at once? Have I understood that this is a process? Read about this here.
  • Do people need steps that will help them move from where they are to where they could and should be? Read about this here.
  • Do people need encouragement to take the steps that they could and should take? Read about this here.
  • Do I need to have a conversation about the wrong steps that people are taking? Read about this here.

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Photo by Anthony Tori on Unsplash

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Can Leadership Make a Difference? Absolutely.

Can leadership make a difference in the world? Absolutely.

It’s easy to look at situations in the world and think that there is no hope. However, leaders can make a difference. This is obvious from the Bible, history, and our own experience, as we shall see below.

So, why do we look at situations and think that leadership can make no difference?

1. We reacted to a situation, and it didn’t change things. Oftentimes, we show our displeasure in a situation by getting upset, trying to solve it, or moving away from it. We think we have shown leadership, but it made no difference. For example, imagine you have someone in your life who you would like to do better in school. When you saw that they were doing poorly, you got upset. They kept doing poorly. You kept getting upset. It made little difference. The result is people think that leadership makes little difference. They have reacted to a situation rather than giving real thought to what will make it better.

2. We have not been clear on where we are leading people. I am a Pastor, and I have a lot of friends who are pastors. It’s easy for Pastors to react negatively when people don’t attend the activities and programs of their church. However, where are we leading people? What do we want people to do? Is our main goal for them to come to the activities of our church? Is that our real goal for people? Oftentimes, we act like that, and, frankly, it’s not a real compelling vision. A better vision is to build people of faith who serve out of love for God and others. If that is the goal, have we made that as clear as we have made our desire that they go to services? Are we really clear on where we want people to be and how they get there? Continue reading “Can Leadership Make a Difference? Absolutely.”

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4 Tools to Help People Move Forward (Part 2)

Sometimes people won’t take the steps that they are capable of taking. I had a friend who was considering serving as a deacon in his church. I thought he was very capable of doing it. However, he didn’t think that he could. He was afraid to take that step. We had a conversation, and I asked him, “In the Bible, what does God say every time He calls someone to do something?”

He answered, “Get at it?”

I said, “No. He says, ‘I will be with you.'”

That’s what God does. He encourages those who have fear to take the steps they can take and promises them help on the way. That’s also what He told the leaders of the church in Thessalonica to do for others. “And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone” (1 Thess. 5:14).

Last time, we looked at the last two phrases, which I call the first two tools. The first is patience. We need to remember that leadership is a process. People need time to get moving in a particular direction and to grow. The second tool is giving people steps. The goal often seems too daunting. They need steps that will help them get there.

Encourage Them to Take Steps
However, what if people won’t take the steps they can take? We need to encourage their steps. “Encourage the disheartened,” as Paul says. But how do we do it?

1. Remind people of things that they have already done. When my son was 12 and my daughter 9, we hiked Mount LeConte. Mount LeConte is the big mountain that you can see from almost everywhere in our county. We actually ended up hiking about 14 miles that day. They did it, and they did it well. If I had asked them, though, “Can you hike 14 miles?” They probably would have said, “No.” But this showed them that they had more in them than they thought. From time to time thereafter, they would think they couldn’t do something that I knew they could. I would point to Mount LeConte, “Remember hiking Mount LeConte? You’ve got more in you than you think.” Continue reading “4 Tools to Help People Move Forward (Part 2)”

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