Dare Great Things For Christ

DGT Episode 146 - Gently Strong, Strongly Gentle - Gregory The Great Part 4

Christians who lead faith’s many paradoxes – we are supposed to be humble and yet we have authority.  We are supposed to be docile and yet we assert ourselves.  We are supposed to be virtuous and yet we place ourselves in positions that are often tempting.  Is it any wonder that so many people think Christians aren’t supposed to lead or so many Christians refuse to lead.  Pope St. Gregory the Great gives us a keen answer in chapter 6 of his second book, “On The Rule Of Shepherds.” 

DGT Episode 145 - Bridging The Paradox -Gregory The Great Part 3

When you’re in charge you don’t have a cookie cutter method for guaranteeing you are doing what is right.  You have to make decisions that are difficult and uncertain and you have to make them every day.  Pope St. Gregory the Great understood this because he had to do the same thing every day.  And in his book, “The Rule For Shepherds” he gives us insight on how to bridge the paradoxes and find a way to leading our people with a unified vision despite the variety of decisions that fill our day. 

DGT Episode 144 - Called To Be Great - Gregory The Great Part 2

Pope St. Gregory The Great has an enigmatic phrase at the beginning of Chapter 3 of his second book of his monumental work, “The Rule Of Shepherds.”  He says, “A leader must be first in all of his actions.”  Simply put this means a leader’s actions must be excellent, magnanimous, kingly.  There’s an indication and an expectation that those who lead live at a higher level of excellence.  But how does this call translate for a Christian today?

DGT Episode 143 - The Challenge To Lead - Gregory The Great Part 1

Let’s face it , leadership is hard!  As soon as we start to lead we encounter a whole host of sacrifices and challenges that we never had to face before.  And yet for everything daunting about it, leadership also presents a unique blessing for us.  By persevering through the challenges and continuing to do the mission Christ has given us, we grow in holiness and in charity.  This is the positive message that Pope Gregory The Great puts forth in his second book of his Rule For Shepherds, and his wisdom from more than a thousand years ago continues today.

DGT Episode 142 - In The King's Service - 1 Timothy 5-6 - The Legacy Of St. Paul Part 5

Christian leaders have to do something difficult – we have to constantly balance asserting ourselves and using our talents and being humble before God.  Errors can happen in both ways either by not asserting ourselves or by losing sight of the service we render to Jesus.  St. Paul was not unaware of this challenge.  In First Timothy 5 and 6 he shows St. Timothy how to make this proper balance and exhorts him to lead while being friend to Christ.

DGT Episode 141 - Steadfast Leadership - 1 Timothy 4 - The Legacy Of St. Paul Part 4

For anyone who has tried it is obvious that leadership is not easy.  Besides skill and opportunity, a leader needs a tremendous amount of steadfastness and just plain grit.  In St. Paul’s First Letter to St. Timothy, we see St. Paul encouraging St. Timothy with the full realization that what he has commanded Timothy to do will be hard.  May the Word of God inspire us to persevere as well.

DGT Episode 140 - Fit To Lead - 1 Timothy 3 - The Legacy Of St. Paul Part 3

Does God expect us to lead out of our strengths or out of our weaknesses?  It seems like both are good options.  In the First Letter of St. Paul to St. Timothy chapter 3 we read St. Timothy give us a list of the qualifications that God wants to see from his bishops and his deacons.  Qualifications which could be applied to any of our positions of leadership.  Is this an indication that God wants us to be qualified for leadership?  If so, how do we get that qualification?

DGT Episode 139 - Leaders For Christ, Leaders For All - 1 Timothy 2 - The Legacy Of St. Paul Part 2

St. Paul the Apostle was an incredible leader in his own right.  Before dying he left his legacy in writing both to St. Timothy and to St. Titus.  In this second part of this series on his First Letter to St. Timothy we see Paul express the importance of leadership and the specific contribution to Christian leadership for everyone in the world.  As Paul encourage Timothy so also he encourages us today.

DGT Episode 138 - Leading From Character - First Timothy Chapter 1 - The Legacy Of St. Paul

Sacred scripture is replete with references to leadership.  And the wisdom of the Saints such as St. Paul can have great impact for the leaders of today.  What does St. Paul leave behind him?  In this series on the First Letter of St. Paul to Timothy I want to examine the lessons in leadership that Paul bequeaths to his young follower.  In chapter one we see Paul leaving a legacy of character based leadership that must both maintain the old and bring it to the new.

DGT Episode 137 - St. Gregory The Great - Of Leaders And Shepherds Part 4

Even though written fifteen hundred years ago, Pope St. Gregory The Great’s landmark treatise on the rule of shepherds continues to provide valuable insight to us today on what it means to lead.  Notably he says that leaders have to be virtuous.  Why is this?  What’s the role of virtue in leadership?  This last class in this series closes out our treatment of this great document by comparing the virtuous rule with the rule of the wicked.