Pastor Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church tells Esquire magazine in its newest issue how he overcame extreme nervousness and finally found the confidence to speak before thousands. The evangelical Christian leader of America's largest church also reveals the biggest mistake he has made as a preacher, which he says happened early in his career.

Talking with Rachel Richardson for the Esquire essay on public speaking, or "How to Own the Room," the megachurch pastor said that before taking over full-time for his father in the pulpit, he used to be a nervous wreck just making church announcements.

"I was so nervous and I so dreaded doing it, I had to hold on to the podium because I felt like my hands would shake," Osteen told Richardson. "My first thought was 'Why are all these people staring at me?'" more >>

After completing the U.S. portion of a 2,400-mile relay from Atlanta to Guatemala City in Guatemala, a Christian-based global leadership development organization plans to hand over the baton to their Guatemalan partners at the Mexican border near Laredo, Texas, on Friday. The purpose of the approximately 120-day journey by foot (and bicycle in parts of Mexico and Central America) is to bring awareness about plans to activate Christians in leadership positions, first in Guatemala and then elsewhere around the world.

"It's a big initiative and we felt like we need to do something very bold that would be consistent and bring attention to such a worthy cause," John Hull, president and CEO of EQUIP Leadership, told The Christian Post by phone call from Laredo on Wednesday.

"The EQUIP World Relay is a journey that represents what leadership is all about – a journey full of extraordinary challenges, hard work, sacrifice and daily-mile markers that ultimately reach a goal that is bigger than oneself, a goal that could never be accomplished alone," he said. more >>

Helping Christian converts develop into spiritually mature disciples of Jesus takes more than a church program, said Jo Saxton Wednesday at the 2013 Exponential conference in Orlando, Fla. Making disciples who make disciples requires life-changing sacrifices and for those involved to "have a life worth imitating," said the discipleship expert.

Saxton, speaking before thousands on how Christians can transition from teaching about being a disciple of Jesus to modeling how a follower of Christ actually lives, is a director of 3DM, an organization that trains churches and Christian leaders "to do discipleship and mission in an increasingly post-Christian world," according to the movement's website.

"Are we like the (guardian) or will we be like the parent?" the U.K. native asked her audience, referencing Paul's first letter to the Corinthian faith community in which the apostle distinguishes between being a "paidagogos," a guardian or nanny, and being a parent. more >>

IRVINE, Calif. – Brad Lomenick, who is the key visionary and president of one of America's most influential leadership movements, said it is time for Christian leaders to take responsibility for equipping the millennial generation to lead successfully.

Lomenick's recently released book, The Catalyst Leader, is about him sharing more than 20 years of leadership, including the last ten years at the helm of the 14-year-old Catalyst movement. The movement has found a community primarily inside a series of successful conferences throughout the year.

"Part of the whole premise of the book is that the next generation is called, but not equipped," Lomenick told The Christian Post recently at Catalyst West held at Mariner's Church in Irvine, Calif. "They are passionate. They want to change the world, but they have not been given tools because in many ways we have skipped a leadership handoff that my generation is responsible for. more >>

Jim Putman, founder and senior pastor of Real Life Ministries in Post Falls, Idaho, shared Tuesday at the 2013 Exponential Conference what he believes can help churches and their leaders to make genuine disciples of Christ, primary of which, he says, is being sensitive to Jesus' example in the Bible instead of being seeker-sensitive.

"They're not being disciplined," said Putman of spiritually immature Christians. "They're being converted and asked to come and watch."

Speaking before an audience of more than 25,000, participating in person and virtually via a live webcast, Putman focused much of his message on Matthew 16:18, in which Jesus tells his disciple Simon after he declares him the messiah: "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." more >>

Francis Chan bared some of his struggles with doubt and being a model disciple of Jesus Christ Tuesday during the opening session of the 2013 Exponential Conference attended by thousands in Orlando, Fla.

Chan spoke before 5,300 in-person attendees at First Baptist Church of Orlando, the chosen conference venue, and another 20,000 viewing the event live via the Internet. Chan was the second minister to take the stage to address the need for Christian discipleship, or "discipleshift," the theme chosen for this year's Exponential gathering.

However, instead of delving into his prepared remarks on discipleship, a subject he has been on a mission to revive in churches and faith communities since leaving his California church, the evangelical Christian minister confessed that he felt convicted by the message of the previous speaker, Pastor Jim Putman, on the issue of ministers letting the opinion of others sway their messages and define their work. more >>