Nick Chellsen's Blog, page 5

Holy Tuesday: 613 Rules For Life

James Tissot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Holy Week Reading Plan: Matthew 22-23

Have you noticed that a lot of leadership books have numbers in the titles?

7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  

12 Rules for Life. 

21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. 1  

33 Leadership Principles From the Life of… 

…you get the point!

I think it would be interesting to ask these authors what they think is their most important habit, rule, or law. Something like this essentially ha...

Holy Monday: Why did Jesus curse the fig tree?

James Tissot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Holy Week Reading Plan: Matthew 21:18-46

In Matthew 21:18-22 there is this peculiar story about Jesus cursing a fig tree.

Verses 18-19 reads:

Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.

(New International Version). 

At fir...

Palm Sunday: Let’s Talk About Flipping Tables

James Tissot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Holy Week Reading Plan: Matthew 21:1-17

“Jesus flipped tables!”

You’ve probably heard Christians use this as justification when they act out in anger. 

All four gospels document the story of Jesus flipping tables and cleansing the temple (Matthew 21:12-17; Mark 11:15-19; Luke 19:45-48; John 2:13-16). 

It’s important to note that Jesus flipping tables was not a one-time thing. Many scholars argue that the account in John’s gosp...

Why is Holy Week Important // Holy Week Bible Reading Plan

Reading plan created by Nick Chellsen on Canva

What is Holy Week?

Holy Week is the week leading up to Easter and Resurrection Sunday. It begins with Jesus entering Jerusalem and ends with His Resurrection.

Why is Holy Week Important?

Holy Week is an important part of Christian faith and theology. It commemorates Jesus’ final days of His earthly ministry. Even though the events of Holy Week took place over 2,000 years ago, they still have the power to teach and transform Christ follow...

How to Start Reading Everyday

March is National Reading Month.

Harry S. Truman has been quoted as saying, “Leaders are readers.” If you want to make reading a daily habit, one of the simplest ways to start is with daily reader books.

These “devotional” style books have a one-page reading for each day of the year. If it is March 4th, turn to that day and read that page.

While daily reading books often focus on religious or spiritual topics1, there are many others out there that cover leadership, philosophy, and ...

What is Discernment?

Photo by Toni Pomar on Unsplash

As a leader, it can sometimes be difficult to know who to trust. We may encounter people who are not who they seem to be. These people may appear to want to help us but actually want to harm us. 

Discernment is the ability to see people for who they really are. It’s discerning safety from harm.

When we look at the leadership of Jesus, we see He taught His disciples to have discernment. In Matthew 10:16, Jesus stated, “I am sending you out as sheep among ...

A Leader Worth Imitating | Summarized by the Author (Nick Chellsen)

It’s been just over a year since I released my book, A Leader Worth Imitating: 33 Leadership Principles From the Life of Jesus.

If you haven’t read it yet, or if you are wanting a refresher, I’m going to summarize it in this post. 

The Bible tells us that Jesus was perfect. 1 Peter 2:22 reads, “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth” (NIV). Because Jesus was perfect, we can conclude that His leadership was also perfect. So by looking at the 33 years of His life, we c...

Sacrifice and Leadership

Photo: Canva

It can be easy to focus on what your purpose gives you. However, there will come a point when you have to give your purpose something. To fulfill your purpose as a leader, you will have to make sacrifices. 

When we look at the leadership of Jesus, we see He made sacrifices to fulfill His purpose. There is no better example of this than His crucifixion. 

When Jesus uttered His famous last words: “It is finished” (John 19:30, NIV), He was not referring to His life being finis...

Imitating the Perfect Leader

If one of your family members or friends were to imitate you, what might they say or do?

My family and friends know that I’m obsessed with the topic of leadership. My wife, Claudia, often makes fun of me for it.

One day, when she was doing laundry, she put on one of my favorite button-up shirts and walked around our house saying, “Look at me! I’m Nick. Leadership, leadership, leadership.”

While her imitating me was funny and has become one of our ongoing jokes, it got me thinking ab...

Why Expectations Are Important

Photo: Canva

Setting expectations is about helping your team know what they need to do. 

When we look at the leadership of Jesus, we see His disciples knew what was expected of them. An example of this is when Jesus instructs His disciples to take up their crosses

Luke 9:23 reads, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (NIV). 

There are two ways to think about the cross in this passage: physical and spiritual. A physical cro...