Happy Monday Leader! It's time to start thinking about your 2026 Goals. What is God stirring in you? If you want to live a big life—one that actually makes a difference—don’t start with your dream. Start with what bothers you. That’s right. The beginning of a God-given dream is often something that feels negative. It’s that ache in your gut when you see something in the world that isn’t right. It’s when you say, “This isn’t how it should be.” That’s what spiritual leaders call holy discontent—the gap between how things are and how they could be. Now, there’s danger in that gap. If you stay there too long, you can get discouraged or frustrated. You can forget the gain—what God’s already done—and focus only on the gap. But if you learn to live in the tension between the two, something powerful happens. That discomfort becomes fuel. It agitates you to action. It moves you from wishing to working. Because when you can describe what’s broken—and imagine what it would look like restored— you’ve got the raw material for a God-sized dream. So this week, take ten minutes and ask yourself: - What bothers me the most? - Why does it bother me? - What would it look like if that changed? Don’t ignore the ache. Let it simmer. Because sometimes, the thing that bothers you most is the very thing God made you to fix. Let it move you. Let it define your dream. Then get to work. You’ve got this. —Gabe P.S. If you want to catch the free replay of my Ministry Goal Setting Session from last week, you can find it on my Facebook Group HERE. P.P.S. Did you know you can schedule a free Strategy Session with me HERE

In leadership—and in life—one of the most powerful shifts we can make is seeing our mistakes not as verdicts, but as laboratories. My approach—something I’ve often talked about on my blog—is to treat leadership and ministry like a sandbox, a place where we’re free to experiment, learn, and grow without the paralyzing fear of getting it wrong. Why? Because the real win isn’t in never making a mistake. It’s in valuing the learning that comes from every slip-up. Carol Dweck’s concept of a growth mindset is a game-changer here: if we can embrace growth as the ultimate achievement, then mistakes become stepping stones, not roadblocks. In practical terms, when we make a genuine leadership mistake—like a bad judgment call made out of selfishness, or not living up to who we’re called to be—the recovery path is both humble and straightforward. First, acknowledge it honestly. Apologize where it’s needed. Then, dig into the root cause—was it fear, pride, a lack of listening to the Holy Spirit? The goal is to let those moments refine us, not define us. In other words, the greatest leaders aren’t the ones who never stumble—they’re the ones who stumble, learn, and get up stronger. So today, let’s reframe our leadership mistakes as a natural and necessary part of the journey. The real victory is in the learning and the growth that follow. What are your thoughts on this subject? Share with us so we can learn and grow together!

💥 My Top 5 Ministry Mistakes (and What They Taught Me) Hey friends — Gabe here. I thought I’d kick things off here in Pastor Skool with something real. After almost 3 decades in ministry, I’ve made more than a few mistakes… and honestly, most of what I’ve learned has come through those mistakes, not around them. So here's my first crack at my Top 5 Ministry Mistakes — the ones that shaped me the most — and maybe they’ll help you avoid some unnecessary pain (or at least remind you you’re not alone). 1️⃣ Measuring Success by Size Instead of Health Early in ministry, I thought growth was the win — bigger numbers, fuller rooms, faster expansion. But what I’ve learned is this: growth without health eventually collapses. 👉 Healthy things grow naturally. Focus on spiritual depth before numerical breadth. 2️⃣ Running Too Fast for My Soul There was a season where I tried to outwork my weariness — and it caught up to me. Rest isn’t a reward for finishing the work; it’s fuel to keep doing it. Your soul can’t run on fumes forever. 3️⃣ Avoiding Hard Conversations Too Long This one hurt to learn. I used to avoid tension in the name of “grace.” But delayed truth breeds dysfunction. If you love people, tell them the truth — sooner, not later. You’ll lose less sleep and build more trust. 4️⃣ Trying to Do Everything Myself Classic achiever move. I thought leading meant doing. Turns out it means developing. When I stopped doing all the ministry and started building leaders, our church and my health both grew stronger. 5️⃣ Underestimating the Power of Clarity I’ve always had vision, but I didn’t always communicate it clearly or consistently. People can’t follow what they can’t see. Say it simply. Say it often. Then show it lived out. 💬 Your Turn These five mistakes taught me more than my successes ever did. If you’ve been leading for a while, I’d love to know — What’s one ministry mistake that shaped you the most? Let’s make Pastor Skool a place where leaders grow through what we’ve been through. 🙏