This year’s Leadership Summit was fantastic. Thanks to all of you (well over 3,000!) who found your way to my blog. I guess I take good notes? [By the way, I'm still taking 'Notes for a Cause' donations to go to Kiva.org!]

So I was at The Modern Wing at The Art Institute of Chicago today with a friend and overhead someone saying near the end of their trek through the galleries, “wow, I’m saturated…”

I think that sums up how I feel right now. Absolutely saturated.

There was so much information, inspiration and ideas that leapt out at me over the past couple of days and I’m still processing everything… but while it’s fresh, I thought I’d share a key thought or take-away I had from each session.

• Bill Hybels’ first session, Leading in a New Reality, reminded me that I need to slow down and gently listen to God, even in the midst of the chaos of the world around me.
• The panel discussion on Hiring, Firing, and Board Meltdowns challenged me to think of the kind of work culture we are creating at Park and how I, as a part of the team, am contributing.
• Gary Hamel blew me away. There was so much he said, I don’t think I caught it all. But the one thing he did say that’s going to stick with me is that the Church is God’s plan for humanity and He has no “plan B.”
• Tim Keller’s session, Leading People to the Prodigal God, was a sobering reminder to remember the true heart of the Gospel.
• Jessica Jackley’s insight on the whole idea of co-creation totally excited me when thinking about new ideas and possibilities that are out there. It just starts be taking one, small step.
• Harvey Carey didn’t have to do much to convince me that I just need to do something!
• I could have listened to Dave Gibbons a lot longer, but I did get a copy of his book. I’m stoked to read more about his thoughts and insights on creating a Third Culture, a culture of adaptation.
• Andrew Rugsira really challenged me to think differently about the continent of Africa and to not just look through the lens of compassion, but to also see the opportunity that is in the people there.
• Wess Stafford… wow. What an amazing story. And how humbling to think that nothing is wasted, everything is redeemable.
• David Gergen had tons of great insights but the one that stuck with me was the idea that who we are says a lot more about us than what we actually say.
• The Heath Brothers were stellar, as usual. I’m going to really cherish their statement that “failure is oftentimes an early warning sign of success.”
• Bono was great, too. I think the biggest challenge from him this year wasn’t so much about the HIV/AIDS as it was what he said about the Church. He said some things I think we really need to take to heart.
• Tony Blair’s interview was way too short, but I think more than anything his reminder of what a privilege it is to be in leadership was something I needed to hear.
• And although not a formal session, Bill Hybels’ closing remarks were a great way to end, reminding us that the little things are often the most important.

So, after all that… what’s my final thought?

I think the theme of this year’s conference says it all: lead where you are. No matter who you are, where you are, what you do, what you have or what you don’t have, God is calling you to do something. To lead where you are.

In thinking through each of this year’s speakers, they were all the first to admit their flaws and shortcomings but also the first to admit that in order to make a difference, you have to be willing to take a risk and do something. Even in the midst of your own failures or at the risk of failure.

I cannot think of a more exciting time and opportunity to be a part of the Church and to be a part of what God is doing in our generation. I’m so thankful for the experience of the Leadership Summit to remind me of the importance of the call to leadership, but more importantly, to remember first and foremost, before I do anything, I’m called to be a child of God.

So how about you?

What’s are your take-away’s from the Leadership Summit? What challenge are you going to face? Or what simple thing are you going to do differently? Would love to hear!

Story of Naaman

• The OT book of 2 Kings tells the story of a military leader from Syria.
• They went from one military conquest to the next.
• He was the rock star military leader of the day.
• He got a certain death sentence: leprosy.
• He goes to a prophet to seek help and got instructions to dip into the water of the Jordan River seven times.
• He was offended.
• His soldiers reminded him that if the prophet had asked him to do something great that would have required great effort and achievement, he would have done it.
• He was a great man who had done great things in great ways.
• The prophet had asked him to do something very simple.
• He was told to do something simple and to see what God would do.
• When he did it, he was healed… perfectly healthy, perfectly whole.
• He said: “There’s no other God but the God of Israel.”
• The great temptation for some of us is to think that we have to set our minds to go out and do some great thing.
• Launch some new idea.
• Double or triple our size.
• Go global with our local thing.
• But we should do simple things, every day.

Simple Things We Should Consider Doing…

1 – Consider establishing a time and place where you will meet personally with God every day.

• So often what gets compromised in our doing great things for God is our meeting with God.
• In Ephesians 6, Paul asked for prayer to fearlessly proclaim what he needed to proclaim while he was doing what he was supposed to be doing.
• Leaders need something fresh from God every day.
• When you establish a meeting time and place, there’s some days the fireworks won’t happen, and day when the words will seem just like word on a page.
• But if you are in the routine of it, God will speak to you.
• It’s a simple thing, really.

2 – Commit to reading good books at least 30 minutes a day.

• Steve Sample said, “I challenge you leaders to read something substantial 30 minutes a day for the rest of your life.”
• It’s a very simple thing.
• Bill has read hundreds of books since that have helped him along the way.

3 – Review your replenishment strategy

• Romans 8:6 – if you are filled with the Spirit you will be filled with peace.
• Is your “bucket” too depleted?
• Instead of doing something big, maybe you should do something simple
• Are you on a net gain or in depletion mode?
• God will show you what to do.

4 – Decide to say “yes” to God every time His Spirit prompts you to do something.

• This is advance decision making.
• It means you saying “yes,” then asking God what the question is.
• You don’t have to understand it, just test it against the Gospel… and just say yes.
• “Some of the most fruit-bearing events I’ve ever been a part of came out of saying yes to God even I had no idea where they are going.”

Other Decisions…

• Maybe it’s deciding what your key seats are.
• Maybe it’s forgiving someone.
• Maybe it’s reconciliation.
• Maybe it’s time to stop complaining about the lack of resources and equipping people with what you have.
• Maybe it’s time be innovative.
• Maybe it’s time to consider a simple way to serve the poor.

The Simple Things

• It’s often in the doing of the certain number of simple things that leaders build into their lives that often, over the years, compounds and increases their effectiveness, influence, and impact as a leader.
• These simple things are the building blocks of God doing the “great thing” through us some day.
• When we do the simple things, God takes responsbiilty for the big things.

Your Life Matters

• Your life matters.
• This isn’t the pre-game, this is THE game.
• You have one life to live full-on for God.
• You have one life to develop your leadership to the fullest potential.
• You have this life to do something that will last for eternity.
• “I only have today to fight for God and for His plan and purposes.”
• I will fight hard.
• It’s a personal decision we all have to arrive at.
• What are you going ot live for?
• What will you lay it down for?
• What race are you running?
• The curious thing God does when we all gather together and submit ourselves to the One, true Leader, Jesus Christ, and the combustible energy that happens when we are together is unlike anything else.
• There’s a challenge we, as leaders, offer to each other.
• We are building His church, for His glory through His power.

Do some simple things that will compound over the weeks and months ahead… who knows what God will do.

On His Early Days as a Leader

• Sometimes people look at people in a position of leadership and think they have confidence, etc.
• “I’ve never been like that.”
• “I felt very normal in an abnormal situation.”
• “I felt compelled at a certain point to step out.”
• Conventional wisdom can be the comfortable thing to do.
• The comfortable thing to do can be the wrong thing to do.
• You have step-backs and failures when you step out against the norm.
• Most people liked to be liked.

Decision-Making

• The thing about leadership is that you have make a decision inside of yourself that there will be things you will stand on and be faced with the fact that other people might not like it.
• Part of leadership is having an inner core, an irreducable core, the thing that cannot be chipped away at.
• You cannot yield on what is at your core.
• You have to do what you know is right, even if it’s not popular.
• Your job is to stand by what you think.
• Be prepared to walk away.
• The times I found most difficult to lead were when I thought I was compromising on what I thought was right.
• Most people in leadership know when they are taking a position because they actually believe it.
• You’ve got to listen to and absorb criticism.
• If the facts change, I change my mind.
• You have to have a clear view.

Doubt

• Doubt is expressed as a deep reflection of what you are doing and if it’s right.
• You need to think through your decisions.
• Doubt can be right, it causes you to think.
• You’ve got to put aside fear that comes in the moment of decision.
• You have to be able and willing to take the responsibility of decision making.
• It’s never easy… but in the end, your ultimate duty is to decide… somebody has to.
• If you’re not stepping up and deciding, someone is.
• Even if people strongly criticize you, they respect your role of decision making.

Faith

• If you are of religious faith, it’s the most important thing in your life.
• It’s not that you make decisions in a “religious way.”
• But it does give strength and support.
• Faith and its role in the world is an enormously potent force for good or bad.
• Faith plays progressive and constructive role in the 21st century.
• There’s a lot people of faith can accomplish together.

Negotiating

• I’m a great believer between the differene between tactics and strategy.
• There’s strategy in the goal you are trying to reach.
• To get there, it requires a lot of compromise and tactical issues along the way.
• You’ve got be be prepared to have  a lot of give and take.
• Things are difficult and tough to get through, but things should always be measured against your goal.

Leading Through Crisis

• Do we react by pointing a finger or make a statement of our unity?
• Made the judgement that a statement of unity was most important.
• In the moment of crisis… get the facts, get the managerial details, get a message that meets the emotions of your people.

Pain + Disappointment

• By counting your blessings you can endure pain and disappointment.
• Remember it’s a privilege to do your job.
• We’re blessed and lucky to be doing what we are doing.
• Every day you should wake up and feel motivated.
• Whatever pain and disappointment you accumulate, it cannot compare to the blessings you have.
• What are you REALLY complaining about?

To Church Leaders

• Leadership is a blessing.
• It’s a gift that you’ve been given and a gift you can use to help others.
• No matter how difficult, challenging or painful, it’s your duty to do it.
• The way the world around you works, whatever it is, without a leader, things don’t get done.
• The joy of getting something done makes all the pain worthwhile.
• It’s a blessing and a gift from God you should use.

Hybels’ Comments

• There are things you have to be unyielding on and you have to be ready to walk away if that’s compromised.
• What is that irreducible core in you?
• We are torn in leadership… people pulling us in different directions.
• Are you willing to stay true to what you believe?
• 1 Corinthians 15:58: be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing your work is never in vain, if it’s in the Lord.
• Leadership is a blessing.
• It feels heavy at times.
• We get to paint pictures for people to aspire to.
• We get to lift up causes and people that matter for eternity.
• Keep in balance.
• There’s pain, blessing and opportunity in all of it.

• JFK lead and the world followed.
• Putting the man on the moon proved what American innovation and technology was capable of.
• The problems we can fix, we should.
• What is possible when the church unites to solve a global crisis?
• Only love can leave such a mark.

How is the church doing?

• Since the last time Bill and Bono met, “the church has done incredible things.”
• “I thought the church was ‘the sleeping giant’ but I didn’t know it could run that fast!”
• It’s an offense to Christ or any concept of truth and justice that we aren’t reaching out to help people in need.
• The church is in the lead, not in the rear.
• 41 million bed nets were distributed… malaria deaths are down.
• In some places Rwanda is sending back drugs!
• Had the church not woken up on the issue of AIDS we would not have 2 million Africans on anti-viral drugs.

Loving our (global) Neighbor

• The concept of “our neighbor” has changed.
• It’s not advice, it’s a command.
• In the global community, Africa is just down the street.
• Can we enjoy the benefit of globalization without taking some of the responsibility?
• They are our neighbor.
• Eaglebook Community Church in Minnesota has woken up to the call to do something globally.
• A mark of maturity is when people give out of what they have.
• We’re going to be asked what we did for “the least of these.”

Where the Streets Have No Name

• Bono wrote the lyrics for the song “Where the Streets Have No Name” in Ethiopia about people in Africa.
• He says when he sings it, it changes him and he “feels God walk through the room.”
• Sometimes you don’t know what you’re singing.
• As smart as somebody can be, intuition is greater than intellect.
• Our best work is done when we have no idea what we are doing.
• Whittier Area Community Church got it too, gave $518,000!
• Jesus has created the church to exist for the world.
• Why did it take a rock star to tell us that?

On The Economic Situation

• It’s funny that we can’t find money to save hundreds of thousands of lives in Africa but we can find $700 million to save our economy.
• That says that in a crisis, we can find the money when we need it…
• Doing so shows we believe somebody begging for their lives is not in crisis.

On Church

• On church attendance: I go where the life is.
• “What I find hard to take is lifeless ceremony… and I see that a lot in churches.”
• He wants to go where he finds honesty and humanity.
• A place where everyone is welcome.
• When you make a sermon, people don’t want things to be too complicated, they want you to be honest. They want a spirit of humility.
• We need to stand for poverty.
• It’s not charity… it’s justice and equality.

Grace

• The church tends to separate itself from people and pick the divisive issues.
• That’s not grace.
• We would be much better served if we stood for things instead of against things.
• Grace is defying the thing that is uncommon.
• Whenever I see grace, I am moved.
• When you see the grace of how people behave in dire circumstances you will be moved.

On Giving Up

• He considered giving up.
• We should never think things are dependent on us.
• It’s hard, there will always be resistance.
• There’s resistance on the journey to equality.
• Where have you drawn the line?
• Where does your sphere of empathy end?
• Everyone is created EQUAL in the eyes of God.
• Indifference is an enemy to the greatest of possibilities.

Bill Hybels’ Challenge to Leaders

Jesus spoke with blinding clarity about the issue of our relationship with under-resourced people (Matthew 25).

• He said, “I was hungry… naked… sick… in prison…”
• Some of the people responded by saying, “we never saw you in those situations.”
• He replied, “when you did it to the least of these, you did it to me…”
• Others said, “if we would have seen YOU…”
• He replied, “you wouldn’t have done it for me.”
• There’s a lot of things we’ve got to get better at in leadership.
• If we neglect using our leadership positions to serve the poor in some way, we will stand accountable before Christ some day.
• “I get no joy out of saying this because I feel the weight of it every day…”

What Bono has done is asked everybody of every faith who leads anything to do something.

• I have a deep-seated trust in the sovereign wisdom of the Holy Spirit.
• If people get this on their radar screen, God will show them how to do it and finding out what their part is.

No one is exempt from taking responsibility in this great challenge.

• What is the right thing to do?
• If you’re not engaged, get engaged.
• You will want to stand before the One with nail pierced hands and say, “I made the grace you made available to me available to the poor…”
• Some of us will be called to life-saving acts of compassion.
• Others will create jobs and opportunity for long-term solutions.
• God will guide you.
• This is something that in our lifetime could be ended.

Chip Heath is an author, consultant, speaker, and popular professor at Stanford’s Graduate School of Management. His unique research on what makes ideas succeed has been featured in a wide range of popular media programs and publications.

• Switch is all about how to change when change is tough.
• Think about something about you or your organization that needs to change.
• People’s first knee-jerk reaction to change is the idea that people don’t like change.
• If your goal in life is to minimize the amount of change you experience, you’ve made a terrible mistake!
• There’s certain kind of changes that are big (marriage, children, etc) that come effortlessly; but there’s other changes that are excruciating.
• Sometimes the smallest things are the most difficult to change.

An Elephant and A Rider

• Change is filled with conflict.
• Part of wants to save for retirement; the other part wants to spend.
• There’s a battle in any circumstance of change.
• Part of us sees the need for change, the other part of us resists change.
• There’s two parts to our brain: the thinking side and the side that actually does the work.
• The rider can think of where we need to go, but the elephant doesn’t want to move.
• Part of change is aligning the goal of the rider with the will of the elephant.
• Emotional appeal triggers change.
• Reach past intellectual arguments and tap into something that motivates for the long-haul.

From a ministry-perspective… you have 9 major ministries… 2 are working well, 5 are marginal, and 2 are failing miserably… what would you do?

• Ignore the bottom 2; brush past the working 5 and focus on the main 2.
• In a time of change, there’s a lot that’s not working… you’ve got to find what’s working, find the bright spots.
• Bright spots prove success is possible.
• You’ve got to study and clone bright spots.
• There’s a new type of therapy that is focused on bright spots instead of negative memories or issues from the past.
• Bright spots prove we are capable of solving our problems.
• We tend to focus on areas that are weakest, but we need to focus on where God is really working, the bright spots.
• When dealing with problems, ignore the True But Useless info (TBUs) and focus on learning from what is working and replicating it.

Big problem, small solution.

• Big problems are rarely solved with big solutions.
• Big problems are typically solved by a sequence of small solutions.
• To accomplish meaningful change, you must be convinced that there is a goal worthy of the pain of changing.

Shrink the change.

• By breaking big problems into a series of small solutions, those small success provide motivation.
• If you find yourself demoralized, it’s a sign you haven’t shrunk the change enough.
• Small victory is impetus for great change.
• We often get frustrated and depressed because we ourselves can’t change and we can’t get people to move.

The Valley of Insight

• When IDEO starts a new project, the team leader goes to a whiteboard and draws a “U-shaped” curve… you’ll start on a “high” called hope and you’ll end on a “high” called confidence. In between there will be a “dip” of insight.
• Insight won’t come as quickly as we want it to come.
• We have to struggle through it, because struggle leads to confidence.
• We can equate the valley of insight to hell.
• How to people interpret hard times?

A Growth Mindset + Failure

• People with a “growth mindset” view life through the lens that they can get better, with work.
• A “growth mindset” has a tolerance for failure.
• Built-in to the “growth mindset” is a tolerance for failure.
• We often equate failing to missing God.
• Failure is a necessity in a time of change.
• If you are going to have a growth mindset, you have to pursue to the point of failure.
• Failure is an early warning sign of success.
• Some people need to be empowered to fail!

We might not have a person problem, but a situation problem

• When we make assumptions about people, we attribute things to them without questioning their situations.
• The Fundamental Attribution Error – we look at people but we don’t look at their situations.
• We need to think broadly about people’s situations.
• Good leaders have the gift of seeing people’s situations.
• Sculpting the path is part of creating change.

When change occurs, there’s usually a predictable pattern.

• What’s effective is a deep emotional appeal.
• The reason we get married and have children is because there’s something deep and emotional we experience.
• Think of all the things society does to shape the path.
• We need reverse engineer successful changes when facing new ones in front of us.

If there’s something you’re facing, God will help you overcome what you see as a challenge.

The “dip” is a place to gain insight.

• One of David’s areas of expertise is the study of leadership.
• He teaches leadership at Harvard.

On Leadership Development

• Leadership is a journey. Each one of us has to take our own path, and get there our own way.
• There are people that can help us get there… mentors, teachers, friends.
• These people introduce us to the literature of leadership.
• A teacher of leadership cannot produce a leader.
• What you can do is make people aware of the principles of leadership and introduce them to role models they can fashion themselves after.
• Especially with church leaders, if you are in leadership it’s not a question of teaching people, but creating a culture where people are encouraged to serve and lead each other.
• The proudest moment for him is not what students learn but what they do.
• Leaders have to get better at leading.
• If you are born with it or not, you have to get better at it.
• Be a reflective practitioner.
• Reflective practice means that where you really learn leadership is in the arena of doing it and continually reading, learning, etc.
• “Not every reader is a leader. But every leader is a reader.”
• It’s the combination of doing, reading and reflecting on the two.
• General Patraeus has soldiers reflect on what happened… what they did right, what they did wrong, etc.
• Leaders can be so activistic that they don’t reflect, journal, write, discuss, etc.
• It’s easy to confuse motion with progress.
• Best leaders choose their big goals and go after them relentlessly, with a lot of feedback.
• Peter Drucker wrote “The Effective Executive” and teaches at the beginning of the year to write down what you hope to accomplish and how you hope to get there, and go back and review. Hold yourself accountable.
• One of the easiest things to do is fool yourself and be self-justifying and defensive.
• You have to be willing to wrestle, like Jacob.
• If things go right, question what the contributing factors were.
• If something goes wrong, admit how it went wrong and why you did what you did.
• When you’re down on the dance floor dancing it’s important to go to the balcony and look down. Observe the dances going on.
• The moments “out” allow you to see things more clearly.

Strengths of Presidents He Served Under…

• Nixon: best strategist. Could look into the future and see how history was going to unfold and had a gift at bending the future. “Someone who can look farther back can see father ahead.” Understanding your past helps you envision what the future will be.
• Ford: most descent. You didn’t have to keep your back to the wall. The saying goes “nice guys finish last,” but in today’s society we’ve come to prize people who are descent. Ford looks better and better through the review mirror of history.
• Reagan: contagious optimism. If you’re around leaders who always believe you can get higher, who can encourage… it makes the effort exciting. There’s a sense you are building something. He and the WWII generation had a sense of humor. People who can laugh together can pray together and do a lot of things to build a sense of team.
• Clinton: his resilience. Got knocked down a lot in life, but was always willing to get back up.

Weaknesses…

• Nixon: his dark side. “You have to understand the struggle… he had people who appealed to his right side and those who appeal to his dark side.” He could not control his demons. He was the author of his own tragedy.
• Ford: too naive. Politics is a rough sport, school of hard knocks.
• Reagan: detachment. You always have to keep your hands on the wheel, and sometimes he gave the wheel to others. When he had a good team around him, things were great… things went off track when he didn’t have a right team around him. You can trust to the point of detachment. Inspect is as important as respect. You have to keep your eye on what’s going on and not turn it over to other people.
• Clinton: cracks in his character. He was earnestly working through the flaws in his character. He made mistakes. The worst mistake was not the relationship with Monica Lewinsky… it was his failure to come forward and ask for forgiveness. If you’re straight with people, they’ll forgive you.

Great leaders carry with them great flaws.

• Maturity is all about trying to come to grip with your flaws.
• Self-awareness is important.
• You’ve got to admit to yourself you have a dark side.
• The challenge is to integrate the two so you have an authentic, integrated person.

How do you come to grips with your flaws?

• We have to be realistic enough to know most people won’t conquer their flaws.
• Make sure you are aware of your flaws so they don’t hurt you or others.

How do you bring alignment between your private behavior and public life?

• People who can be great leaders oftentimes have very messy private lives.
• Martin Luther King was one of the great moral leaders of the 20th century. He helped lift our moral sight, yet he had a very chaotic private life.
• He worked hard to bring his private life under control… he knew he was a sinner.
• Nelson Mandella said “get up every morning and try to do better…”
• We should be more forgiving and less invasive about people’s private lives.
• We should be very demanding of their public lives.

Leadership does not have to be lonely.

• “The day of the Lone Ranger as a leader are over.”
• Leaders today get the best results when they have great teams, and build a team of leaders.
• Your role as a leader is to have team of leaders.
• The world is increasingly complex and you, the leader, have to work with many other groups and many other leaders.
• Leaders need to learn how to partner and collaborate.
• We build things together.
• “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” – Patty Stonesifer

Importance of symbolism

• Leadership is working with others in the pursuit of shared goals.
• In old times, leadership was command.
• Today it’s about persuasion.
• Leadership is about trust and communication.
• You communicate by how you role model.
• Symbols matter to people. Your brand.
• The “V” for victory with Churchill gave people hope and inspiration.
• Ghandi gave up the clothing of the law and went with the lion cloth to communicate his simplicity.
• Mandella was seen in prison garb, but was one of the greatest leaders of our time.
• Reagan’s horse… we have a Marlboro man image in our culture… and Reagan said “there’s nothing greater for the inside of the man than the outside of a horse.”

Communications + Leadership

• “Speeches take place in a situation, not a vacuum.”
• Who the speaker speaks as loudly as what he says.
• We are bombarded with words.
• The demand is to figure out who we are going to listen to in the midst of the chaos.
• Your willingness to listen depends on trust.
• You trust they are being real, authentic, and that they know what they are talking about.
• You look for people who can explain things in a way that’s clear and simple.
• The person who first understood public speaking was Aristotle, his book about rhetoric.
• There’s three elements to a good speech: 1) Ethos – the personality, authenticity, believability of the speaker. 2) Logos – logic of the speech. 3) Pathos – the emotion. You want to appeal to someone’s reasoning power and their emotional grip on something.
• Whoever is communicating needs a rhythm.
• A speech shouldn’t be more than 15-20 minutes.
• 1/4 of the audience can’t keep up after 30 minutes.
• Your ethos should be established up front… let people know who you are.
• Logos needs to be the body of your message
• Pathos needs to be the emotional call to action, not just an appeal. Inspire people.
• The best preachers bring the argument and the emotional appeal that inspires us.

On Personal Habits of Leaders

• Self-discipline is like self-awareness.
• The best leaders have regular habits.
• It’s important to be physically fit.
• People who let themselves get flabby often let their minds get flabby.
• Leadership is physically demanding, you need endurance.
• You need to build time into your day to reflect.
• You need to build time into your day to spend time with the people you love.
• People who are in loving relationships at age 50 tend to live a lot longer and be a lot happier in life.

What do you hope is going to happen in you and to you when you go to church?

• Church should be a place where one can find inner-peace. Not about them, but something larger.
• Likes to learn something from the pastor or the readings.
• He wants to not only hear the words but read them, and study their context.
• Many of the young people today care deeply about social change. Many of them are on a spiritual journey.
• This generation is on a search for their spiritual well-being.
• Whatever their faith may be, spirituality is important for the foundation of their leadership.
• It helps you find your moral compass. You’ve got a “true north.”
• Going to church is where you nourish it.
• It’s important to have good anchors in life.
• Our ego can get so inflated that you become arrogant and think that the rules don’t apply to you.
• You can fly too close to the sun.
• Faith, family and friends are good anchors… they remind you there are things bigger than you that you don’t hold it in your own hands.
• You are one of many… part of a grander scheme.
• If you want to change the world, be the change you want to see in the world.
• Each of us has warmed our hands around a fire… and our role is to bring a log to that fire and keep it going to others.

• Compassion is 57 years old.
• They’ve doubled in size since last year.
• The gift of leadership has to be earned every single day.
• “If God can use me, He can use absolutely anyone…”
• How do we manage our hurt and pain for good in the ministry?
• The pain has been the catalyst for passion, integrity, etc.
• His passion for children and poverty came out of his own pain and suffering.
• People won’t care about what you know until they know why you care.

His Journey

• His first and most courageous act of leadership happened at age 10.
• It was also the most painful moment of his life.
• He was abused by the house father of the boarding school he lived in.
• His whole life could be put on the timeline of “BC” (before the candle) and “AD” (after the damage).
• Housemaster lit a candle on both ends and put it in Wess’ hands to illustrate the fact you can’t serve both God and man… you can’t burn a candle at both ends.
• People who ran the school originally went as missionaries but didn’t make it.
• They were angry, resentful and unsupervised and took their rage out on the children.
• Terrible things happen when children are put as second rate.
• Abused in every way that children could be abused.
• He thought that God hated him… the people telling them about God abused them. It skewed their view of God.
• They were “little sinners in the hand of an angry God.”
• Victims turned to predators.
• The people that should have been protecting them were the ones attacking them.
• Children will absorb an incredible amount of pain to protect the ones they love.
• They learned to be silent and didn’t realize their silence perpetuated their abuse.
• He broke the silence about what happened.
• He was told “There will be Africans in hell because of this boy…”
• It stirred up rage in him, he LOVED Africa.
• “Everything I need to know I learned in a village in Africa…”
• Enough shame, enough abuse, enough lies… it had to stop.
• He determined it stops now and determined to not drop the candle.
• He received his calling in that instant.
• Moved from being a victim to a victor.
• Determined to be an advocate for children.

Compassion International

• 187,000 children accepted Christ via Compassion last year.
• 50,000 were African
• Poverty and abuse speak the same language to children: “Just give up.”

Your Story, Your Pain

• God redeemed his story, one that was meant to bring harm has brought good.
• “I’m never more than 10 seconds away from tears…”
• What’s your cause? Does it move you to tears? Can it?
• What moves you passionately?
• Nothing is wasted, everything can be redeemed.
• People’s whose pain has propelled them can either live to try to prove themselves, or they find their worth in the  One who gives us worth.
• Practice inreach, not just outreach.
• Look at yourself in a mirror and ask yourself who you are looking at and what they believe in.

If the pain your life is fueled by someone in your past who hurt you, there’s one word you need to know: forgiveness.

• If you don’t forgive people who hurt you, you’re allowing them to live rent free in your heart.
• You’re only punishing yourself by not forgiving them.
• Forgiveness does not mean you won’t forget.
• Forgiveness means you give up your right to revenge.
• Unforgiveness is an open invitation to bondage.
• God has a plan and a purpose for us… to give us a future and a hope.
• He will wipe away every tear.
• He will restore our pain.

• What comes to mind when you hear the word “Africa”?
• We often think: poverty, disease, HIV/AIDS, death, conflict, genocide, etc.
• That’s one perspective that has been influenced by the narrative in the media all around us.
• To him, he thinks opportunity, entrepreneurs.
• The perspectives we hold influence the decisions we make and how we relate to people and churches in Africa.
• We need to deconstruct the narrative going around about Africa and how we perceive it.

Looking Back at History…

• Nov 15, 1884 – Bismark called The Conference of Berlin.
• They decided how to regulate colonialism.
• It was the “scramble” for Africa.
• Communities were split, families were separated by the borders that we drawn.
• By 1902, 90% of African was under colonial law.
• They produced tea, coffee, cocoa… they were not allowed to process, only export which had a dramatic impact on their economy.
• Africans are the best ones to solve their problems through hard work, production of quality products, etc.
• The people who were coming to offer help didn’t look like them.

Integrity is being truthful about what you need to do to get out of a difficult situation.

AID vs TRADE

• There have been well-meaning but misguided advocates for aid.
• They believed they could bring about change by giving out hand-out’s.
• Even when you to make your case for your vision, people will always stand in the way.
• There is no country in the world that has developed through handouts… why is Africa different?
• We use trade as an engine for growth because it’s part of economic doctrine.
• Trade creates transformational impact for communities.
• Trade is the only succcessful way to bring economies out of poverty.
• Africa today only contributes 2% of the world’s trade goods.
• We often only see the problem, not the opportunities.
• We need to look at Africans as partners, trade opportunity, etc.
• We need to give marketshare, not pity.
• We need to change the conversation.

1 – Aid is really not aid.

• Between 1970-2000 Africa has received $400 Billon in aid from Africa
• Their GDP decreased as aid increased.
• Aid is not effective.
• Aid is not really aid.
• It’s poorly structured.
• The country prioritizes what it will spend its money on.
• It’s insincere.
• It’s conditional – we tell them what to do with it.

2 – Aid undermines accountability.

• Aid creates chronic dependence.
• So many countries seek donors for their budgets.
• It undermines integrity and dignity of recipient countries.
• We need to get people thinking about the impact of their compassion.
• How do the people receiving our compassion while maintaining their dignity?
• We need to look at Africa as a people of consumers, great products, etc.
• Real partnerships can make sustained community transformation.
• The greatest help won’t come from the outside, it will come as you empower people on the inside.

The best way to help Africa is with trade, not aid.

Reconstruct the narrative in your mind that kindness is best expressed through a hand out.

The greatest kindness you can give is to help people help themselves.

• Sometimes things aren’t always what they appear to be.
• Two Greatest Commandments: love God, love your neighbors as yourself.
• There’s a problem with our interpretation.
• Who is our neighbor?
• We’ve defined it as being someone like us.
• Although we might say differently, our practice reveals it.
• McGavern said: “Likes attract.”
• We came up with demographics and targeted people that are like us… resulting in our churches growing and developing a consumeristic church.
• God has called us to develop a church that is contrarian.
• It’s not normal, it’s abnormal.
• It’s the path of a third culture leader

What Third Culture?

• Third Culture is adaptation
• It’s painful adaptation, it’s not easy.
• Third culture is the mindset and will to love, learn and serve in any culture, even in the midst of discomfort
• We tend to orphan ideas which leads to personal discovery.
• Jesus told stories that seemed simple but they were truly explict.
• It’s normal for us to love someone like us.
• Our call is to love people who are not like us.

The Third Culture Leader is Focused on the Fringe

• Focused more on misfits, not the masses.
• Most of us focus on those who are like us.
• In order to make a change in culture, you need to focus on the early adopters.
• The people on the fringe tend to be the ones who set trends.
• Example: dooce.com
• If there’s ever a time we can impact culture, it’s right now.
• Those on the fringe and the margin lead movements.
• Vision typically starts in the center and moves outward.
• In God’s economy, the misfits on the fringe push vision inward.
• Jesus was the greatest misfit… he didn’t go to the city center, he went to the fringe.
• Who’s the outsider in your community?
• What Hinders Us from Loving on the Fringe? Our metrics.

Third Culture Leaders Have Different Metrics

• Failure is success.
• Failure is our platform to humanity.
• It’s our resonance.
• It gives our voice quality to connect with our generation.
• Our weakness and failures are gifts from God so we can make a difference in the world.
• Most of the world doesn’t understand success, but they understand failure.
• We shouldn’t just look at financial resources, we need to look at human resources.
• How do you assess people’s talents?
• There’s more to people’s strengths… there’s their story.
• The most important thing is people’s story… do you have time to listen to them?
• When you walk through big crowds, walk slowly. See the people.
• We need to start seeing people with the eyes of the Father.

Weakness guides us more than our strengths.

• How do we quantify our vision?
• Haven’t we already been given the vision? Love God. Love your neighbor.

Relationships trump vision.

• You can’t have great vision unless you have a great relationship with God.
• Jesus only did what He saw His father doing (John 5)
• We need more relationaries, not visionaries.
• People who know what it’s like to see and feel the pain, not just know about it.
• We need different metrics in the church.
• We usually don’t see them until God allows pain into our lives.

How His Life Changed

• Priority Shifts… what’s your 70/30?
• He spends more time equipping leaders than on sermon prep.
• The best discipleship happens with life on life, not programmed through five classes.
• It’s a decision and resolve to live with people.
• He made a decision to live with people who are different than him.
• He reads people different than him.
• Goes to conferences where he doesn’t see the same people.
• Medici Effect: effect that happens when you get multiple domains together and the brilliance that emerges from them.
• Design/Space shifts – each location has it’s own style and is it’s own not-for-profit.
• Lets the indigienous leaders lead.

Third Culture Leaders Value Obedience More than Passion

• To often we equate passion to a feeling.
• Jesus didn’t “feel” like going to the cross.
• It’s more about obedience than what you feel.

Four Acts of Obedience

1 – Deeper collaboration

• When we talk about spiritual gifts, it’s not just contained to an individual church, what if the gifts were all of the churches in the individual cities? Each contributing its own strengths.

2 – Communal living

• We need to choose to live together.
• We need to have an “open door” policy.

3 – Prayer

• All great movements of God have a fundamental element of prayer.
• The church doesn’t believe in the power of the Holy Spirit.
• Do you beleive the same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you?
• If you did, you’d pray!

4 – Radical sacrifice for the outsider.

• Are you willing to die to your own values?
• Are you willing to move to another culture?

Our calling is lovely to us, but we need to see the beauty of it.

The world will take notice of our great God if we embrace the vision of adaptation.

Even though Twitter crashed for awhile (and we all thought it was the end of the world), I was amazed to see how word about my notes from the Leadership Summit spread across the Twittersphere… thanks in part to @ShawnWood, @CatalystLeader and others.

As of this blog post, nearly 2,000 people have visited my blog today (WOAH!) and I’ve added quite a few followers on Twitter as well (welcome!).

So midway though the afternoon my friend Shawn posted this Tweet:

I replied back agreeing and then Shawn took it to the next level and set this up:

Then I had an idea (thanks to a friend)… what if I took that money and did something productive with it… say, donate it to Kiva.org?

Quite appropriate considering Jessica Jackley, the co-founder of Kiva.org spoke the Summit today.

I first learned about how microlending works when Seth sent me a copy of The Blue Sweater to read and review on my blog. I found the whole idea and concept fascinating and after hearing Jessica talk today, I knew it’s what I wanted to do with whatever “play money” I’d get from donations.

2,000 of you have visited my page today and no doubt there will be more tomorrow as I keep blogging my notes from tomorrow’s sessions.

So, if they are valuable to you, why not chip in a dollar or two? And let’s do something, together.

I’m excited to see where this will go and to share the story of the person whose life this is going to impact!