I’ve been attending the leadership summit from Willow Creek via satellite for 8 years in a row now I think.  It always moves me to tears.  It always inspires me.  It always challenges me.  It always has waaaaay more information than I can assimilate effectively into my life in the 360ish days in between.    This year was no different in that regard.

Great content. Great challenges.  Great stories of men and women around the world doing great things for God. Great hope in me that I might be that kind of Kingdom leader.

So in an effort to not merely attend another seminar, I’ve developed a habit over the years of taking extensive notes and then trying to weed through those notes and speakers to hear the one or two things that God might be saying to me (usually coming through as a theme through multiple voices).

So, this year, I was reminded of several things I wanted to re-up and commit myself to again and then two that I want to try to implement. Here they are:

REMINDERS I WANT TO RE-UP MY COMMITMENT TOWARDS:

• SELF-AWARENESS AND SELF-DISCIPLINE:  both are mandatory for good leadership.  Self-awareness is my personal “one word” definition of maturity.  In order to increase it, I need to make intentional time for self-evaluation, submit my life to the discernment of the Holy Spirit, and invite trusted friends to offer honest observations.  I am the hardest person I will ever lead. Self discipline and Self awareness are two inseparable character traits to all great leaders.  I re-uped my commitment to pursuing both.
• DO SOMETHING…. something small is fine.  But do something.  All big challenges are overcome by people who do something- maybe not the biggest thing, but small things that make a big difference.  I know this.  I agree with this.  But I re-uped my commitment to being an activist for Jesus- a doer of my faith, one step at a time.
• LEADERS ARE READERS…  I need to continue to up my commitment to reading good, challenging, life altering material.  Biblical, christian, and counter faith readings.  I want to read that which strengthens my current beliefs and that which stretches me into new paradigms I might never have pondered otherwise. 
• LEADERS SEE FAILURE DIFFERENTLY…  places that fear failure will never be the trail blazers of success.  I yearn to be that kind of leader.  I re-uped my commitment to accept failure as part of my leadership process and to re-defining it in my own life, family, and ministry. 
• EARN THE RIGHT TO BE HEARD:  good leaders don’t demand leadership from position, they earn it through integrity, example, and experience.  I re-uped my commitment to personally demanding that my life speak louder than my mouth. 

2 THINGS I WANT TO COMMIT TO THIS NEXT SCHOOL YEAR:

• OPEN SHARE MINISTRY:  I want to work hard this year to earn not just unity, but collaboration.  I don’t want merely understanding or compliance towards a common goal in our ministry, I want ownership and investment.  I’m going to work extensively and creatively to try and increase the points where students and staff have a voice into our ministry.  I’m going to add sermon prep ideas to our weekly production meeting, seek insights from leaders more regularly, and strive to open new ways for students, parents, volunteers, and staff to invest in our ministry.

• RELATIONSHIPS. RELATIONSHIPS.  RELATIONSHIPS.   The last 3 months of my life, I have noticed an increase in my prayer life and and increase in my notice and awareness towards students and even my family’s needs based on conversations I have had with them.  I’ve been to lunches, stayed late after youth group, made intentional conversations in “normal” meetings or meals, and been more purposeful about using facebook, texting, e-mail, face to face meetings, and even old fashion note sending to maintain and advance relationships.  I’m praying that this year is a watershed year for me and a marked increase in the depth and influence of my relationships with students and even my family.  

I need mentors.  I value mentors. I want to be a mentor.  I just met with our middle school pastor and we need more mentors in our middle school department.  I’m constantly in need of more mentors in our high school department. 

I think this:

• If I don’t have a mentor, my learning curve is inhibited.  It’s foolish trail-blazing.

• If I’m not being a mentor, I’m inhibiting someone else’s learning.  It’s selfish.

Mentoring is how discipleship happens. It’s how learning happens.  It’s how we are trained by the experience of those who have been there and done that and can help us do it better.

Today, I was sharing a passion for students and photography with one of our small group leaders.  He is a photographer by trade and today we were meeting in my office and I was bragging about the face of my son in this photo and how much I loved taking pictures and then…. then… then the mentoring moment was seized.

He asked, “what do you edit your pictures in?” 

I said, “Iphoto or photoshop.  But I feel like photoshop is a ferrari that I use to go get groceries with.  It has so much untapped potential, but I’m not sure how to use it.  I really need to take a photoshop class.”

He said, “Open that picture in photoshop.”

I said, “Ok.”… and we were off to the most helpful 15 minutes of training I’ve received in a long time.

BEFORE MENTORING:

AFTER MENTORING.

Mentoring Rocks!!!  Jake was always cute, but now you can see him clearer and the colors are awesome.  I so appreciate people who mentor. 

Our friends the Hammonds had a wood fence to burn, so they said, “Hey, wanna go have a bonfire on Coronado?”  We said, “Sounds good”. 

So we played in the water on a BEAUTIFUL night in Coronado, ate dinner, watched the sun go down while God painted the sky and polished it off with a bonfire and smores.  The whole time I kept thinking the same thing I always do on nights like this… “Man, I can’t believe God lets me live here”.    The coast can be so beautiful.  Add that to some great weather, great friends, and a lightly clouded Sunset and you have the perfect mixture for an “Pinch me so I know I’m not dreaming moment”.

I posted a bunch of pics on facebook, but here’s some for a taste.  I haven’t done a collage in a while.  So here’s two quick ones.  Click them to get a bigger view.

One of the people:

And one of the beautiful surroundings: 

TJ AND TYLER: “Dad, can we have a sleep over with Wyatt and Garrett in the fort?”

ME: “Sure.”

BILLY: “Dad, we are going to sleep outside?”

ME:  “TJ and Tyler are sleeping outside.  You can sleep in their loft with Jake though”.

BILLY: “OK. (takes off running)”

BECKY: “Dad, can I sleep outside?”

ME: “No, but you can ask Molly if she wants to come sleep with you in your bed.”

BECKY: “OK… takes off running.”

JAKE: “Dad, TJ and Tyler are having friends over and Becky is having a friend over and we don’t get to… all Billy and I get to do is sleep in TJ’s and Tyler’s bed.  I don’t want to sleep in their bed. Why can’t we have a friend?”

ME: “Um, ok… let me call Ricky and Joey and see if they want to come”

ME: “Jake, their mom said yes.  Go out in the street and wait for them to come up.”


5 minutes later after I come to my senses….


ME:  “What did I just do?  We now have EVERY kid from our street spending the night in our house and our 5 kids just literally doubled.  I must be crazy!”

So 10 kids played Wii while I popped popcorn, then 6 little ones stayed inside and watched a movie and eat popcorn and popsicles while the 4 older ones went into the fort to watch a movie on the portable dvd player, eat popcorn, and plot how to take over the world.

WELCOME TO OUR CRAZY SLEEP OVER.

6 months ago, my wife had no daughter and no hair to deal with but her own.  Now we have the joy of Becky in our life and the joyful challenge of little brown girl hair.   It must be specially washed, covered at night, and it takes all day to prepare and then stays in for about 2 weeks. 

When we brought becky home, due to time constraints and hygene concerns, Becky, along with the other kids at the orphanage had virtually no hair.  When we started raising funds for her, they started letting it grow, so we had about 4 months of growth to play with upon arrival.  But she was basically buzz cut and the most we could do would be have the mommies at welcome home roll it into cute little balls for us. 

Well, we’ve come along way since then.  Scratch that.  My wife has come a long way since then.  She is a full on pro.  It takes all day and crazy patience for both Becky and Shannon, but she has continued to create little masterpieces with Becky’s hair.

I call her “Daddy’s pretty little girl” all the time.  The cool things mommy does with her hair only prove my point. 

Here’s the one she did for our camping trip with beads.

Here’s the one she spent all day doing with twists in her hair and a part down the middle and just finished like 4 hours later.  She is super mommy!  Two pretty girls I got.  I’m one lucky husband and dad.