​A Word to the Wise: 5 Ways AI Is Impacting the Next Generation (Lifeway Research)

1. Kids (and parents) are embracing AI
2. AI is shaping their worldview
3. They’re experimenting with virtual companions
4. The way they learn is changing
5. They’re not equipped to navigate the complex ethics of AI

Shelly Melia, Dallas Baptist University, Lifeway Research, 1.8.26 

​A Word to the Wise: How to Lead with Consistency While Adapting to Differences 
 
Consistency in leadership produces the most trust, credibility, and accountability.
People strongly prefer leaders who are highly consistent and predictable. People view consistent leaders as more trustworthy, reliable, and relatable.
How can a leader both adapt to the differences in people and maintain consistency at the same time?
The answer lies in a common misconception about how leaders should adapt and flex. Good leaders adapt their style and tone but not the substance or values they believe in.
In other words, leaders can be both adaptive and consistent at the same time if they choose to stay true to their core beliefs and strategies while adapting how to apply them to fit the people and situations involved.
​
Admired Leadership Field Notes, 12.28.25, How to Lead with Consistency While Adapting to Differences

​A Word to the Wise from Mac Lake: Finish Well / Start Strong Checklist
 
1. Review This Past Year
Take a few minutes this week and ask:

• What were my biggest wins this year?
• What drained me the most?
• What surprised me?
• What did God teach me?

2. Release What Doesn’t Need to Follow You into January
Before the month ends, identify:

• One tension to resolve
• One expectation to reset
• One worry to hand back to God

3. Clarify Your January Goal
Clarity now prevents chaos later.
Begin to write down your goals for the new year.
If you need help, I recorded a short video on how I set leadership development goals for the year ahead, and I also have a free goal-setting Growth Plan to guide you through setting meaningful goals.
4. Choose One Growth Area for January
I often teach growth planning, and December is the perfect time to predetermine the one area you’ll focus on. 
Small, consistent habits create lasting growth.
​
Mac Lake, 12.1.25, Finish December with Intention; Start January with Momentum

A Word to the Wise: What Every Leader Should Know About Inspiring Others by Dan Reiland
 
The ability to inspire others is not a gift reserved for a few, it’s a skill all leaders must learn.
 
Inspiration is not a stand-alone skill. It requires other supporting skills underneath including the ability to:

• Connect at a heart level – showing you care.
• Appreciate others for who they are – expressing respect for each person as a human being.
• Encourage people to build them up – believing in each one so they may reach farther, dig deeper, and hold longer than previously believed possible.

Without these three skills, inspiring others will be difficult for you as a leader.
 
The beauty of inspiration is that that the Holy Spirit first inspires us with calling, passion and vision. We are then able to pass it on to others.
In God’s perfect design, He created each of us to inspire others in different ways.
I discuss this in more depth in my book Amplified Leadership, but for now, let me give you a quick list of the primary ways leaders inspire.

• Relationship – You are so good with people they are inspired because of how you love and care for them.
• Strategy – People hate chaos. Any leader who can organize the church to move forward and make progress is inspirational.
• Passion – Leaders who have personalities that “light up the room” can leverage that in strategic ways for the mission of the church.
• Competence – Think of this one like an Olympic athlete. They are so amazingly good at what they do; when you are around them you just want to get better at what you do! Competence inspires!
• Coaching – These leaders have a special skill to bring out the best in others, and they often see that gifting or talent before the person possessing it does. It is inspiring.

Which one is yours?
 
Dan Reiland, What Every Leader Should Know About Inspiring Others, 
https://danreiland.com/what-every-leader-should-know-about-inspiring/

A Word to the Wise 
 
One easy way to show you care about others is to ask them questions about their life.

• What are they excited about?
• What are they working on?
• What are they hoping for?

Simply asking the question and listening thoughtfully is an act of generosity. You're giving them the gift of attention.
​
James Clear, 11.27.25, 3-2-1 Thursday
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A Word to the Wise – Karl Vaters
 
The Way People Commit to the Church Is Changing—Here’s How
The way people make commitments is changing. Unhealthy churches whine about it. 
Healthy churches do something about it.
People are as committed as they’ve always been. They just commit in different ways now.
 
1. For blocks of time, not long term
If they want to commit in chunks, let’s give them chunks to commit to. Then leverage that experience into long-term, consistent giving.
2. Through relationships
People don’t give to projects as much as they give to people. People in need. People they know. People they trust. People who lead by example.
3. Because we ask
A lot of pastors are afraid to ask people for help, face-to-face. We feel like we’ll be imposing. But it’s not imposing. Often they’re waiting for us to step up and make the request personal. To let them know we don’t just need someone, we need them.
4. To something worth committing to 
People won’t give just because a church, ministry or denomination is where they’ve always given. The work must be practical, valuable and trustworthy. We have to constantly prove ourselves worthy of that trust

Build a Bridge…This is not an answer. But it’s a start.
It’s not enough to get church members to give a week of their time or a once-only big gift. Churches need weekly helpers and steady givers. But getting people involved in a way that suits their new schedules and answers their trust issues is how we get that snowball rolling.
If we start with an understanding of some of these principles, we can build a bridge from one-time events to long-term commitments. We can inspire people to become strong, steady givers and volunteers.

​Karl Vaters, 11.10.25, The Way People Commit to the Church Is Changing, https://karlvaters.com/people-commit-changing/
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A Word to the Wise from Paul Tripp
 
Since God has already granted me and you a place in his Eternal Story, then he has also granted us all the grace we need along the way for our Right Here, Right Now Story—otherwise, we’d never get there.

“If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:31–32).

Since he paid the ultimate price, we can rest assured he will expend his divine power and grace to protect, mature, provide for, and keep us until we are with him in a place where the dangers of sin and death are no more.

Yes, we will get temporarily lost in the middle of that story today and tomorrow, but God will keep and protect us until we are with him forever—whenever that day may come.
​
Paul Tripp, 11.12.25, Wednesday’s Word, My Story of 75 Years

A Word to the Wise: Your Leadership Role Opens Up New Conversations If You Let It
 
Your title, authority, and influence make you interesting to anyone who holds a similar position in another enterprise. Yet most leaders never think to expand their learning network to include peers in organizations across the landscape.
They miss the opportunity to build relationships and learn from scores of leaders outside their organization who would welcome the connection and conversation.
These external relationships offer something no one in your internal network can match: a fresh perspective, different approaches, and insights from entirely different contexts.
The best leaders are deliberate about building external networks of experts to learn from.
Your Leadership Role Opens Up New Conversations If You Let It (Admired Leadership Field Notes – Excellent article!)
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​A Word to the Wise: Most churches aren’t short on people—they’re short on invitations.
 (Mac Lake)
 
A common belief is that staff are responsible for recruiting new leaders. But when recruitment depends solely on staff, leadership development becomes limited and the pipeline runs dry.
 
Here’s the truth: one of the biggest factors in recruiting new leaders is the relationship to the person making the ask.
 
Think about your first invitation into leadership. Who asked you? Why did you say yes?
 
For me, it was my high school English teacher, Marjorie Willis. I was the shyest kid in school, but because I had a relationship with her—because I believed in her belief in me—I said yes.
 
Every church has people who would never say yes to a staff invitation but would say yes to a trusted friend.
 
That’s why your best recruiters aren’t on your staff—they’re already in your congregation. The key is empowering their voices to invite others into leadership.
 
*When you release people to be leadership scouts, you multiply your reach. You move from recruiting out of need to recruiting for vision—just like Jesus in Luke 10, who had already recruited 72 but still said, “The harvest is plentiful… ask the Lord of the harvest to send out more workers.”
 
Here’s your challenge:
Don’t just ask, “Who am I recruiting?”
Ask, “Who am I empowering to identify and invite future leaders?”
Because when recruitment doesn’t rise or fall on you, your leadership pipeline never runs dry.
Mac Lake, 10.27.25, The Secret to Filling Your Leadership Pipeline (Without Burnout or Begging)

A Word to the Wise: The 8 D’s of Aging (Paul David Tripp)
 
Realities that every person might experience in their life as they get older: dissatisfaction, disorientation, discouragement, dread, disappointment, disinterest, distance, and distraction.
 
Getting older can be, and should be, a beautiful thing. With it comes wisdom, different freedom, and new opportunities for influence. But in a fallen world, where everything is in a state of decay and the surrounding culture idolizes vanity, energy, and youth, it can be very discouraging.

Whether you are in your 30s, your 50s, your 70s, or beyond, experiencing any or all of these “8 Ds of aging”, I want you to remember just two things today.
There aren’t two things in all of life more important than these: that God’s mercy has purchased for you a place in his family and that God’s power controls all things for your good until your eternal inheritance is to be received.
https://www.paultripp.com/wednesdays-word/posts/the-8-ds-of-aging
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