Monday, October 9, 2017

New DOJ Guidance Includes 20 Key Principles on Protecting Religious Liberty

In a set of memos by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has just issued extensive guidance on protecting religious liberty.

The first memo is directed to all executive departments and agencies and covers 20 critical areas. It begins by stating, “Except in the narrowest circumstances, no one should be forced to choose between living out his or her faith and complying with the law. Therefore, to the greatest extent practicable and permitted by law, religious observance and practice should be reasonably accommodated in all government activity, including employment, contracting, and programming.”

Churches and ministries should take note of the following 20 principles as summarized from the DOJ memo:

  1. The freedom of religion is a fundamental right of paramount importance, expressly protected by federal law.
  2. The free exercise of religion includes the right to act or abstain from action in accordance with one’s religious beliefs.
  3. The freedom of religion extends to persons and organizations.
  4. Americans do not give up their freedom of religion by participating in the marketplace, partaking of the public square, or interacting with government.
  5. Government may not restrict acts or abstentions because of the beliefs they display.
  6. Government may not target religious individuals or entities for special disabilities based on their religion.
  7. Government may not target religious individuals or entities through discriminatory enforcement of neutral, generally applicable laws.
  8. Government may not officially favor or disfavor particular religious groups.
  9. Government may not interfere with the autonomy of a religious organization.
  10. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 prohibits the federal government from substantially burdening any aspect of religious observance or practice, unless imposition of that burden on a particular religious adherent satisfies strict scrutiny.
  11. RFRA’s protection extends not just to individuals, but also to organizations, associations, and at least some for-profit corporations.
  12. RFRA does not permit the federal government to second-guess the reasonableness of a religious belief.
  13. A governmental action substantially burdens an exercise of religion under RFRA if it bans an aspect of an adherent’s religious observance or practice, compels an act inconsistent with that observance or practice, or substantially pressures the adherent to modify such observance or practice.
  14. The strict scrutiny standard applicable to RFRA is exceptionally demanding.
  15. RFRA applies even where a religious adherent seeks an exemption from a legal obligation requiring the adherent to confer benefits on third parties.
  16. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, prohibits covered employers from discriminating against individuals on the basis of their religion.
  17. Title VII’s protection extends to discrimination on the basis of religious observance or practice as well as belief, unless the employer cannot reasonably accommodate such observance or practice without undue hardship on the business.
  18. The Clinton Guidelines on Religious Exercise and Religious Expression in the Federal Workplace provide useful examples for private employers of reasonable accommodations for religious observance and practice in the workplace.
  19. Religious employers are entitled to employ only persons whose beliefs and conduct are consistent with the employers’ religious precepts.
  20. As a general matter, the federal government may not condition receipt of a federal grant or contract on the effective relinquishment of a religious organization’s hiring exemptions or attributes of its religious character.

Additionally, Attorney General Sessions issued a second memo specifically to his department (DOJ) on how this guidance should be implemented.

Together, these companion memos provide important insights into how the Trump Administration will attempt to protect religious freedom consistent with federal law and the First Amendment.

[Source: ECFA.  ECFA is not rendering legal, accounting, or other professional advice or service. Professional advice on specific issues should be sought from an accountant, lawyer, or other professional.]

District Court Calls Minister's Housing Allowance Unconstitutional

A ruling has just been issued by a Wisconsin federal district court calling the minister’s housing allowance unconstitutional.

This decision does not come as a surprise as the same judge issued a similar ruling back in 2013 before the case was dismissed by a higher appeals court on the technical grounds of standing. Judge Barbara Crabb writes in her latest ruling, “I adhere to my earlier conclusion that [the minister’s housing exclusion] violates the establishment clause because it does not have a secular purpose or effect and because a reasonable observer would view the statute as an endorsement of religion.”

Fast forward several years, and the parties and issues are very similar except that the plaintiff bringing the case (Freedom From Religion Foundation) has tried adjusting its approach to overcome the standing hurdle.

What is the immediate impact for ministers and churches?

At this point, the court has issued its ruling simply declaring the housing allowance is unconstitutional but without any damages or other remedies awarded, so there is no immediate effect on ministers who are eligible for the housing exclusion under current law.

Additionally, it is likely the district court’s decision will be appealed, and a higher court will have to determine whether FFRF has standing on the facts of this case, and if there is standing, whether it agrees with the lower court that the housing allowance is unconstitutional.

[Source: Freedom From Religion Foundation v. Mnuchin, No. 16-CV-215 (W.D. Wis. Oct. 6, 2017)]

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

What the New Overtime Rules Mean for Churches

The Department of Labor announced in May an update to overtime regulations. The ramifications for employers are significant. Nonprofits, including churches, are not exempt from these rules.

Except for those in ministerial positions, employees who make less than $47,476 yearly (or $913 weekly) must receive overtime pay starting December 1, 2016, according to the DOL’s new regulations. Currently, those making less than $23,660 yearly (or $445 a week) are entitled to overtime pay. Hourly employees are always eligible for overtime pay, regardless of their compensation level; salaried employees who earn less than the new threshold may be eligible for overtime pay unless certain additional criteria are met.

These changes likely mean many churches will face substantial increases in their overtime costs, unless they make substantial changes, since the number of employees eligible to receive overtime pay will dramatically increase. And costs will rise again in the future: the new rules also require automatic increases to the salary threshold every three years beginning in 2020.

In the August issue of Church Finance Today, Richard Hammar explains the DOL’s actions and how the Fair Labor Standards Act relates to this, how this affects churches, and the possible steps churches can take to minimize the effects of these changes on their budgets. A “FLSA Classification Decision Tree for Churches and Other Religious Organizations” is also featured.

(Source: Christian Newswire)

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Prayer Request for Synergy

Please help us pray for Synergy Ministries. We are in need of office facilities to accommodate the counseling center as well as ministry functions. We are asking God for six donors who can give $5,000 each.

God knows the Great Commission work that is being done through Synergy Ministries. He knows the lives that have literally been saved through Synergy Counseling Center.

Our mission and our work are genuine.

We are not asking people to give what they do not have. We are asking for people to give what they do have and what God lays on their heart.

Synergy Ministries, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. All donations are completely tax-deductible.

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Why We Pray for America

The National Day of Prayer is a vital part of America’s heritage and is as relevant and critical today as it was at the first call by our Continental Congress in 1775. Established in public law by a joint resolution of Congress, signed by President Truman in 1952, then amended to designate the day under the 100th Congress and President Reagan in 1988, it states that:

“The President shall issue each year a proclamation designating the first Thursday in May as a National Day of Prayer on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups and as individuals.”

In Romans 13, the Apostle Paul exhorts us to “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.”

Not only are we exhorted to submit in recognition of God’s sovereignty, but we are encouraged and exhorted to pray! “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.” It is both our spiritual responsibility according to God’s Word and it is also our civic duty as a citizen or resident of this great nation to respond when we are called upon by our leaders. During times of war, we have rallied millions to defend our nation against a physical threat, how much more should we rise up to defend her against a spiritual one – the unseen enemy who seeks to ‘steal, kill, and destroy’ all that God has established and all those that follow Him.

As our nation struggles with foreign and domestic threats, economic insecurity, cultural tensions, and continual challenges to basic constitutional rights, citizens of the United States are preparing to heed the call by our elected leaders to rise to the occasion and exercise one of their most precious freedoms – the right to gather, turn to God, and pray. Will you respond to the call? Will you pray for America?

- Rev. Dion Elmore

Sunday, April 17, 2016

A New Bible Study Series in Fort Payne, AL

Several have asked about starting a Bible study again. If we meet for one hour on Sunday afternoon's, would you attend? (Please comment below.)

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Federal Government Files Latest Brief in Clergy Housing Challenge

The lawsuit by the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) challenging the clergy housing exclusion proceeded this week as the government filed a brief in the Seventh Circuit defending the constitutionality of the law and arguing that FFRF lacks legal standing to bring the case.

After reciting the history behind the longstanding clergy housing provisions now found in Section 107 of the tax code, the government’s brief summarizes the proceedings thus far in the FFRF case and explains why the Treasury and the IRS believe the Western District of Wisconsin reached the wrong conclusion in finding the clergy housing allowance exclusion of Section 107(2) unconstitutional.

First, the government argues that the district court should have dismissed FFRF’s case because the organization and its leaders lack standing required of plaintiffs to bring a challenge in federal court. While FFRF claims the clergy housing allowance provision unlawfully discriminates against leaders of non-religious groups, FFRF’s atheist co-presidents never actually tried to claim a housing allowance for themselves with the IRS. As a result, the government argues it was premature for the district court to rule that FFRF suffered any kind of personal injury sufficient to bring the lawsuit.

“Plaintiffs here have not personally asked for the § 107(2) exclusion, nor are they litigating their own tax liabilities. Because they seek only to deprive others of the exclusion, they have suffered no actual personal injury at the hands of the Government.”

Then, assuming for argument’s sake that FFRF and its leaders do have standing, the government’s brief goes on to explain why the clergy housing allowance exclusion is not unconstitutional as a permissible accommodation of religion. The government suggests that the history behind the law demonstrates it satisfies each part of the test used by courts to evaluate whether a law violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

“If the Court were to reach the merits, it should uphold § 107(2) as constitutional. Section 107(2) has a secular purpose and effect and avoids excessive church-state entanglement ... In striking down the law, the District Court erred. It failed to come to grips with the reasons Congress enacted § 107 in the first place. It also disregarded the fact that the housing exclusions provided to ministers are merely part of a larger Congressional design providing exclusions or deductions for certain employer-provided housing benefits for all taxpayers.”

Until the appeals process concludes and the Seventh Circuit issues a ruling, the suit will have no effect on ministers who currently receive a housing allowance from their church or other employer.

[Source: Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. v. Lew, No. 14-1152 (7th Cir.)]

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Sunday, April 14, 2013

A Healthy Church


In the second and third chapters of John's Revelation, we find the letters dictated to the seven churches. Here, in a uniquely direct way, we have the Lord's assessment of health indicators for local congregations.

What strikes me is that some of the usual indicators—evangelism, stewardship, church planting, attendance are not evident.  In a quick scan of these two chapters, the indicators that stand out are:

  • holiness and dealing with sin.
  • endurance—being "overcomers."  The Lord praises churches that face corporate challenges with vital faith.  That's an idea I hadn't thought much about, but churches do face difficult times—a rash of deaths or unemployment or natural disaster.
  • confronting evil and heresy in the church.
  • exclusive love for Christ.
  • corporate growth in ministry—"you are doing more now than before."
  • love for one another.  This is evident in the specifics of how the Christians are called to relate to each other dealing with sin, earnestness of purpose, etc.

[by Lee Eclov]

Sources of Congregational Conflict


Monday, January 28, 2013

Cleveland, TN Opens New Airport; Remembers COGOP History


Cleveland Municipal Airport Authority Chairwoman Lynn DeVault told a quick history of Hardwick Field during her opening remarks as the master of ceremonies as the new Jetport was dedicated.  She said the original airport was a grassy field owned by the Church of God of Prophecy.  The church flew white airplanes from Cleveland to mission fields throughout the Appalachians (The White Angel Fleet).

“Voice of Evangelism will have a hangar complex here and continue their mission work as Dr. Perry Stone flies around the country,” she said.

Lt. Gov. and former Hamilton County Mayor Claude Ramsey said the airport is the next step in helping Cleveland grow and have more opportunities.

“The governor’s goal is to bring about an atmosphere in this state that helps bring prosperity.  The government doesn't create jobs.  You create jobs.  Our job is to try to get the atmosphere right for you to grow and prosper,” he said.

Evangelist Perry Stone offered the invocation to start the event.  “This will be an airport I will be flying in and out of several times a week. We definitely want to pray a really good prayer,” he said.

He expressed thanks “for the leadership that put this wonderful facility together for business and commerce, ministry and guests, and all of the activity that will be taking place.”

Friday, December 28, 2012

Pastor Andy Stanley and Church Mourn Loss of Staff in Car Crash


Pastor Andy Stanley and the thousands who attend North Point Community Church are mourning the loss of one of their staff members who died in a car accident Tuesday night.

The Alpharetta, Ga., megachurch made the announcement Wednesday, tweeting, "Our hearts are broken."

Celeste and Ryan McCormick, both 27, were involved in a collision with another vehicle in Alabama. Celeste, who was a passenger in a 2003 Honda, died after a 2003 Chevrolet struck them. Ryan sustained injuries but survived.

The driver of the Chevrolet, Brandon Ray Sellers, 20, was also injured.

Alabama State Troopers are investigating the crash.

The McCormicks are both part of the staff at North Point Community Church, one of the largest churches in the country. They served at the megachurch's Gwinnett campus, one of five campuses.

Gwinnett Church is located in Duluth, Ga., approximately 15 miles to the east of the main North Point campus.

In a brief message posted online for the congregation on Wednesday, Gwinnett Church stated, "It is with deep sorrow that I must let you know that Celeste died in the accident. Ryan is currently recovering at a hospital in Montgomery and his prognosis is good.

"Both Ryan and Celeste have done so much for Gwinnett Church. Ryan is on our Service Programming team and Celeste was a part of our UpStreet staff. We are heartbroken and we will miss her greatly. Please pray for Ryan, their parents, and our team."

UpStreet is a Sunday gathering for elementary-aged kids (K - 5th grade).

Members of the church and public have expressed their support with messages of prayer.

"What a heart-wrenching blow to all of us who loved her and fealt (sic) her love. Celeste will be greatly missed. It is comforting to know, that she is safe and whole in our heavenly Father's arms," wrote Bruce & Michelle Saarela on the church's website.

Scott & Stephanie Goodspeed commented, "I served on staff with Ryan at Dogwood Church and my wife and I enjoyed the privilege of doing their pre-marriage counseling. What an amazing love for Christ and thus each other and a testament to their great parents, pastors and disciplers in their lives.

"Like you, our hearts are full of shock, sorrow and hope as we pray for Ryan, their families and your church family."

North Point Community Church did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

[By Lillian Kwon , Christian Post Reporter]

Christian Pastor Saeed Abedini Imprisoned in Iran


A 32-year-old Iranian who is a U.S. citizen and a Christian convert has been imprisoned without notice of any formal charges while visiting his family in Iran, according to his wife and attorneys in the U.S., who are now hoping that a media campaign will help set him free.

The Rev. Saeed Abedini, who lives in the U.S. with his wife and two young children, was making one of his frequent visits to see his parents and the rest of his family in Iran, his country of origin and where he spent many years as a Christian leader and community organizer developing Iran’s underground home church communities for Christian converts.

On this last trip, the Iranian government pulled him off a bus and said he must face a penalty for his previous work as a Christian leader in Iran.

He is currently awaiting trial at Iran’s notoriously brutal Evin Prison, where he has been incarcerated since late September.

“When he became a Christian, he became a criminal in his own country. His passion was to reach the people of Iran,” Naghmeh, his wife, said in an exclusive interview with Fox News.

“He comes from a very close-knit family, and he loved evangelizing and passing out Bibles on the streets of Tehran. This was his passion,” she said.

In July, Abedini left his wife and kids to go to Iran to visit family and continue a humanitarian effort he began years ago to build an orphanage.

After a short visit to a nearby country, Abedini was traveling back into Iran to catch his flight back to the U.S. when members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard stopped his bus near the Turkey-Iran border and pulled Abedini from the bus, confiscating his passports and subjecting him to intense interrogation, according to his wife.

After weeks under house arrest and many calls to Iran’s passport control office about the status of his confiscated passport, Abedini was told that his case has been referred to the Revolutionary Guard, the Iranian government’s elite military force.

On Sept. 26, five men kicked open the door of Abedini’s parents’ residence in Tehran where they collected all communications devices and arrested him while placing the rest of his family members, who are also Christians converts from Islam, under house arrest.

The family remains under house arrest, according to Naghmeh.

Two days before the home raid, Naghmeh reports getting a call to her cellphone in the U.S., from someone she thinks was an Iranian government agent threatening that she would “never see him again.”

Abedini is the father of a house church movement in Iran, a community of underground places of worship for former Muslims who convert to Christianity and are not allowed to formally pray in recognized churches.

Over the course of his involvement, his home church movement had about 100 churches in 30 Iranian cities with more than 2,000 members.

“It was just growing so fast. They see the underground churches as a threat and they see Christianity as a tool from the West to undermine them,” Naghmeh said. “They think if the country becomes more Christian, they are no longer under Islamic authority. That’s why it’s a threat.”

But “Christianity saved his life,” Naghmeh says of her husband, who converted at the age of 20, after becoming severely depressed from undergoing suicide bomber training by a radical Muslim group.

Abedini was recruited in high school and taken to the mosque to be trained, she says. The more he sought to be a devout Muslim and the deeper he went into training, the more depressed he became.

Under Shariah, or Islamic law, a Muslim who converts to Christianity is on a par with someone waging war against Islam. Death sentences for such individuals are prescribed by fatwas, or legal decrees, and reinforced by Iran’s Constitution, which allows judges to rely on fatwas for determining charges and sentencing on crimes not addressed in the Iranian penal code.

All religious minorities in Iran, including Bahais, Zoroastrians, Jews and Christians, have faced various forms of persecution and political and social marginalization throughout the regime’s 30-year reign. But the government saves its harshest retribution for those who have abandoned Islam.

During the many rounds of interrogations, Abedini has informally been told he will be charged for threatening the national security of Iran and espionage, due to his involvement with Christian house churches and foreign Christian satellite TV ministries.

The Iranian government offered bail in the amount of 500 million toman, or roughly $410,000. Abedini’s family has prepared the bail documents many times already but have not been successful in having it accepted or approved, they say.

Just this week they prepared yet again the bail documents but were told they were not going to be accepted. When they inquired, they were told, “Boro Gomsho!” or get lost.

“It’s hardest on the kids,” Naghmeh said. “Saeed was a stay-at-home dad. My daughter said she is forgetting Daddy’s voice and she asked me, ‘Do you think he has a beard now?’ I didn’t even think of that. She keeps playing the home videos over and over. It’s the hardest at night because he had a night routine with them when he would read them books and tuck them in. They miss that the most.”

Abedini and his wife had met in Iran in 2002, while she was there working for Iranian relatives, and were married shortly thereafter. Together, they worked as Christian leaders in the underground house churches. After facing persecution for these activities, in 2005, they moved to the U.S. together.

His first trip back to Iran was in 2009 with his wife and two children to visit his family when he came under government scrutiny. As the family attempted to catch their flight back to the U.S., Abedini was detained and told he would have to stay in the country for further questioning. His wife and children were put on a plane bound for the U.S., separated from their husband and father.

After the arrest and rounds of intense interrogation, in which the interrogators threatened Abedini with death for his conversion to Christianity, they agreed to release him, according to his attorneys, but only after he signed a written agreement in which the government would not charge him for his Christian activities, and he would be allowed to enter and exit the country so long as he ceased all official house church activities.

According to his attorneys, he had honored this agreement. “He thought if he honored his part, they would honor theirs. He was transparent about his humanitarian work there,” said Tiffany Barrans, International Legal Director at the American Center for Law and Justice based in Washington D.C, the organization representing Abedini’s U.S.-based family.

This was ninth trip since 2009 to visit family and to continue his humanitarian work on developing a non-sectarian orphanage in the city of Rasht on a family-owned land plot.

“You have a situation of arbitrary detention here. Iran is violating its own constitution and its international obligations. As citizens of the world, we need to wake up to these violations. Iran needs to be exposed for its violation of these laws,” said Barrans, who has been working very closely with Naghmeh to push for her husband’s release.

The American Center for Law and Justice is providing legal support to Naghmeh by working through the US government, members of Congress, various governments around the world, and with leaders in the United Nations to help release Pastor Saeed.

The ACLJ previously played an integral role in reaching various government representatives in the case of imprisoned minister Youcef Nadarkhani, who was freed from an Iranian prison after nearly three years following a tremendous international outcry demanding his release.

Despite the fact that Abedini was arrested Sept. 26, the family elected to work through different private means to get him released. In that time, however, he was denied access to an attorney and was badly been beaten by prison guards. According to his wife, Abedini is also being severely beaten by his cell mates who self-identify as members of Al Qaeda. The family is greatly concerned for his health and well being.

The U.S. has not had formal diplomatic ties with the Iranian government since 1980 and relies on alternative efforts in such instances.

Fox News reached out to the State Department for comment on Abedini’s case but has not received a call back yet.

“We were hopeful that the Iranian government would have released him by now and that private efforts would have been more successful. Also, as Saeed has family in Iran, we had to be mindful of the fact that any public action taken could put his family at risk,” said Barrans.

“They see that the house church culture is alive and thriving. They believe that making an example out of their former leader will deter others from practicing and converting to Christianity.”

Several house church members, friends and distant relatives of Abedini have had to flee the country in recent months after being summoned by the government to collect evidence against him.

As a convert away from Islam, worshippers are not permitted to attend services at official churches. Underground house churches became a popular way to get around this restriction.

“They have denied converts the opportunity to worship in an official place of worship. Then they tell them they can’t practice their faith underground, and doing so is a crime against Iran’s national security interests. How is this not a violation of religious freedom?” Barrans said.

[FoxNews]

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Merry Christmas

Don & Yvonne Brock
From our home to yours.

Leadership Development in 2013


As the year winds down, it’s a good time to reflect on what you've accomplished and learned as a leader and what you’d like to focus on for the coming year.  Creating an Individual Development Plan (IDP) is a great way to capture those actions and increases your chances of keeping your commitments to yourself.

Senior leaders often hire executive coaches to help them create their development plan.  A good coach has the ability to ask just the right question at the right time in order to create insight and inspiration to change. However, a good executive coach doesn't come cheap.  For those of you on limited budgets and working for frugal or cash-strapped organizations, have no fear, you've come to the right place.

When you are ready, take out a piece of paper and a pen, or a tablet for you techies, and answer each one of the following questions.  Managers, once you've created your own plan, use the questions to coach your team to create their plans.

Purpose and commitment:

  1. Why are you interested in developing your leadership skills?
  2. How is becoming a better leader going to help you achieve the results you are trying to achieve?
  3. What’s motivating you?  Are you challenged in your current role?  Do you have aspirations for a new role?  If it’s just to be a better leader in your current role, why is this important to you and what do you hope to achieve?
  4. How inspired and committed are you to changing?

Identifying the “what”:

  1. What does great leadership look like to you?
  2. Who is a role model leader for you and why?  What do they do?
  3. What leadership competencies (skills, knowledge, attributes) are important to your organization, for your current role, and/or for the role you aspire to?  Why?
  4. How do you stack up against these competencies?  If you don’t know or are not sure, how can you get feedback?
  5. What are your greatest strengths as a leader and why?
  6. What are your greatest opportunities for improvement as a leader, and why?
  7. What are the three areas (strengths or opportunities) you are committed to work on that if improved, will have the biggest impact on your desired results?  Why?

Identify the “how”:

  1. Is your current role the best opportunity to develop these three areas?  If not, are you ready to consider a new role?  If so, what would it be?  Why?
  2. What will you do, and who should you talk to further explore this possible change?
  3. What are some challenging assignments or projects, both on the job and outside of work that would give you an opportunity to learn and apply these new competencies?
  4. Who’s really good at any one (or all) of those things?  How can you approach them to ask for their advice?
  5. Who can you meet with on a regular basis to get further advice and/or support?  Your manager, a mentor, a coach?
  6. How can you find a good course, a book, articles, websites, blogs, podcasts, and other learning resources related to your learning goals?

Implementation and follow-up:

  1. What’s your action plan?  Who’s going to do what, and by when?
  2. What resources and support do you need to achieve your goals?
  3. How will you share your plan with your manager?  What support do you need from your manager?
  4. In order to hold yourself accountable and gain additional support, who else will you share your plan with and how?
  5. How will you ensure you do what you say you were going to do?
  6. What roadblocks do you expect or need to plan for?  What are some ways to overcome them?
  7. On a scale of 1-10, how committed are you to your plan?  If anything less than a 10, why?  What would you need to change to make it a 10?
  8. What will you do to ensure those new learnings become a regular part of who you are and how you think and behave and a leader? 

Side note: It was an interesting challenge to limit myself to only asking questions, and to use as many open-ended questions as possible. I have to admit, I’m more of a “teller” than an “asker”.  Try it sometime, as a way to explain something you think you know a lot about to someone.  It will challenge your ability as a coach.

[from Great Leadership by Dan McCarthy]