A Word to the Wise: Dr. Hance Dilbeck
People Will Hurt You.
People Will Help You.
People Will Be Your Primary Kingdom Contribution

Major Points from Dr. Hance Dilbeck’s message based on 2 Tim. 1:15-2:2 during the 2026 SBCAL Annual Conference

A Word to the Wise:
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A surprising number of leaders don’t listen to understand. They listen to disagree.
This approach to listening allows leaders to stand out for their expertise, intelligence, and conviction. Unfortunately, it also robs them of their ability to connect with and learn from others, making them susceptible to poor decisions, false assumptions, and untested viewpoints.
Simply stated, leaders who listen to disagree process information in order to discern difference. They don’t listen to understand the views of others. They listen to find discrepancy.
When curiosity, learning, and personal growth take a backseat to the goal of being the smartest person in the room, listening becomes a weapon, not a tool for shared understanding.
Maybe you know a leader who listens to disagree. Share this Field Note with them. But don’t be surprised if they argue against it while they are reading it.

Admired Leadership Field Notes, 5.29.26, Leaders Who Listen to Disagree

A Word to the Wise:  6 Critical Skills to Lead at the Executive Level
 
1) Translate vision into strategy.
2) Communicate faith and hope.
3) Raise up, develop and empower capable leaders.
4) Demonstrate self-leadership and cultivate spiritual vitality.
5) Solve problems and make difficult decisions at intricate levels.
6) Take risks and lead change.
 
Dan Reiland, 5.25.26, 6 Critical Skills to Lead at the Executive Level

A Word to the Wise from Dr. Chris Crain, Birmingham Metro Association, Birmingham, AL
 
Sitting in worship services, meeting with pastors, listening to lay leaders, and observing congregational life has given me a front-row seat to what God is doing in and through His church. I tell people often, “I have the best job in the world because I get to see the same Jesus worshipped in 180 different contexts!"
 
My list is not a scientific study. It is not exhaustive. These are simply prayed-over observations shaped by the Word of God and confirmed through my own real-life ministry experiences. My hope is not that we would measure ourselves against one another, but that we would reflect, recalibrate where needed, and rejoice in what God is already doing among us.

Ten Evidences (Among Many) of a Healthy Church

1. Evidence of a caring and joyful spirit.
2. Awareness of the importance of diversity in spiritual gifts and perspectives.
3. An attitude of welcoming (and seeking) people from all backgrounds and generations from the local community.
4. Emphasis on spiritual devotion to Jesus Christ through worship, the ordinances, and prayer.
5. Collaborative leadership among staff and laity.
6. Awareness of the Christian story throughout the ages and within the specific congregation.
7. Scriptures are the final authority and the subject matter of the church's teaching and preaching ministry. The focus is on the redemption by the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ and adoption into His family, the Body of Christ, by grace through faith.
8. Problems and disagreements are approached with a unified desire to work toward solutions.
9. Discipleship approaches are intentional and vary to meet the needs of the people.
10. Missions activities & strategies go beyond praying and giving, to include partnering, going, and sending.

​Chris Crain, Executive Director, Birmingham Metro Association, Birmingham, AL, Weekly Newsletter, 5.20.26

A Word to the Wise from Mac Lake:
 
One of the most helpful things I’ve discovered studying the life of Jesus in chronological order is not just what He did, but when He did it.
 
As I’ve studied the timeline of Jesus developing His disciples, I noticed something that has helped shape the way I think about leadership development and it is this:
 
Jesus started with relationship before responsibility. Because healthy leadership development doesn’t begin with using people. It begins with knowing people.
 
Who around you has potential that may simply need more intentional connection from you before they’re ready for greater responsibility?
 
Mac Lake, 5.12.26, Why Jesus Started with Relationship Before Responsibility

A Word to the Wise: 

Are you building or maintaining? 
 
James Clear, 3-2-1 Thursday, 4.30.26
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A Word to the Wise: The Modern Flattening of Sin—and What We Lose (Trevin Wax)
 
Whatever happened to the seven deadly sins? For centuries, theologians, philosophers, and poets treated pride, envy, sloth, gluttony, lust, wrath, and greed as a diagnostic of the human soul in its self-centered sickness. These sins were the biggest windows into the condition of humanity’s broken-down house, the particular ways the soul curves in on itself rather than turning upward to God…sin as sickness and sin as estrangement from God—can be found in Scripture. The trouble comes when we let the second picture eclipse the first.
 
When we recast sin as primarily a matter of feeling far from God rather than being in an objective state of rebellion against him, the solution gets altered. We no longer need a physician who prescribes a cure for a dying patient; we go looking for a therapist who helps us understand our feelings. 
 
Our greatest need isn't for a Savior who will die to make us feel better about ourselves but for a Savior whose death will pardon rebels, a Great Physician whose blood can heal our sin-sick hearts, a Liberator who sets us free from our captivity.
 
Scripture gives us a view of sin large enough to require the gospel. Unless we understand what we've been saved from, we’ll never fully grasp what we've been saved for.

Trevin Wax, 4.24.26, The Modern Flattening of Sin—and What We Lose
Social science has reframed sin in terms of symptoms. We need a vision of sin large enough to require the gospel. 

​A Word to the Wise: A Profound Strategy to Help You Follow Christ with Integrity the Rest of Your Life
 
Here is one way our Father helps us keep going with solid integrity until the day we die. And I’ll bet you five American dollars this one isn’t on your to-do list for today. Am I being too bold? If so, I apologize—and you’ve won my five bucks! But I think it’s a safe bet.
So, I’ll put this profoundly wise strategy right out on the table. Here it is: . . . enjoying the enjoyable!
You read that right. Enjoyment. It’s a brilliant tactic for serious Christians living in a confused world.
Here are words for it: Savoring. Tasting. Noticing. Appreciating. Relishing. Delighting. Celebrating. Laughing. Relaxing. Playing. Conversing. Smiling. Feasting. Sharing. Thanking. We have many words to describe it, because God gives us many ways to receive it.
Bold enjoyment for the sake of sustainable integrity is taught in the Bible. Ecclesiastes 11:9–10 guides us onto this profound and happy path for daily living:
Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. Remove vexation from your heart, and put away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.
That passage raises many questions, doesn’t it? But for now, I’ll limit myself to three insights we gain from this startlingly wonderful passage.
One, this passage comes from one of the Wisdom books of the Bible. What is biblical wisdom? It is the acquired skill of living well in a complicated world. 
Two, this passage is both a liberation and a warning.
The liberation is this: God, your Father, is inviting you to look around, notice the many enjoyments he is offering you, and go for it! 
The warning is this: You will stand before God one day and give him an account for how you have lived this life. So don’t be selfish, reckless, oblivious. Honor Christ and love others in all you do.
Three, if you and I revere the Bible as the Word of God, then how should we respond to this word from God? Dare to believe it. Dare to receive it. Dare to live it out.
Something within us might prefer to hang back with low-grade misery as our blah daily “meh.” But that mentality is a sin against our gracious Creator, calling for immediate repentance.
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Ray Ortlund, Crossway email, 4.20.26. He is the author of Eat, Drink, and Be Merry: A Gospel Call to Bold Enjoyment.

A Word to the Wise: 10 Reasons Why Contributions May Be Declining (Bob Bickford)
 
Here are some of the most common ones—and they’re not what most people expect.
1. When Trust Drops, Giving Follows
2. When People Don’t See Impact, They Stop Investing
3. When People Feel Unseen, They Disengage
4. When Giving Feels Like Pressure, It Eventually Breaks
5. Sometimes People Aren’t Giving Because No One Is Leading Them To Give
​6. Some People Withhold Giving to Send a Message
7. Some People Are Quietly Struggling Financially
8. Some People Have Just Drifted
9. The Generous Generation is Passing Away
10. Attendance Patterns and Process
As much as we dislike this - it’s true. People are attending church less frequently. That means those who only give when they attend are likely missing regular giving.
If you don’t have multiple ways for congregants to give - you’re missing out.

So What Do You Do? 
If giving is declining, don’t start with a campaign. Start with clarity.
Rebuild Trust
Strengthen Care
Actually Lead on Giving
Pay Attention to Real Needs
Go After the Heart
If giving is down, resist the urge to fix it quickly.
Slow down long enough to ask better questions.
Listen. Observe. Diagnose.
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www.bobbickford.com/blog/10-reasons-why-church-contributions-may-be-declining

A Word to the Wise 
 
If desecration is the pervasive problem of our day, then nothing less than consecration is the answer. We have imagined ourselves to be gods and have ironically reduced ourselves to mere dust. That is a moral problem. It cannot be solved simply by “reenchanting” our world by acknowledging that nature is mysterious or that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in our consumerist philosophies of life. Consecration is not a feeling or an emotional response to something; it has a distinct dogmatic, cultic, and moral shape, with all three elements standing in nonnegotiable connection to each other. … Only a renovation of the heart, redirecting it toward God, is able to [answer our plight]. And that only takes place in the context of the church, where humanity by creed, cult, and code can once again realize what being made in the image of God truly means.

Carl Trueman, The Desecration of Man