Nat Crawford - Executive Coach, Speaker, Leader

"I'll never be able to do that. I just don't have that gift." Have you ever heard someone say this? Have you ever said this? We all have! Often we think of tasks, goals, activities we want to or know we should be doing, but we fall down in self-defeat. It's discouraging at times wanting to be part of something exciting, but something inside tells us we can't. An area that is usually at the top of the list for Christians is outreach and/or evangelism (I'll use the terms interchangeably). But what if there was a way - a formula to do effective outreach that freed you from self-defeat and doubt? There is. Look at 1 Corinthians 3:5-9: After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s...

I just started working my way back through the book of Romans by the apostle Paul. It is a rich letter and appears as if it could have been written today. I'd like to share 3 myths I observed that Christians believe and should change. Myth 1: We are too bold with the gospel. Paul writes in Romans 1:14-16 "I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." He was under obligation to all people to share the gospel. For those he knew best (Jews) and those he was called (Greeks). Today, there is a myth in Christianity that says, "Christians are too bold with the gospel. Just a bunch of Bible thumpers." This is a myth, if not a lie. The problem is not an overabundance of proselytization, but...

We have a love problem, don’t we? Of course, this isn’t new. We’ve always had a love problem. We say we love someone, but then we don’t know how to express it. We say we love someone, but we choose not to express it. Or if we are honest, maybe, we just don’t love that someone. Where is this coming from? As the director of local outreach at a church, one of the questions I often ask myself is “why don’t more people show interest in Christianity?” I read a blog recently from James Emory White who partially answered this question. White said this: ‘A full 79% of unchurched Americans agreed with this statement: "If a friend of mind really values their faith, I don't mind them talking about it." [1] Did you catch it? Don’t miss the key to the point: “If a friend of mine, really values their faith .” I read that as someone who has an authentic faith. A faith that is not perfect, but real and deep. It sounds like something that comes flows out of true love. Today’s...

Each night when my boys go to bed, we engage in our bedtime ritual. At the Crawford household we are committed to our traditions! This ritual is special to us not only because it’s quality time together, but also it lays the foundation for a better day tomorrow. There’s no doubt some nights I’m exhausted. I’ll try to back out of one the bedtime activities. But then… “Dad…” Simon says with that “you’re not getting out of this” look. “Please, Dad! Please” Landon adds with his cute wink. “We can’t skip, Dad. It’s tradition!” Simon reminds me. “You’re right, Si” I smile and get back to the routine. Even when I’m tired, I won’t deviate; because I know my days of being an active participant in their bedtime activities will be gone. When that transition happens, I will continue these five bedtime activities because I know it creates a better tomorrow. I’m aware you may not want to do all five. That’s fine. I simply wanted to share our process because it has been so powerful. We read...

“Rub a dub dub, thanks for the grub.” This might make you chuckle as you think back on family dinner prayers. “Now I lay me down to sleep. Pray the Lord my soul to keep.” This might take you back to your bedtime ritual or maybe Metallica’s famous Enter Sandman. For many people, their prayer life goes no further than these simple and repetitious prayers. But isn’t there a better way to pray? Absolutely!  What is prayer? Prayer is simply conversing with the God of the universe. It’s a conversation…but one with God! Now think about this. Imagine you went to you best friend, spouse, or child and talked to them in cute, memorized phrases. Chances are they’d be annoyed and you’d be bored. Why would we want to do that with God? We shouldn’t. So, what’s the alternative? There are various prayer models to follow. Even Jesus Christ told His disciples (and us) how to pray (Matthew 6:9-13). The reformer Martin Luther wrote book “A Simple Way to Pray.” He suggested praying the Lord’s p...

I don’t know about you, but there have been different stages of my life where I asked myself “why am I not getting the results I want.” I then go into a process of analysis and asking question after question. It is can be almost maddening as I go round and round. I recently entered that circle. Thankfully I had a conversation with one of my biggest cheerleaders: my mom. As a former successful entrepreneur and business owner, she knows what it takes to be a standout in any career. Our conversation went like this: “How are you doing, Nat?” “Frustrated, Mom.” “Why’s that?" “Because I am stuck! I cannot figure out how to take our business from good to great.” She paused and then said these revelatory words: “You’ll be great when you stand out.” Wow. She was right. She then provided me with 4 powerful traits of standout entrepreneurs: They destroy the box. Stepping out of your box is not easy. To be a standout entrepreneur, you need to be different. You need to be yourself. You ...

Depressed. I couldn’t even get off the couch. It was the 29 th birthday and I was down and out. “What’s wrong?” my wife asked. “I’m a loser,” I said.   “What are you talking about? “She said. “I’m 29 and I’ve accomplished nothing” I replied. Of course that wasn’t true, but as far as my career I had not achieved what I had wanted. I had spent a few years in my early 20’s owning and operating a small marketing company. That was fun and a good school of hard knocks. I had pursued opening up a salon to no avail. So there I was laying on the couch hitting bottom. I knew I was made for more. I had an idea of what God wanted for me. And thankfully, He allowed me to hit “career-life” bottom to get me to pursue my passion and goals. Many people ask, “Okay, so what’s the secret formula to getting life back on track and doing what you really want to do? It’s not that complicated – just hard. Even so, I believe everyone can accomplish their career life goals ...

Do you remember “The Jerk” with Steve Martin? It has to be one of the funniest of Martin’s films. There’s a scene where he’s working at the gas station and someone begins shooting at some oil cans. He begins to panic and yells, “He hates these cans! Stay away from the cans!” In other words, he thought the cans were the problem. Not the person who was shooting the cans. Funny until it is real life. The recent events of mass shootings,  terrorist  attacks, and a divided nation, makes me sad. It is not surprising, but never-the-less sad. No one is talking. No one is listening. The media is telling people what to think and not how to think. We live in a world of tweets, headlines, and empty hearts and minds. Now, to the point: the recent shootings in Florida are tragic.  Facebook, Twitter, the news, and the government are pointing fingers. I can’t say some of the accusations are false. But they all fail to address the real problem. Here’s what I mean: Gu...

Have you ever asked the question "Why?" Why did this have to happen? Why can't there be another way? Have you asked questions like this, but never received an answer? Well, join the club. (Watch the Sermon by clicking here: If I were God... " It was the summer of 2013 when I met Mike Moyles. Mike was an officer in the US Air Force and a fellow grad student at Biola. Mike has to be one of the smartest people I know. While at Biola, he was working on his fifth master’s degree and when we graduated he was working on his sixth. A brilliant person. Apart from his intelligence, something else stuck out to me about Mike. It was over one of our lunch breaks during residency, I had to ask Mike a loaded question. I said, “Mike, I don’t mean to pry, but you have a prominent scare on your head. In fact, it’s a scar that my son Landon has. What happened?” Mike was unshaken by my bold question, because it was a story he had shared many times before. Mike disclosed that h...

*Updated 12/2019* W ell, here we are. Concluding a lengthy study of the topic of Jesus and socialism. Did Jesus promote socialism? We took three weeks seeing what Jesus taught about the poor ( Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 ). We took one week looking at the sick ( Part 4 ). This week, we’ll conclude by seeing what Jesus taught on paying taxes. Taxes “And He said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” And they said to Him, “Caesar’s.” And Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” (NASB, Mark 12:16-17) In Mark 12:13-17, the religious leaders are questioning Jesus about paying taxes. Like today, there were harsh penalties for not paying taxes. They questioned Jesus, “Should you pay taxes to the government?” They thought they had the perfect question to trap Jesus. He knew how to respond. “Look at the coin. Who’s picture is on it?” “Caesar’s”, they replied. “Then pay your taxes. The tax money was used...

*Updated 12/19* Good news: this blog series is coming to an end. We are trying to look broadly at Jesus’ teaching and lifestyle as it relates to socialism. It is not uncommon to hear both secularists and Christians ponder if Jesus promoted socialism. The past three weeks we've looked at Jesus' teaching about how we are to care for the poor. In case you haven't read these yet, you can go read Part 1 , Part 2 , or Part 3 at your convenience. This week we’ll address how Jesus handled the sick and next week we’ll look how Jesus dealt with taxes. The Sick “Jesus replied and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon h...

Being an entrepreneur is by far one of the most rewarding, fun, and challenging careers anyone can choose. One of the hardest urges you have to continually fight is the desire to target EVERYONE as a potential client. But by targeting everyone, you ultimately target NO ONE. In my early days of becoming a consultant and coach, I told myself “Nat, you need to go after this particular prospect. They have X dollars and X desire to grow and change. They are in charge of X employees and are in these X industries.” Now that was good. I was clear. And then I asked myself this question, “But what if someone who doesn’t match that description asks for my services. What would you do?” “Take the business! I need to eat,” was my response. This mindset held me back. By devaluing my target audience, my marketing efforts become shotgun. My time commitment to trial and error became weak. My business was average. But then I did some soul searching and some external digging. Through this process I...

*Updated 12/2019* Welcome to this week's continued discussion of "Did Jesus Promote Socialism?" The past two weeks we've looked at Jesus' teaching about how we are to care for the poor. In case you haven't read these yet, you can go read Part 1 or Part 2 at your convenience. This week we'll look at two more passages the poor. Let's see what Jesus had to say. “If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (NASB, Luke 6:34-36). “And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors,...