Andy has written several books including Visioneering, The Next Generation Leader, Choosing to Cheat, and his most recent book, Communicating for a Change.
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If there is one thing that is clear about leadership it is this: the Most High God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone He wishes…” Our leadership would change if we were clear about that.

It’s hard for us to understand that because we think it’s all about us… it’s our degree, our connection, our efforts… we think we got ourselves to where we are, but it’s not about us, God chose us.

One of the undeniable consequences of leadership is attention. As soon as you say, “follow me”, you are automatically in the center. And the less attention you try to get the more you will get, because people will follow a humble leader.

There is a self-centeredness about leadership that is unavoidable. How do we deal with it? We have do declare: “the Most High God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone He wishes…”

Andy talked in-depth about Daniel 4 & 5.

The context: 580 BC; the nation of Israel was destroyed by the Babylonians. In ancient terms, that means the God of Israel is dead, and that the Babylonian god is supreme, sovereign, etc. When the nation of Israel goes out of business, that means the Temple goes out of business… and if you can’t sacrifice, you can’t be a good Jewish man or woman without a sacrifice. As far as the world was concerned, the God of Israel was dead. God was instructing, teaching and disciplining His people during this time, and while He was doing that, He took the chance to teach the whole world a lesson by revealing himself to the prideful King Nebuchadnezzar and later to his son Belshazzar.

Attention and self-centeredness will ruin us. When we forget that the Most High God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone He wishes…a little attention can get us off center. We are all set up and prone for failure if we forget that.

Leadership is a stewardship – its temporary – and you’re accountable.

We have all watched incredible men and women of God lose sight of who gave them their position and get caught up in their own success.

The leadership you have is a gift from One who is greater from you and it can be taken away at any time, and you are accountable.

No one has the right to question the wisdom of God. Everything He does is right and all of His ways are just. He humbles those who walk in pride.

Diligent

If in fact, the Most High God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone He wishes, if you are placed where you are and gifted to do what you are doing, you need to lead with all the diligence you have, because you are there for a purpose. Give your all. God knows where you are – and rest in that – there is a reason and purpose in that, so lead with all diligence.

Most days in leadership are doing things that aren’t seen, doing the grunt work – that’s why we get lazy and we back down – and that’s why when we can’t measure progress we assume there is no progress. Then it all turns down to us – it’s all about us.

If you see it or not, or believe it or not, there is a sovereign God who has placed you where you are.

If Jesus is building His church – that makes us a ‘sub.’ If you work within the context of the local church, what you do as a leader has extraordinary significance – He is accomplishing His plan through us, even if we don’t see it or believe it.

Fearless

If this is true, who do we need to be afraid of? Who should we fear? We shouldn’t fear the deacons! If God has placed you there, who should you fear.

Every day as a leader, you need to remember you are not working for men – you are accountable and responsible to men – but you are accountable to God. You don’t need to fear anyone.

Humility

Of all the leaders in the world, those of us who are Christians and work in the context of ministry, our hallmark should be humility.

Why aren’t we known for our humility?

Every day we should wake up with the reality we are where we are because God put us there and He can take us out anytime.

Leadership is always a stewardship – it’s temporary – and we are accountable.

There is no room for arrogance in spiritual, church leadership because we live under the idea that God is the ruler of all.

God chose to put us where we are – and He can shut us down whenever He wants.

It shouldn’t scare us, it should motivate us to lead with all diligence.

Marcus Buckingham holds a master’s degree in social and political science from Cambridge University and is a member of the Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on Leadership and Management. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.
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There is so much range on the same outcomes in all companies.

There are two key differences between good teams and great teams:

1 – All great teams have great managers running them.

There are many CEO’s who say that their company’s culture is their strength – but in actuality, companies don’t have one culture – they have as many cultures as they have managers. In the day-to-day reality of a company – whether you know what’s expected of you, if you feel like you are cared for, if you feel the mission of the team you are a part of is clear – all of those thing vary according to the manager.

People join organizations for all sorts of reasons – you believe in what they stand for, because a friend works there, because it’s the only job they could get – but whatever the reason, how long you stay and how productive you are depends on the person you directly report to.

People join organizations and they either physically or psychologically ‘quit’ their boss.

If you have a performance problem, quality problem, engagement problem – it’s all a management problem. The manager makes the difference.

2 – Great managers have a great approach of getting the best out of their people.

The job of a manager is to turn one person’s talent into performance.

They set expectations and establish relationships and reach people in such a way so you speed up the reaction between their talent and the goals of their team.

Great mangers are catalysts, they speed up the reaction between the talent, the person, and the goal of the team.

Sustainable outcomes come as a result of the believe that their employees’ success is their starting point.

Most of the best mangers any of us know our potential and they are tough on us. They set our standards high. They show us excellence and how to embody it. They figure out how to turn talent into performance.

They do it because they can’t help it.

Managing can be tough, though, because in managing, you are caught between the company and the people.

Seeing people grow is the fuel that keeps great managers going.

Managing can be a thankless task.

If you can’t do, teach, and if you can’t teach, consult!

Great mangers look at people as an end to themselves. They find a way to find people’s talent and turn it into performance.

Great managers find out what’s unique about each person and they capitalize on it. Average managers generalize.

Great managers spend 80% of their time on refining, sharpening and focusing people’s strengths and 20% of their time managing around people’s weaknesses.

Most organizations teach their managers to maintain a person’s strengths and work on their weaknesses. Performance appraisals are 2 minutes on what you did well and 58 minutes focused on your ‘areas of opportunity.’

Most conversations between managers and employees are on flaws and failures and how to fix them.

The world believes that way to succeed in life is to identify your flaws and remediate the life out of them!

Gallup did a poll on what people believed would be beneficial to their success: building on their strengths or focusing on their weaknesses.

The US is the most strengths-focused nation in the world – 41% believed focusing on your strengths. Japan and China were the least strengths-focused – 24%.

We live in a remedial world that is fascinated by weaknesses and takes strengths for granted. We study divorce to learn about marriage, we study sickness to learn about health. We think good is the opposite of bad – if you want to get good, you study bad and invert it.

We live in a knowledge and service economy – the value of all of us is ‘between our ears – we are innovative, creative, have good judgment, etc. When companies say ‘our people are our greatest asset’ they are really saying that their people’s strengths are their greatest asset.

The average American workday is spent 14% focusing on individual’s strengths.

With some many unique and wonderful gifts, one of the points of our lives is the opportunity to express our gifts – and, unfortunately, we’re not at work.

Marcus talked about how in order to effectively reach more people beyond writing books and speaking he tried to find new ways of getting his message out there and how he found NOOMA. He said he was blown away by the message, look, power and intimacy of the NOOMA films – and worked with NOOMA to produce a film series called Trombone Player Wanted. Check out the trailer.

There are many reasons we don’t play to our strengths – our boss, our job description, we don’t know our strengths, we don’t like to talk about our weaknesses – but one reason why we aren’t is because of what we believe.

Marcus brought out three lies we believe.

Myth #1: As you grow your personality changes.

66% of people believe that. As we grow our values, circumstances, and achievement change – but so many of us believe our personalities change. Deep down we are insecure about our personality and we believe if we work at it we can change our natural patterns of behavior. We love stories of transformation – like Scrooge.

Truth: As you grow, you become more and more of who you already are.

If you took a personality test every 10 years, the correlation of each test would be similar. We don’t need tests though, we have children… they show us that reality!

As we grow, our goals, dreams and achievements will change, but the core, most dominant aspects of our personality will remain the same. We all have unique contributions – our challenge isn’t to change them, it’s to apply them, volunteer them and contribute from them.

Myth #2: We will grow the most in our areas of weakness.

That’s why we call our weaknesses our ‘areas of development.’

He talked about how when a child comes home with a report card (A, A, C, F)… we naturally give the most attention to the “F”.

Truth: Our weaknesses are our area of least opportunity. The areas we will grow the most are in the areas of our greatest strength.

Myth #3: What the team needs for you to do is ‘chip’ in and do whatever it takes.

Truth: What the team needs you to take it upon yourself to identify your strengths and volunteer them most of the time.

It doesn’t mean you won’t step out of your strength zone occasionally and chip in – you will, that’s not the essence of teamwork, it’s the exception of it.

What the team needs isn’t a vague willingness to do whatever it takes.

The best teams are not made up of well-rounded people playing every role equally, they are made up of sharp people – people who have taken a stand for their strengths and volunteered them. They are surrounded by people who have strengths in areas where they are weak so the team is well-rounded because every individual in the team isn’t.

Know where your shoulders are broadest – your strengths are the answer to that.

To assume everyone shares the same pattern – and to build a team around your strengths and weaknesses is self-centered. To assume everyone is wired differently and what strengthens you might weaken someone else is wise.

We’ve got to identify the myths and blow them up.

There is a risk to playing to your strengths…

Marcus closed with this quote; “And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight in the bud became greater than the risk it took to blossom.”

There is risk to not playing to our strengths is far greater than playing to our strengths.

We all have unique strengths. We will be at our most creative, contribute the most, develop the most when we play to our strengths and take a stand for our strengths and when we do that – everyone will win.

It matters what we believe. Let tomorrow be a different day than today. Let tomorrow be stronger. Let tomorrow begin with us looking at our strengths and thinking of how we can volunteer them. Then and only then will the world see our best.

This session was in an interview format with Andy Stanley.

When you start off as a young leader you usually do everything, but as quickly as possible lean toward what you are good at. On a scale of 1-10, you can only go up a few numbers by focusing on you strengths. People don’t pay for average. We need, through trial and error, to determine our strength zone.

Just  because you have a college degree doesn’t mean you know everything.

When you work to equip people, you need to encourage them to work toward their strengths.

Anything that you are a “5” or less in, is your weak area. You need to find your “6” or “7s” and focus on those. While you do that, develop people around you who are stronger in the areas that you are weak.

One thing that  is difficult to do in leadership is hand off things you are good at or that you enjoy doing, but you have to be willing to let those things go in order to focus on what you are great at doing.

The apostle Paul said – this ONE THING that I do…not these ‘40’ things I dabble in.

Value everybody.

We attract who we are, not who we want. Likeness begets likeness.

You will not spend equal amounts of time with everyone – Jesus was constantly withdrawing from the crowds to be the with 12 – withdrawing from the 12 to be with the three – and from the three to be with the One.  He picked different types of people with different types of giftedness to advance His Kingdom.

Put your best in the best. Influence seldom goes up.

Leaders space their time – they distribute themselves and their time differently.

There are certain things you can’t change about yourself, but one thing all of us have the power to change is our attitude.

The more choice you have in a situation, the more you can change.

You can’t change your skills – your natural gifts and abilities – but you can change your attitudes and your choices.

Find potentially great leaders and train them to develop great leaders.

Choices lead to big-time growth, but remember that growth takes time. Spiritual growth is a choice – and it takes time.

Many people aren’t the main leaders and we need to learn the art of being a 360 leader, a leader who leads from the middle of the pack, influencing at all levels.

Leadership is influence, not position – leading without a position of leadership.

99% of people with leadership influence will not be the top leader, but we’ve bought into this myth that you aren’t effective if you are not leader, when in reality, many of the greatest leaders in our time weren’t at the top: Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King Jr., etc.

The people who have influenced the world the most didn’t have a leadership position. It’s not determined on position, it’s based on how to influence and engage people.

One thing that John cautioned was that as young leaders we have seen many prominent leaders fall – and John pointed out three things that they have all had in common…

1 – no accountability
2 – they weren’t continually in the Word
3 – they never thought it would happen to them

John was very vulnerable and shared about a time in his ministry when he was being tempted and realized that he could have the potential to fall. It was incredibly moving to hear what he had to say and the tenderness in which he communicated the value of us having accountability, being in the Word and remembering that we are truly vulnerable… being mindful to protect ourselves, be safe and not to get too close to the edge.

The best gift an older generation can give to younger leaders is the gift of being better than they were.

He previously worked for the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, and has published numerous popular and scholarly works on international law and human rights.

Gary now serves as the president of the International Justice Mission.
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One of the saddest things in life is to have the sense of going on a trip but missing the adventure.

Gary shared the story of when he was younger and went with his dad and his brother to Mt. Rainier outside of Seattle in Washington state. When they were about to go on the path to hike, Gary decided to stay at the visitor’s center, and in the end, missed the adventure of having a day with his dad.

At the visitors center he felt totally safe, but he also felt totally stuck. When they returned from the hike, his dad and brother had stories and memories, and all Rick had was a missed adventure.

Many of us go through life traveling with Jesus, but missing the adventure and one of the challenges of being leaders in today’s culture is getting our people OUT. Jesus is outside. We must prepare our minds with clarity of where Jesus is going – clarity of the world into which Jesus is going.

We face a struggle in our journey with human hurt and human need. One of the hardest things for people to believe is that God is good.

There are 1.5 billion people in the world without adequate medical care, AIDS running rampant in Africa, sex trade, slavery… what is God’s plan for making the fact He is good believable?

We are the plan. God doesn’t have a plan B.

In Matthew 5 Jesus tells us that we are the light of the world.

In seeing the needy and giving them a drink, food or clothing, we are doing things to help them see the body of Christ and help them to believe that God is good.

Many people in the world are suffering today because of injustice. Injustice (in the Bible) refers to a specific type of sin – an abuse of power to take away things God intended for us to have life and freedom.

King David, although he was a man after God’s heart, was unjust. He abused his power and took a man’s wife and ended the man’s life.

Ecclesiastes 4:1 – Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun:
I saw the tears of the oppressed—
and they have no comforter;
power was on the side of their oppressors—
and they have no comforter.

In 1994 Gary led the US Depart of Justice’s investigation into the genocide in the nation of Rwanda. Many of the mass executions took place in a place where many people were gathered – churches. The people were crying out for God do withhold the hand of their oppressor.

It is estimated that between 20-27 million people are in slavery today. The people in slavery haven’t gotten used to it – they are people just like us – and every single day they dream about living in freedom. How can they believe God is good?

According to UNICEF, over 1 millions children are entered into prostitution.

How does God regard this suffering?

Psalm 10:17-18,
You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted;
you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.

The Good News is that God is against injustice. He yearns to bring rescue. What’s His plan? WE ARE. God does not have another plan.

Micah 6:8
He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
Isaiah 1:17
Learn to do right!
Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow.

We can feel so powerless with despair over the situation in our global community. We can be so paralyzed that we just stay in the ‘visitors center’ instead of going onto the mountain.

Gary talked about the feeding of the 5,000 in the Gospels. Jesus had been talking all day long and the disciples suggested that they send people home so they could eat, and instead Jesus instructs them to feed the people. There was nothing unclear I what Jesus said, but the disciples looked at the size of their need and their lack of resources and figured it wasn’t enough. All they had was a boy with some loaves of bread and some fish.

So many times we can just sit paralyzed out of despair.

Jesus asked them to give Him what they had – and He took responsibility for performing the miracle. He just asked the boy for what He had.

Gary shared the story of a young girl that they rescued from a brothel and when they went with her to the room where she had been held captive, they found she had scratched Psalm 27:1-3 in the wall:
The LORD is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?
When evil men advance against me
to devour my flesh,
when my enemies and my foes attack me,
they will stumble and fall.
Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then will I be confident.

If that girl, even in the midst of living in such terrible conditions had faith, who are we to sit back? We need to trust God. We need to take hope in the fact God still changes lives and still changes history.

Throughout time Christians have led the way in fighting injustice and slavery, and our generation needs to carry hope into some of the darkest places on earth and let the light of Christ shine through us.

Going back to his story about being at the visitor’s center, Gary said that he didn’t trust his dad. Our Heavenly Father is calling us – how do we express our trust? God is calling us to come up with Him on the mountain.

Why in a world with so much suffering and need to we, in the Western church, have so much? It’s crazy for us to have ‘great climbing gear’, but not even attempting to climb a mountain.

We need to pray for God to rescue us from all things small, and things done out of fear. We need to pray for Him to lead us out of the visitor’s center and onto the mountain. May God find us useful for doing what matters to Him.

This session was done in a Q&A format with Donald Miller.

Rick is a unique voice in the Christian culture because he was not raised in a religious home. He was unfamiliar with the Christian language and culture. Rick commented on how in high school and college there are so many subcultures, but how difficult it is, wherever you are at, to integrate into Christian culture.

Anymore in church you can’t assume that everyone is a Christian.

It’s not “how” we want to reach the world – it’s “do” we want to reach the world.

The only way to change our hearts is to get our hearts before God in repentance.

Rick shared about how in the early days of their ministry he led his people in a time of repentance which took the form of a weekly prayer gathering for the city of Portland where the prayed for the needs of their city. They believe through that nine-month period an authentic desire was birthed in their hearts to love people who were not like them.

We need to be missional, but many times in our evangelism comes in the form of trying to sell something. We have an agenda when we really need to pursue intimate relationships.

God is in the streets. We need to love the broken like He does.

The apostles were going so far out of the church to establish new communities.

When we think about suffering, we think uncomfortable. God is in the risk – that’s where faith shows up. When it’s challenged is when you are really changed. Discipleship is a road – it’s a journey – not 10 steps – it’s transformation, not information.

Go somewhere you’ve never been. Repent, not for the things you are doing, but for the things you are not doing. You need to take a risk.

When we go out, we are like lighthouses, darkness will not overpower us.

We need to rely on the discernment God has given us through the Spirit, we need to engage the people in their culture and let them encounter Jesus through you.

Our services shouldn’t be designed to be consumed.

The primary identity of our church is that we are he sent sons of God; we don’t exist for ourselves, we exist for people.

How can we unleash people in the gift and talents that they have? What are the expressions of what God is unleashing? It’s asking God what He is creating. Creating mission is one of God’s favorite things. Don’t just think about it, do it – get your hands dirty.

By protecting the Gospel instead of proclaiming it, we’ve sent the message to the world that God is not for them. We have created a safe place removed from culture We need to change that, care about what people care about, we need to help create culture within a culture.

We are created to recognize injustice and the church should champion injustice. It’s the heart of God.

We need to initiate changing the perspective the community has of our church. If you protect yourself from culture you will lose your voice. There is a journey and a process of loving that we need to embrace.

What happens is that we protect ourselves because we are afraid because we don’t know the culture.

As leaders we look at the church and see problems, but the reality is that the church is the hope of the world – and if a church is truly unstoppable, it is unstoppable. We’ve got set our people on mission, otherwise our church will be misrepresented in culture.

When we get outside the doors, God is on the streets.

Louie also leads sixstepsrecords, a worship label with Sparrow Records and speaks in various ministry settings throughout America, and the world. Additionally, Louie is the author of a recently released book entitled, I Am Not but I Know I AM.

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The church is God’s plan to change the world. The government is not the plan. Philanthropy isn’t. The church is.

The church is God’s idea of how the Kingdom of God will come to earth. The world is waiting for the Kingdom of God to come to earth.

Jesus sent His disciples out with power. We are to announce the Kingdom of God is here… not, “we have a cool, innovative church!”

He is sending us out as sheep amongst wolves. That’s why we have to be as smart as we can be and be as innocent as possible.

The kingdom of God comes at a great price –there is a clear and present danger – but it’s a force that will not stop.

Our generation’s dissatisfaction with the church needs to move to focus on how God is inspiring us to move the church the forward.

The church is everywhere and wherever the church is, the kingdom of God is. The truth is, the church is doing pretty good. God is advancing!

Jesus said He would build His church and nothing would stop it.

Each and every one of us has the power, through the Holy Spirit, to proclaim that the kingdom of God is near.

What God is calling us to is a dangerous thing and it requires dangerous people.

We need to get back to our radical beginning (Acts). The church should be the least safest place on earth.

We are charged with something with incredible purpose that will charge us right into the face of dangerous things.

The firstgen church saw the miracles, heard Jesus, and saw Him crucified, resurrected and experienced the power of God coming down with shaking power that transformed their beings into the likeness of Christ. That was the beginning of our movement! They were told to take that message to the world. It’s a challenging cause they embodied and they went for it with God. It’s not safe, it’s not comfortable and it doesn’t seem to make sense.

There is so much Jesus that needs to get in our conversations. We need to go for it. God is doing something phenomenal. Who cares if you fall or make mistakes? Its OK. Try something else. We live under such pressure to be perfect, but its OK if we aren’t because we have a God in Heaven who loves us.

There is an idea that’s bigger than us. That’s what the early church was about. It wasn’t about “us” or “them”, it was about the Kingdom of God.

Lift up the name of Jesus everywhere you go and in everything you do.

So many of us get stuck on trying to focus on who we are trying to reach and what our ‘target audience’ is, when we should be focusing on who we are trying to produce, what do we want them to look like, and how will we know when they are there.

We want to produce…

1 – God-lovers
People are moved by an intimate connection with the creator of the universe. That’s the beginning. Vision and strategy are great, but love carries people through the journey.

2 Corinthians 5 – if we are out of our minds, it’s because we met Jesus! If we are in our minds, it’s for your sake.

We have to translate the love of God to people who don’t get it – we need to get in their worlds for God. For Christ’s love compels us.

What really is compelling you to build the church you are building? What’s driving you from the inside out? Is it building something cool to be seen, or is it out of our love for God?

The love God is doing something in us that compels us – our world desires for accomplishment, but in Christ our estate called “me” went under when Jesus gave it all for us. When He said, we said. When He died, we died that those of us who live will not live for ourselves, but for Him who gave it all.

God lovers come from people who God-loved and know it.

We need less gatherings and more goings…

We need to be innocent and pure, shining the light as you go forth into the world.

We want to be culture-shapers, we need to unleash people.

There is something in you that is a God-wired passion and you need to go for it with all you have. There’s no distinction between sacred and spiritual when you are a child of God. Do what you do in the name of Jesus for the glory of God.

We need to stop insulating and stop isolating. The Kingdom of God is near.

The danger we tell people to go for it and do something great for God and then things fall apart, but that’s not a good enough reason not to do anything.

The church needs to equip people to propel them into the darkest places on earth.

We need to ask if our people are healthy and whole, equipped and inspired.

Louie shared a couple of stories about people who are going into darkness, leveraging their God-given passions and desires to make a difference.

One is the band Flyleaf. One of them came in contact with one of sixsteprecords’ artists and said about their music, “We go into Hell and bring people out.”

He also talked about some friends of his, the Cuneos. They own a vineyard in Oregon, and they were Oregon’s winery of the year in 2005, and their wine, Cana’s Feast is currently the wine of the year at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.  They named their wine after the miracle that Jesus performed at the wedding of Cana and on the label they share the story from the Gospel. They are people who met Jesus, could make good wine and went for it.

Do the best you can do at what you do.

2 – Hell-raisers
We don’t need slick, business-minded leaders. We need hell raisers. The firstgen chuch was so full of the Holy Spirit that Hell shook when they went anywhere. The church is a spiritual mission – a place that empowers normal people to do supernatural things.

3 – Inside traders
Inside trade happens when you have information before someone else does. You get a tip. Buzz happens. Those of us who have met Jesus have in “in” that He is going to determine what matters in eternity. Heaven is on the way. We need proclaim it!

Kevin spent several years as the head athletic trainer for th Philadelphia 76ers, and while there, Nike founder Phil Knight tapped Kevin to bring his unique experiences to the sneaker giant and help inspire their creatives. While there, Kevin was the inspiration behind the Lance Armstrong “Live Strong” wristband phenomenon. Kevin left Nike in 2004 to found his own brand, The Katalyst Consultancy.

He has helped turn creative ideas into reality for such organizations at The Discovery Channel, ESPN, Mattel, Capitol One, The National Hockey League, The Walt Disney Company, Paramount Television, and Starbucks, which recently chose Kevin as one of their “Authors of Note” in Starbucks’ “The Way I See It” program. His words appear on 17 million Starbucks white coffee cups across the country.

Kevin serves as a special advisor to the global outreach organization, Right to Play, and is a frequent visiting professor at the University of Colorado School of Journalism.

Kevin lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife and family.
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We all have a story to tell and we need to think of the value of our story, especially as future leaders.

Kevin shared his story about being raised by alcoholic parents and eventually being abandoned by his mother and living with his grandparents. One of the first days living with his grandparents in Philadelphia he went to a playground and he found a red rubber ball.

As he began playing with the red rubber ball, other kids started coming around to where he eventually was being included in play and found acceptance with his peers. At the early age of six he says he ‘committed’ to the red rubber ball because he knew it would take him places.

Moments of clarity lead to other opportunities. We are all human catalysts. We all have the ability to be change agents in our world.

What inspires you? What’s your red rubber ball? What are you chasing? That passion will lead you the next generation and cause dreamers to chase big dreams.

A red rubber ball can come in any shape, size, form or inspiration.

In life, all of us are desperate to play. If its something we want bad enough, you’ll figure it out.  The problem is that as we mature, we allow our genius and creativity to atrophy. We need to exercise our creative muscle. Creativity can solve problems, come up with solutions.

Storytelling is valuable – it is how we learn and retain information.

Kevin offered nine pictures to remind us of  ways to nurture our genius…

1 –Eyes of a child, eyes of wonder, eyes of possibility.

Kevin talked about how when he worked for Nike he organized a game of tag for over 4,000 people!

Childlike minds are free and unabashed. Creativity and imagination abound in childhood. As we become adults we tend to ‘dumb-down.’

Kevin says we need to keep reminders of play around you… toys, fun things to keep your creativity going. Open your eyes up like a child, see everything as a first. Recognize the value of that.

2 – Light bulb

We all have ideas abounding. We live in an imagination economy where things like creativity, cleverness and ingenuity are a critical.

How do you exercise your creativity? Imagination is important. Creativity solves problems.

Kevin shared the story of Will Mills, a teenage athlete who lost his hand in an accident with explosives, who created a prosthetic hand so he could still play basketball. It was patented and is called the Will Mills Rebound in his honor.

3 – Energy

You have to have energy to chase your dreams. If you don’t have energy, how will you chase your dreams? You need people to encourage you to chase your dreams. Your dreams should be lofty and audacious.

Kevin shared about one of the dreams he followed in creating the Homeless World Cup.

We all have the opportunity to be human catalysts, to impact lives. What are we committed to impacting? Whatever it is, it will require energy.

4 – Baby with a dumbbell

Anything is possible. Human possibility is endless – with God all things are possible. Our human possibility is limitless and boundless when its tapped and when its connected to our genius.

The greatest asset of any leader is their ability to inspire people to give toward a vision, dream or idea. Most major corporations today have done away with mission statements, instead they have an inspirational dream. Missions and visions are limited – dreams continue and provide the opportunity for ownership.

JFK had a dream to send men to the moon. There is  a story about when he was at NASA one day touring one of the facilities and he encountered a janitor. JFK asked him how he was doing and he said, “I’m doing great, I’m helping send a man to the moon.” He believed what he was doing was contributing to the greater vision.

Can you inspire people at all levels?

Missions are finite – dreams are limitless.

5 – Mohammed Ali

Mohammed Ali once said, “I either won or lost before I entered the ring.”

If you are willing to do the hard, unseen work… to trust the process and trust it will pay the dividends, will you be willing to put in the hard work?

6 – The dollar bill

We each have 86,400 seconds a day. What would happen if you valued every second as a dollar? Time is money, right? What would you do with the investment of your day? There is an art to being ‘present.’ Children are pros at being present. We stifle that. Our jobs disappoint us. We get laid off, cut back or downsized – careers never quit. No one can take away your inspiration and your passions. You need to focus.

Kevin shared the story of a young man he met who was battling cancer. He chose to value his time.

7 – Starfish

Kevin shared the story about the boy on the beach throwing the starfish back into the ocean. That story illustrates the power of our legacy.

We all have the opportunity to impact someone every single day. Will you shift momentum? Will you be socially invested? Start a movement of your own based on the inspiration you have. We have the potential and capacity to change the world.

Believe it. You can’t be wishy-washy. The world is waiting for us with its distractions and challenges and we have to be focused and committed to making a difference.

8 – Five degrees to our dreams
There are 5 degrees to our dreams

Dedication
Responsibility
Education
Attitude
Motivation

Kevin shared the story of the LIVESTRONG bracelets and his involvement with the creation of them.

Tell people your dream for accountability and encouragement. Remember that a closed mouth doesn’t get fed.

Be clear about your dream and what you are chasing. We all have the ability to uncork possibility.

9 – Play

Kevin closed sharing this quote from James Michener:

The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion.

He hardly knows which is which.

He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing.

To him he’s always doing both.

____________________________________________________________________

Donald opened up sharing about a DVD set he recently watched about Michelangelo. He talked about how amazing it is that the beauty of his artwork from centuries ago is still being beheld today. That’s not just true about Michelangelo, but many artists from the Renaissance – and he pointed out that all of these people were released to express their creativity. Their works of art were done out of love.

Donald shared about a recent trip he took to Scotland with a group of Greek Orthodox priests. It was a two week pilgrimage to tour cathedrals throughout the UK and perform the liturgy.

One of the Cathedrals they visited was Durham Cathedral in Durham, England. It took over 150 years to construct the cathedral, which is made in the shape of a cross. Because many people were illiterate in the time that the cathedral was constructed, they had to innovate to create ways to communicate the Gospel, even down to the architecture.

Donald went to take a picture of the cathedral and noticed that there were towers on the top of the cathedral closely resembled the towers on the castle across from the cathedral.

He wondered if the church was not only trying to represent the Kingdom of God, but also trying to mimic the castle, which was the idol of the time. He wondered if they were feeding two desires in making the cathedral the way that they did.

The pastor/priest of the cathedral wore heavy robes and the services were done with reverence and the services had tradition with deep meaning.

When we fast forward in the history of the world and the history of the church we enter into a time where truth become important. The church evolved, formulas of service changed. Ideas of truth were more important. The church more resembled a classroom, and in an essence, the church was saying to the culture, “can we be accepted by you?”

Then we move to the Industrial Revolution. For the first time in history men were plucked from their homes where they were with their family and plowed their fields, and were placed on an assembly line. Also for the first time in history, men’s life expectancy decreased. Their sense of purpose, meaning and well-being declined. Big-business became a major ideal .

Our grandparents church looked more like a school, and our parents church looks more like a conference center where the church is a corporation, God is the CEO, we are consumers and the product is spirituality.

The new fake god of our society is entertainment. We don’t like big business. We value consumerism. Mattering and competing is more important than family.

In the evolution of the church from where it was like a cross, communicating to illiterate peopl if the pastor died it wasn’t a big deal, they just put the robe on someone else. In the church age that valued truth, the pastor was like a teacher and the church looked more like a schoolroom. The pastor’s main job was to be a teacher. When the pastor died they just found someone with the same beliefs and replaced him.

The corporation church looks like a conference center and is consumer-driven. The pastor teaches profitability – and when he dies the find someone to replace him as CEO, because the business must keep going.

In the entertainment church, if the pastor goes, the show’s over.

N.T. Wright is the pastor of Durham Cathedral. Donald shared about how when he attended the church, there were only 40 people there. A friend of his in Scotland recently merged four churches into one and the total attendance there was 20. Both churches were not small because they weren’t being proactive, they were small because the culture in Scotland doesn’t change – everything stays the same. They aren’t influenced by media and marketing like we are. They aren’t influenced by consumerism.

The Church in the West looks like a success because we translate the church for our culture, but sometimes our translations differ from true meaning and intent, and instead of speaking truth, we are deceiving.

Donald pointed out three things he thinks are influencing the church in the West:

1 – A free economic system
2 – Darwinian theory
3 – the Bible

Donald shared about how he went to a Yankees/Red Socks game in New York City and went to Times Square for the first time. He talked about seeing all of the images and thinking, “this is it!” We see Christianity through the lens of commercialization.

The average American sees over 3,000 commercial advertisements every single day.

The two rules for advertising are: (1) convince people they are not happy (2) tell them if they invest in your product you will be happy, complete or fulfilled.

These ideals are so true in the way we preach spirituality today…

There’s a hole in your heart that’s round – and you can’t fill it with the square peg of sex, drugs and rock and roll. Only the circle peg of Jesus can fill that hole.

You can be the person God designed you to be.

Investment is action. We talk about 3 points, 12 steps, keys to the Kingdom – all of them are our reduced solutions that don’t require commitment or effort to try to solve complicated problems. We will consume whatever we think will fill a need we have.

Donald talked about how he doesn’t have a television in his home, but as he travels he often finds himself watching infomercials on TV, especially the Magic Bullet. He likens them to magic shows. It’s all about getting your fulfillment NOW!

Don talked about how when he was writing his latest book he took a retreat to a cabin owned by Leonard Sweet. One day he was in the kitchen and found a Magic Bullet in one of the kitchen cabinets. He was so excited and he ran out to the market to get a tomato and an onion to make salsa. Instead of salsa, he got baby food. It was a huge let down.

That’s really a picture of the way we live, especially in the church. We’re told we are going to get something great, but in the end we just get let down. What does that say about our ‘product’? He works, but the system we are using is not.

Donald shared Matthew 6 from The Message:

“And when you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat?

“Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.

“The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this:

Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best— as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes. ”

In the church today we pick slick, sharp people to represent us and there is a desire to make us want to appear better than we are because we are representing God. We become false people, we role play.
Don talked about how one time he was playing tennis and had to go into the woods to get a ball when he encountered some adults dressed up playing Lord of the Rings. He said they had swords and fake accents and everything, but when he talked them, they talked in a normal tone. They were role playing.

Sometimes when we are with non-Christians we can see how really goofy we are. What are we playing? Role play makes us goofy. When we are clear and focused, we shift from us to God and we will sense His grace when we are real.

The world is full of formulas. Don’t fall for that nonsense.

The culture around us is lying to us 3,000 times a day.

Don’t adapt to culture, but translate to culture as a prophet.

Infants can’t live alone on their own. They need someone else. Imagine giving an infant a Magic Bullet. Just because it makes baby food doesn’t mean it will keep the infant alive.

Eugene Peterson talks about the three languages… the language between a mother and a child (the ‘goo, goo, ga, ga’s’), descriptive language (this is a blog. You are on a computer) and manipulative (you WILL do this.) The dominant language in prayer is #1.

Donald talked about not knowing the importance of having a father and how he didn’t realize how important it was to have a father until he lived with a family. One of the girls he lived with was a girl named Cassie. One night when the family was eating mac and cheese, Cassie decided she wanted chicken nuggets. In her last effort, she threw herself on the floor and asked her dad, “how could you do this to me?”

In that moment Donald said he had the revelation that love isn’t always going to give you what you want  – but it gives you what you need.

Commercials tell us we can get whatever we want when we want it, but with God, it’s not like that. Out of love, He is more concerned about ‘fathering’ us toward maturity. He’s concerned about what you need, not what you want.

If you look at the metaphors of our faith, ‘you will be like a tree firmly planted…’, it’s evident that spiritual maturity and growth is slow. Growth has to do with nutrients. It’s all relationship, not investment and return.

The icons Jesus used were natural – farming, ranching, relationship.

Spirituality works like reality – and reality is an educational toy to teach you about God.

As prophets, we need to expose the lies of now and introduce people into a relationship with Christ.

In closing, Don talked about meeting his father for the first time last week. Donald was abandoned by his father over 30 years ago and drove to meet him last week. On the way, he called his pastor and close friends to ask for their support and they all encouraged him saying, “go see your dad… go see your father…”

Don said his dad talked about not feeling like he was man enough to be a father to him and he asked for Donald’s forgiveness.

On the plane ride home while Don was thinking about everything and taking it all in, and fighting feelings of resentment and bitterness and he heard God saying, “He might be your dad, but he is My child. Don’t get in the way.”

Right after meeting his dad, he met up with a friend who had just been reunited with his sister. He flew into NYC and gave his cell phone to the cabbie so she could direct the cabbie to her house in New Jersey. After hanging up the cabbie asked the guy what was going on, and the man relayed the story about this being the first time he and his sister will meet. The cabbie then turned around and asked if he cared if he watched the reunion take place.

Our job is to bring people to their Father. We don’t need good theater or CEO’s. However we translate church in our communities we need to remember we are not a movement, we are family – and our goal is to reunite families, lost sons and lost daughters back to  their Father, and Fathers to their children.