“Kids Say the Darndest Things” or How I Learned to Listen

by Bob Dare, Command Sergeant Major, US Army, Retired

Wiesbaden, Germany, 1990. Bob Dare’s son Matt, a high school senior weighing college offers, came to him wanting to talk. Two sentences in, Bob had diagnosed the problem and started handing down the solution. Then Matt stopped him cold. What a 17-year-old taught a Command Sergeant Major about the art of listening, and why it is never too late to change. Click here to read the full article.

Read full bio

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Give Us Five Podcast

Rev. Dr. John R. Faison, Sr.

This month’s Give Us Five podcast features Rev. Dr. John R. Faison, Sr., Senior Pastor of Watson Grove Baptist Church, a multigenerational, multisite church with campuses in Nashville and Franklin, Tennessee. A decorated veteran who served eight years as a US Army officer, he has led The Grove since 2012 through substantial spiritual and numerical growth. He is also CEO of the John Faison Leadership Group, providing executive coaching and consulting to pastors and business leaders. An interview with a proven leader who answers our five questions on his experiences and successes.

The Poetry Corner

Loss and Gain

When I compare
What I have lost with what I have gained,
What I have missed with what attained,
Little room do I find for pride.

I am aware
How many days have been idly spent;
How like an arrow the good intent
Has fallen short or been turned aside.

But who shall dare
To measure loss and gain in this wise?
Defeat may be victory in disguise;
The lowest ebb is the turn of the tide.

— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Let's Get Spiritual

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.”

— Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

True Growth Community of Practice

The next Community of Practice has yet to be scheduled. A new date will be announced in the near future.