Dr. Michaela O’Donnell is the executive director of the Max De Pree Center for Leadership where she oversees the center’s vision, strategy, program, and team, all with the goal of helping leaders like you respond faithfully to God in all seasons of your life and leadership.
Michaela is the author of Make Work Matter: Your Guide to Meaningful Work in a Changing World. It’s gotten rave reviews from folks such as Dave Evans, Mark Labberton, Missy Wallace, Luke Bobo, Dee Ann Tuner, Kara Powell, and more. This book is a reflection of Michaela’s heart as both an entrepreneur and a practical theologian. Drawn to the real life working out of big issues, it is a how to for anyone walking the road of calling in a changing world.
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Invite God to Drop By Unannounced
It is tempting to spend our energy on the flaws of others instead of on our own growth. But the fullness of the work that God calls us to won’t flourish without our own willingness to grow.
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Be Still and Know that God is God
When the earth shakes, we can never put it back together just as it was before. We can never quite replace the moments we missed or the things we hoped for that didn’t pan out. God invites us to take any hopelessness or discouragement and be still.
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When the Earth Shakes Beneath You
Sometimes change feels like the ground is shifting beneath us. Right in the middle of those moments of chaos, God promises to be near—a very present help in trouble.
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Online Course: Overcoming Inequality–Women at Work
An Online Course on Fuller Formation It’s time for women to be at the table where God calls them to sit. Too often, women…
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Dignify Labor Day with Intervention
Labor Day. Labor Day. Labor Day. Why do we celebrate it? What should we do to mark the holiday? For me, the holiday is…
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Practices for Growth, Part One: Let Water off The Boat
When my son was two months old, we had a friend temporarily move in with us. She was in a bad place and needed…
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Justifying Ourselves
As we engage in the work of anti-racism, are we doing so because we want to justify ourselves or because we are deeply committed to what God might be doing?
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The Way Forward is Toward Redemption
Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?” (Luke 5:22-23). The thing that the Pharisees thought was most important was in fact not the most important thing to Jesus. For Jesus, the ultimate gift was redemption.
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Finding a Way When Your Plans Don’t Work
Woven into the fabric of who we are as humans is an ability to find another way. We can think outside the box, we can come up with new ideas, we can suggest alternatives. Even when it’s hard, we can cope with change, adapt, and thrive in the midst of it. Our capacity to do this is one of my favorite parts of how God made us. I love that our hope and imagination can catalyze perseverance and resilience. As it turns out, much of the time, there is another way.
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Dealing with Your Stuff
On a recent FaceTime call with some of my best girlfriends, one of them ministered to the rest of us by reading some COVID…
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Finding Our Bearings in a Crashing Economy
At the De Pree Center, we exist to help marketplace leaders integrate their faith and work. For most of us, integrating our faith and work looks drastically different than it did just a month ago. A global pandemic and crashing economy rightly catalyze urgent questions about our businesses, our leadership, and our livelihoods.
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The Road Ahead Requires Peace
I’ve always been someone who spirals a bit when I’m worried. My pattern is to try and stave off my fear about the worst…
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Piecing it Together
The other night my daughter and I were putting together a LEGO set. LEGOs have become what I’ll affectionately call a “pandemic pastime” in…
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Opportunity In The Midst Of Change
As we start a new year, in both my life and work, change feels like a constant companion. At home, I have two small…
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