• Today begins a new chapter. One of my goals for the new year is to become a daily blogger. Every Monday-Friday I’ll be posting on various topics to help resource church communicators and to encourage church leaders. The journey officially begins today!
• Speaking of goal setting… If you haven’t signed up for my monthly newsletter here’s what you missed: I gave away 5 of the NeuYear planning calendars that were created by my friend Jesse Phillips. [I'll be interviewing him on here on Thursday!]. Don’t miss out on other great giveaways, resources, and more… sign up for my newsletter today!
• FREE Church Communication Coaching. On Friday I announced that I’m launching a six-month coaching group for church communication leaders. Whether you’re new to church communication, or aspring to be, or if you’ve been in it for awhile and need a refresh, I hope this opportunity will help you grow personally and connect you with others. I’m accepting applications through January 18. Only 12 will be chosen. [As of this posting, I've received 26 applications!]
• On the road again… this weekend I made my first trip of 2012. I had the privilege of sharing with some United Methodist Church leaders outside of DC. Today, I’m headed out with the Church Solutions Group team for two events we are hosting this week… one in Louisville for worship leaders and one in Grand Rapids for senior pastors. If you fit in either of those categories, you can still join us. Or, if you are nearby and would like to connect, let me know!
• Queen of Pop Spirituality Takes on Megachurch Pastor Joel Osteen. Last night Oprah interviewed Joel Osteen on her new show, Oprah’s Next Chapter. I blogged notes from the interview here.  It was an interesting, but balanced, interview. Probably the most impressive part was seeing the behind-the-scenes of Lakewood Church and hearing Oprah’s positive reaction to her experience attending a service there.
• Smile. Eat. Receive. I am continually grateful for the great work that’s being done through the ministry of Riverside Community Church and Dream Center Peoria in Peoria, Ill. I began my career in church communication at Riverside and am so excited to see how God is continuing to use them to make a huge impact in their community. This Christmas, Dream Center Peoria hosted an event called “Smile. Eat. Receive.”  that combined a Christmas outreach along with Help-Portrait. This video shows what happened. UNREAL.

Smile. Eat. Receive // Full from Forward // Motion Production on Vimeo.

• Passion trended on Twitter! Last week was a pretty big week for the Church. Passion gathered tens of thousands of young adults in Atlanta last week and broke the twittersphere, with #Passion2012, #HowGreatisOurGod, #WithEverything, and Hillsong United [all a part of the event] trending globally on Twitter. How amazing. What’s even cooler, they helped raise over $3 million to combat human trafficking in Atlanta anda around the world. Check out this awesome piece about Passion that was featured on CNN. What an awesome testimony to see a generation rising!
• What if the church marketed like Old Navy? My friend Aaron Springer made his guest blogging debut over on ChurchMarketingSucks.com sharing some great thoughts about relentless branding. Check it out.
• I’m lovin’ it. During wintertime I tend to hibernate and watch entire seasons, or in some cases, series of TV shows. Currently watching Downton Abbey [as of last night] and can’t get enough of Portlandia.
• Thought for the week… God can use anyone that’s willing to do great things. That means you. If you’re willing…

So what’s up with you? How’s 2012 treating you? What’s on your radar this week? Have a great one!

In the last year alone I’ve attended over 15 different conferences. That’s a lot of content, ideas, travel, and days away from work… not to mention the cost associated with jetting around the country.

Thankfully, I’ve learned some ways to manage my O.C.S., and have some ideas to share on how to make conferences [including Catalyst!] a valuable experience:

The “Hallway” Conversations

While the content shared onstage at conferences is immensely valuable, I often find one of the best parts of conferences are the conversations and connections that happen in the hallways. Between sessions or during break times, you have a great opportunity to interact with new people, meet people you follow on Twitter in real life, and make new connections. There’s endless opportunity to expand your network if you’re willing to do the work and engage in a conversation. Some of the key people who have been a huge part of my life and professional development over the past few years were people I first met in the hallways at a conference.

Get Out of Your Comfort Zone

I’m honestly not the most outgoing person in the world. I’m usually the guy in the back of the room checking my email or twitter at a large social gathering. If you really want to make the most of a conference experience and meet new people, get out of your comfort zone… meet people! If you recognize someone, say hello… put yourself out there, you never know who you’ll meet.

Social Media Enhances the Experience

Social media has forever changed the conference-going experience. Even if you’re not able to attend a conference in-person, following the hashtag on twitter [#CAT11 for Catalyst!] enables you to keep up with the experience, get sound bytes from the speakers and lets you hear what people are saying about their experience. If you are at a conference in-person, social media lets you see who’s there, provides an opportunity to find new people to follow, and lets you know who to look for in the hallways. Social media provides a great, steady stream of content and information and I really can’t imagine going to a conference without it!

Leave the Note-taking to the Experts

Most conferences are creating blogging teams, enlisting the help of note-takers [like me!] who focus on capturing and sharing the content. Don’t worry about being at every single session or hassle with taking notes for yourself. Just sit, listen, absorb and write down the thought that sticks out to you the most or that sparks a new idea. You can always go back to the interwebs to get a recap or notes from the sessions.

Meetups, Tweet-ups, and Side Events

Again, if you are socially engaged there are endless meetups, tweeet-ups, and special side events that happen at most conferences these days. Don’t miss the opportunity to get some freebies and meet new people. Like the hallway conversations, side events are always a great part of the conference-going experience. If you’re at Catalyst on Wednesday night, be sure to check out the Bloggers Meetup. I’ll be there and it’s always a great time to connect with other bloggers.

Be Present

Going along with the theme of Catalyst this year… be present. Don’t think you know it all or have heard it all before… you haven’t. Don’t let distractions from work or your inbox take your attention away from the content and ideas being shared. Focus. God has a reason for you being there, even if your boss or your staff team dragged you along.  I believe there’s something God wants to speak to all of us. Who knows what He may show you, who’s path you will cross, or what connection may be made? Even with all of the distractions that come at a conference, focus your mind and your heart. Listen for God’s voice. Be present.

So all of that to say…

… I really do think conferences are valuable experience and are worth the time and investment. You’ll not only get some new ideas but, if you are willing to push yourself out of your comfort zone, you’ll also make some new connections. Both are invaluable and worth it.

If you are headed to Catalyst…

Find me and say, “hey!” I’d love to connect with you.

I’ll be serving as an official blogger for Catalyst this year alongside some of the pros. Follow me on twitter or follow this blog for my notes from each session. I also have something new up my sleeve that I’ll be excited to share with you on Friday! Stay tuned.

If you’re not able to be a Catalyst…

…don’t suffer from Cata-lust. Follow the action here on my blog or on twitter and definitely be sure to check out Catalyst Backstage, a live-stream from Catalyst, broadcasting Wednesday-Friday, bringing you interviews and great content from Catalyst. It’s the next best thing to actually being there in person.

What about you?

How do you feel about conferences?

What’s your favorite conference or conference experience?

If you’re heading to Catalyst, what are you most excited or expectant for? Who are you looking forward to connecting with while you’re there?

Now, if you know me, you know I love me some conferences. I think they provide a unique opportunity to gain some inspiration and make new connections. They make a great excuse to travel.

At Christian conferences when you’re introducing yourself,  it’s fairly common to say what church you serve at, what you do there, and more commonly than not, how big the church is. And, if applicable, how many campuses or satellite locations your church has. Now, the numbers part is always said casually, but let’s be honest… the numbers impress [most of] us.

In our fun little subculture, the numbers game is a measurement of “success.”

“I serve at The-Church-You’ve Heard-Of, we’re a church of about 10,000 on the weekend and we have 3 satellite locations,” sounds much more impressive than, “I serve at The-Church-You’ve-Never-Heard-Of, we run about 800 on the weekend.”

I got lost in that trap for awhile.

I’m not saying megachurches are bad, the fact they are mega means they must be doing something right [most of the time]. But I do think when it comes to how we measure success, our metrics can be a bit off.

What about the church of 800 in a town of 8,000? What about the church that is under the radar but is known in their community for doing a tremendous amount of good?  Again, not bashing megachurches, but I think we pay attention to size and don’t look at impact and influence as a measurement of success.

I actually went to a conference once where you had to indicate the size of your church when you registered and were then assigned a color-coded name badge so you could “network” with other people who served in churches that were similar to yours. Cool idea but it seemed like a big competition or bragging right.

Personally, I’d rather learn from a pastor or leader that’s leading a church of a few hundred in a community of  few thousand than a pastor of a church of 10,000 in a city of a few million people. Both are doing great things, but I think to be reaching a greater portion of your population says something… and it’s something I want to hear. Again, I love megachurch leaders… I’m just sayin’.

This morning I saw on twitter that the church I first served at, Riverside Community Church in Peoria, IL, made the front page of their city’s newspaper for a week-long missions outreach they are doing bringing hundreds of teenagers into the inner-city to better the community.

Riverside started Dream Center Peoria and has united area churches in their community to create something that the city can’t ignore. They do numerous programs and outreaches throughout the year and have gotten people outside of the church and in the community involved. They are truly helping to unite people to change a city.

Riverside, along with 4 other churches in the community, also does something pretty remarkable  to show unity among churches across racial and denominational boundaries. For the last couple of years the pastors of the 4 area churches took the idea of LifeChurch.tv’s “One Prayer,” but did it locally by switching pulpits. For four weeks, each of the four pastors went on tour, vacating their own pulpits and went to speak at the other churches. How cool is that? I don’t know of many stories where a group of pastors in a community would be willing to go and share the pulpit with other pastors who, in some cases, don’t share the same set of beliefs or theology.

Riverside even recorded a live worship album that’s available on iTunes. I think it’s fantastic. You should check it out.

When I worked at Riverside I would be a bit shy about introducing myself at conferences. I worked for an averaged-sized church in an average-sized town in Illinois. But you know what? They are making a huge impact. And, had it not been for my work experience there, I would have never ended up where I am today… not that I’ve come very far.

I’m not saying all this to promote Riverside, but just to highlight my point… they are doing some great things and they are under the radar. I think their story needs to be heard… and John King, the lead pastor, is one of the most remarkable pastors I’ve served with in ministry. He needs to write a book and lead leaders.

I’m realizing now, much later, that I should have been more proud of my church and the work they are doing.

So, as you go about networking, going to tweetups or MeetUps, be careful about how you measure success. Don’t let the numbers fool you. And, if you feel like an underdog, you’re not. Size is size. It’s numbers. Your church is doing something unique and you need to be proud to share that story.

Measure success by the depth of the impact a church is making in a community and by life change, not by the number of people in seats on a weekend.

I’m more and more convinced that if you are at all wondering how the church should engage with social media, the web, and are wondering what the future of church communications looks like, you need to be here. Period.

Here’s 5 reasons why…

1. We have too many conferences; this is going to be a conversation.
Conferences are invaluable experiences, and I’m a self proclaimed “conference junkie,” but at some point I think we need to not just sit and listen, we need to speak up and engage. Cultivate will be centered on conversation. Facilitators will take a few minutes to throw out some ideas, but the rest of conversation is driven by questions texted in by audience. The round tables will be awesome so people can be working together as a team to explore ideas

2. Small is the new big.
There won’t be thousands of people here. It’s going to be a small group of people and it will offer you face time with some of the leading minds in the church communications world that you would honestly not find at larger conferences. You’ll be able to engage with facilitators. Also, it’s not just people in churchdom. We’ll have several people from the marketplace leading discussions as well. We’ll have people from 37signals, iStock Photo, an award-winning brand firm, marketing experts, and social media gurus. Plus, there’s lots of names you may not heard of that are doing some pretty innovative stuff. You will also be able to customize your day based on the topics you’re most interested in.

3. It’s one day and it’s cheap.
We’re going to have a marathon of day, but it’s just that. One day. Even if your budgets are shot, Chicago is a transportation hub and I guarantee no matter where you are traveling from you can find a cheap flight. You could catch a red eye to Chicago early Tuesday morning, catch the train into the city, get to Park, be here all day and catch a late night flight out. No hotel fees. No rental cars. No parking. (Of course, it would be awesome for you to check out Story while you’re here, but even if you can make it for a day, it’s worth it.)

4. You’ll get to have lunch with people who you want to have conversations with.
Instead of turning you loose or giving you a boxed lunch and doing the whole awkward, “is there room at this table?” drill, we’re going to set up different lunches for you to go and have lunch with people you want to talk with. If you’re into social media we’ll have a lunch set up up with Cynthia Ware and other social media gurus. Want to talk web? Drew Goodmanson, Kent Shaffer, and Tony Steward will be talking web. Church communications? Come hang with Kem Meyer, me and others.

5. You’ll get to check out Park.
Now, I know I’m a bit partial, but I think there are some pretty cool and unique things going on at Park.  Since we’re hosting it, you’ll get to see and hear what it’s all about and get a chance to experience life and church in the city!

BONUS :: No one is making any money off of this. Any profit we make will be split between the Center for Church Communication and Blood:WaterMission. Pretty sweet, huh?

So there’s my schpeel.

If you need more reasons, let me know… or if you need me to talk to whoever oversees your budget, I’d be happy to talk to them too.

I really believe Cultivate is going to spark some very important conversations and I think anyone that can be here needs to get here and be a part of it!

Prior to his current role, Cleve served as web designer for LifeWay Christian Resources, in Nashville, TN where he supported numerous web initiatives including the LifeWay Worship Project.

Off the clock, Cleve has a passion for church planting, leading worship, summer beach trips, mountain cabin retreats, Dallas Cowboys football, Atlanta Braves baseball, and rockin’ the title of “BBQ Connoisseur.” (Keep in mind he was born and raised in North Carolina.)

Cleve and his incredible wife, Katie, reside in the northwest suburbs of Chicago with their children, Cy and Charlotte.

Eric Murrell has been creating websites since he first discovered HTML on his Geocities site in 1996. After working for a large publishing company and a well-known design firm, he is now on staff at Long Hollow Baptist Church where he serves as the Interactive Communications Manager.

When he’s not writing code or fuming about page rendering in Internet Explorer, Eric can be found reading, camping and watching LOST. He and his (beautiful) wife Lauren live just North of Nashville, where they own and operate a small design company together.

Read more from Cleve & Eric at MediaSalt

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What’s NOT Working?

Elaborate Mailers

• it’s more effective to drive people to your website.
• Very high cost vs return
• Quickly outdated
• Use simple, but visually compelling cards

Cute Pop Culture Branding

• It’s really easy to be creatively lazy.
• We can do better than that.
• It’s played out.

Constant Email Blasts

• Increasing blindness to marketing emails.
• More blasts = less readers.
• Send email blasts sparingly.
• Provide email subscriptions.

Destination Websites

What IS Working?

• BigEggDrop.com
• Gathered the community around a humanitarian effort.
• Unique spin on a normal event.
• Corporate sponsorship
• Rave cards sent home with every elementary student in the area.
• Website with registration (used EventBrite) and game.
• Over 3,500 people attended!

The Chapel

• Wanted to do an open house to invite the community to their new campus but turned it into a kid’s day instead.
• Got buy-in and support from area businesses, sponsorship, etc.
• Most people attending didn’t realize it was a church sponsored event.
• Gave them the opportunity to introduce their church to the community in a non-threatening way.
• Instead of doing a direct mail for Easter they made postcards that people in the church could send to their friends (that they covered the postage for).
• Designed a website with tools to spread the word through Twitter, Facebook, and email-a-friend.
• Had an 88% increase in attendance for Easter.

Summary

• Small is the new big. It’s not about big and glossy but simple and smart.
• Create events to connect your church to the community… not your community to the church.
• Get buy-in and cooperation from local businesses in the community… get other people involved.
• Be strategic about mailers, emails, and anything else… don’t overload or overwhelm people.
• Give people options to opt-in and to receive what content they want how they want it.

I think all too often most people who do communications for churches are on their own. Be it a lack of staffing, resources, or volunteers, the majority of us are doing our jobs on our own… by ourselves.

And what MinistryCOM did for me is show me I’m not alone and what I do really matters.

So, it’s pretty crazy that in two weeks I’ll be attending MinistryCOM not as a delegate, but as a presenter.

I’ll be making my conference debut at MinistryCOM doing a breakout session called DIY (Do-it-Yourself) Church Communications.

The title DIY (do-it-yourself) is said a bit tongue in cheek, but the reality is that many of us do communications by ourselves. With a limited budget and resources, it’s oftentimes difficult to know how to successfully build a communications process and strategy to fit the needs of a growing church when you’re literally working on your own.

Whether you are new to church communications or if you’ve been doing it for years, this workshop will help to equip and encourage you to take what you are observing and learning from other churches and give you tools on how to apply it to your context.

You’ll also get an inside peek at the “renovation” Park Community Church has undergone over the past two years as Tim has taken their communications from 1.0 to 2.0.

To be honest, I’m a bit nervous but very excited. I certainly don’t feel like an expert (only if learning from your mistakes counts!), but am humbled to be able to share a bit about things I’ve learned… both working in a smaller church in a small town and a large church in the heart of downtown Chicago. I think after seven years of doing this gig I’d have a few things to share!

If you’re coming to MinistryCOM, I’d love some input about things you’d like to hear about, questions you may have, or anything else. Your input would be invaluable!

If you aren’t coming, why not?! It’s not too late to register… you should definitely check it out.

If you are more of a pro, been at this for awhile and want to take the conversation to another level, beyond bulletins, fonts and all that kind of stuff,  definitely check out Cultivate, which is being hosted at Park in October.

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.