In 1995 my book Bleedership, Biblical First-Aid for Leaders was published. I never had a dream to write a book and I certainly never thought I’d do such thing. However, I am so thankful that I was obedient to God’s prompting to write it as it has been the catalyst for some incredible changes in my career.

One of those changes involves a monthly newsletter that I’ve been writing since 2006. I primarily write it for Christian doctors so that they can place customized versions in their waiting rooms to impact the spiritual health of their patients and/or employees. I also write a version for business owners hoping to have the same impact on their employees and clients.

I named the newsletter Bleedership, primarily because I saw it as a follow-up to my book of the same title. I have received incredible feedback about how it is helping doctors and business owners to connect spiritually with their patients and employees.

In the Spring of 2010, I had a doctor in Indiana try my program  (I give a free trial to clients who would like to give this a shot in their office). I mailed him 25 copies of the newsletter to place in his waiting room and about two weeks later I received an email from him asking to cancel his subscription. I emailed him back asking if there was a problem and he responded by telling me that he really liked the content; however, his wife came into the office and saw the word “BLEED” at the top of the document and said, “Why would you put something that says ‘BLEED’ in a doctor’s office? You don’t want your patients to be thinking about blood!”

Here I was, going about my business, doing something that I hoped was impacting many. Yet, because I was so close to it, I never even considered that having “BLEED” in the title might be a detriment. I’ll bet that most readers of the publication saw this and I know this seems ridiculous that I couldn’t , but it’s true.

Believe it or not, I had been contemplating changing the name of the newsletter, but not because of the present name. I am currently wrapping up a new book about finding peace in the midst of chaos (I am quite excited about this by the way). So, I had an inkling I was going to have to change my brand from Bleedership. Anyway, when I learned of this reaction to my title, I knew I needed to make a change soon. So, 5feet20 was born.

Why 5feet20? Well, because I am freakishly tall, I always get asked how tall I am. I typically respond that I am five feet twenty. This equates to six feet eight inches tall (I’m actually 6’ 8 ½”, but five feet twenty and a half doesn’t quite have the same ring to it). I do this to have fun with it. So, when I was pondering the new name of my newsletter, a good friend suggested, “5 Feet 20” and it stuck. So now you know.

Purpose: My purpose with 5feet20 is to encourage, equip and help you to grow in your walk with Christ and in your leadership skills. So please check it out. Sign up for my free monthly newsletter (see above right on this page). You can also sign up to receive my blog posts. I hope you are blessed in some way by visiting!

Jim