Dick Kunnert and Owen Phelps, co-founders of the Catholic Vision for Leading Like Jesus Encounter, will co-facilitate the Encounter Friday, May 5, at the Radisson Hotel & Conference Center in Rockford, IL. The cost of the Encounter is just $79, and arrangements are also being made to offer a special room rate for guests coming in from out of town. The Radisson is on the bus route from Chicago’s O’Hare Airport to Rockford. The Encounter is our foundational 1-day program which offers a rich mix of live presentations, videos, large and small group discussions and self-discovery exercises to help people l...

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By Dick Kunnert Yeshua Fellow & Master Facilitator Not long after retiring from academic life, Henri Nouwen wrote a monograph about an adventure he had delivering a talk to a group of priests and ministers in Washington, DC. The booklet is titled In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership. The booklet covers two areas: the content of the talk, which was on leadership, and, the interaction that went on between Father and his travel companion, Bill.  Father Nouwen had decided to retire to a L’Arche community in Toronto, Canada, named Daybreak. Father was to be the chaplain to ...

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The Catholic Vision for Leading Like Jesus Encounter is now available in Spanish, and the Yeshua Catholic International Leadership Institute is ready to ship Spanish Facilitator Kits. The kits include: A PowerPoint presentation with imbedded videos; A Facilitator’s Guide; and A copy of the Participant’s Workbook. “It’s everything a Facilitator needs to present the Encounter in Spanish,” says Dr. Owen Phelps, Director of the Yeshua Institute. Dream comes true In the 1990s, Dr. Phelps, author of The Catholic Vision for Leading Like Jesus book and workbook, was Director of Co...

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By Chris D’Souza, “... for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities — all things were created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. - Colossians 1: 16-17 (RSVCE) My colleague returned from a successful stint abroad. Extremely pleased with himself, he pompously announced that he had minted money, sampled exotic cuisines and enjoyed liaisons with women of every nationality. He then smugly concluded that he had lived it up enough for a lifetim...

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By Owen Phelps, Ph.D. Years ago when I was in the publishing business, for a certain number of years we produced “galleys” (long columns) of hard copy using phototypesetters that read paper tapes punched by keyboard operators. It all sounds very complicated now. But those phototypesetters were incredible machines compared to anything we had used before. Even the basic ones could output type in justified columns at the rate of 60 to several hundred lines per minute, all the while mixing eight or more typefaces in any of eight to 100 sizes. Of course, like any human creation none of them was perfect. ...

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By Owen Phelps, Ph.D. One of the most difficult and spirit-crushing things that can happen at work is that someone – a peer or a person you are supervising – goes over your head to your boss. Typically, when you first hear of this, you are thrust into turmoil. A part of you wants to fight. A part of you feels like you already have been beaten up and tossed in an alley. Trust flies right out the window. What’s a person to do? First and best advice: Don’t do anything that you feel like doing. Instead, find a comfortable seat, ideally in your office, and take a breath. Then take anoth...

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It’s never an easy task. And often it’s downright distasteful. And on occasion it’s dangerous. We’re talking about the unenviable task of having to deliver bad news to your boss – especially when you share some responsibility for the outcome. There’s probably no way to make this task fun or the least bit fulfilling. It’s bound to be painful even if the boss is the world’s best -- because in that case you don’t want to let him or her down. But if the boss is a big grouch, his or her likely reactions may be too awful to contemplate. Here’s where an insig...

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By Chris D’Souza The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over. (Jn 13:2 NABRE) Let’s reflect on Judas and his action today. Why would a close disciple of Jesus want to betray Him? After witnessing so many miracles, hearing so much about the Kingdom of God and spending most of his time with the Master, how could he ever decide to betray Him? It doesn’t make sense, does it? Perhaps the answer lies in the expectations of Judas. He expected Jesus to start a political rebellion to overthrow the Roman empire. Had Jesus done that, Judas would have had a very hig...

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By Owen Phelps, Ph.D. I was teaching a Catholic Vision for Leading Like Jesus course near the end of a diocese’s two-year Ministry Formation program when the question came from one of the students. “What’s the hardest part about teaching people to lead like Jesus,” the woman asked. “Getting them to accept that God really loves them unconditionally.” I blurted that out so fast there wasn’t time to give the matter any thought.  But in the next few seconds as I considered what I said, I knew I had spoken the truth. Getting people to accept the fact that God really ...

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When it comes to language, Bill Treasurer is not likely to be remembered for being couth. But when it comes to effective leadership, he’s on board with the core teachings of S3 Jesus-like Leadership. Treasurer is author of four books, including most recently A Leadership Kick in the Ass, which focuses on what he calls a “Holy Shift” from self-centeredness to the importance of humility, goodness and redemption. Sound familiar? “Having worked with thousands of leaders over the last two decades, I’ve become convinced that leaders who focus more on others have far greater success than tho...

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