Leadership Summit session#2

Session#2: Greg Haugen (President & Founder International Justice Mission)
Just Courage: Charging The Darkness

Everyone wants their leadership to matter!

Leadership that matters to God is leadership that is involved in the endeavors that matter to God!

Just because I am leading and just because people are following doesn’t mean I am leading them to what matters to God.

God’s passion is for the world…(John 3:16)
The whole incarnation was motivated by God’s love for the world!
-25,000 children will die today because of lack of nutrition.

What is God’s plan to let humanity know that He is good? We are the plan!
You are the light of the world…

How are people supposed to believe that God is good?
We are the answer to show the world that God is good

As an American we are trained to think that I am a victim of injustice all day every day!

Injustice in the Bible is a particular sin---the abuse of power to take from people the good things God meant for them, their life, their liberty, (Eccl. 4:1)

20 million people in our world live in slavery today

There are 2 million children held in sex slavery in our world today

Psalm 11 the Lord is righteous He loves justice

What is God’s plan for doing justice in the world? We are the plan…
(Micah 6:8) (Isaiah 1:17)

If you want your leadership to matter lead in the things that matter to God!

If justice is not your thing that God is not your thing…

Leadership that actually matters leads when it feels discouraging, frightening and hopeless.

What have we learned from leading when the task seems hopeless?
We lead by re-centering the basis of our hope…hope comes from focusing on who God is and what God wants to do.

If God is passionate about getting it done He is also responsible for getting it done!
Example of the feeding of the 5000…Jesus just wanted to know if they would give what they had to Him…by offering what they had to God released a and brought about a miracle

The work is God’s and what He ask is that we give what we have! The results are on God.

What have we learned from leading when the task seems scary?

Jesus did not come to make us safe He came to make us brave…when the calling of God is scary we must remind our people of this very fact.

There are my Christians who are on the journey with Jesus but are missing the adventure!

Follow Jesus beyond your competencies and beyond the comforts of the crowd and you will experience…God!

What have we learned from leading when the task seems hard?

Effective Decisions Leaders Make:

* Choose not to be safe
Do we have a work that we could not imagine doing without prayer…

If you do not need God’s power to get the work done than it’s not work of the Kingdom!

* Choose to pursue deep spiritual health

The demands of high spiritual climbs require deep spiritual health

Majority of the spiritual things that I do are a result of the fact that I want to check them off my list and some how feel better about myself…this is not a deep pursuit of God.

Deep pursuit of God understands that I need His wisdom, direction and strength for the climb!

To get a deeper spiritual commitment out of people lead them on a more demanding climb where it is not safe to go without God

Our spiritual commitment must come out of a sense of desperation not obligation…we need God!

* Choose to do pursue excellence.

We must insist on quality, accountability and excellence.

Doing is about execution and motivation…it matters to those we do things for if we do things with excellence. Excellence communicates love…”Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you.”

Enough of the off balanced Christian scale of mediocrity…

* Choose to seize the joy!
The joy of the Lord is our strength!

“These things I have spoken so that my joy may be in you and your joy maybe made complete.”

Willowcreek Leadership Summit

Todaya good group of the Summit staff and myself attended the simulcast of the Willowcreek Leadership Summit at Grace Church in Cape Coral. It was great. I have always been taught that leaders are learners so as a leader we must continue to strive to learn and grow in our leadership skills. Below are some of the notes that I took from the conference. I hope that you can get something out of it. God Bless!
Session #1: Bill Hybels
The High Drama of Decision Making

Leadership’s highest usage is to advance the Kingdom of God in this world!

Leaders must be willing and ready to make tough calls.

How does a leader make decisions?

What is the frame work you use for making good decisions?

A Christian Leader’s Process for making a good decision…
* Does the bible say anything about this?
* What would smart advisors advise me to do?
* What have you learned from the pain, gain, and experience from past decisions?
Leaders ought to be adding to the volt of their own wisdom that they can be referring back to!
* Is the Spirit prompting me?
When you are in step with the Spirit it will lead to life and peace. Rom. 6:8 or 8:6

Leaders must take the responsibility for the decision.

Over time a leaders axioms will help in guiding them in the day to day decisions.

“The best way to vanquish my enemy is to turn him into my friend.” Abraham Lincoln

Create action for action sake. Bob Galvin (CEO of Motorola Corp,)

Promote a clash of ideas. (Colon Powell)

Facts are your friend. (Bill Hybels)

When something feels funky engage. (Bill Hybels)

Leaders have to call fouls and call them on themselves as well. (Bill Hybels)

Take a calculated risk once and a while. (Bill Hybels)

Yeah God...

My good friend, Jamin, and I have spent the last ten days in a deep personal pursuit of God. Each of us were seeking God's heart, wisdom and direction on specific issues concerning our families. It has been a really challenging time for me. I wasn't sure to what to expect because it has been a while since I did such an extended fast, but it was very refreshing for me. God used this time to expand my view of who He is and to show me areas of my life that needed changing. There were many things God highlighted for me over these last ten days, but I thought I would jot a few here...

#1. My understanding of my dependence upon God has to be greater than my pursuit of Him for an answer! In other words I began this fast for direction concerning a specific issue, which is perfectly fine, but God wanted me to understand that my greatest need will still always be Him and not the answer to my question or my need for direction.

#2. God doesn't want my "doings" He wants my heart and my obedience! Doing the right stuff especially in ministry does not necessarily equate to being the right man God desires me to be. No amount of doing will ever overshadow my heart.

#3. Don't minimize my sin, be ruthless in dealing with it, quick to confess it and honest in repenting of it. ALL sin is an offense to God. God doesn't classify sin, man does. I need to seek to be holy because that is what God calls me to be.

#4. God's grace is sufficient! Nuff said...

#5. Take the time to enjoy God's tangible expression of His goodness, mainly my wonderful wife, my amazing kids, and my great friends.

#6. Don't be so concerned with where God may be taking or leading you next that you almost render yourself ineffective in the place He has you. This one was huge because there is an apostolic and catalytic side to me that I can get so caught up in thinking about where God maybe leading my family and I next that I can become distracted from where He currently has me.

Like I said these are just some of the things that God truly taught me through this journey. One of the best parts is that I began this in hopes that God would show me where I needed to put my son for school next year. My son, Max, has been living and striving through his diagnosis of autism. This past year we year blessed to have had him in a special private school in Naples. We were not certain if he would be able to return due to the financial cost so we were going to be faced with the option of public school which is still a pretty good option, but we truly feel that this is a crucial year for Max and my wife and I both had reluctance to pull him out of where he is now. Well long story short, today we met with the director of the school and we will be able to keep Max in the school. PRAISE GOD!!!

As you can see I broke the fast immediately after we left the meeting... I know it isn't "hallelujah diet" friendly food, but I got to say it was good.

Just Rambling...

"Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did-with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses." 2 Kings 23:25

I am continuing my study through 2 Kings. Today I read up on Josiah. Josiah was a guy who did not start well, but he certainly finished strong. Josiah made sure to destroy every idol and everything that desecrated God's holy place and defamed God's name. I mean he went radical not leaving anything standing or leaving any stone unturned, literally. I could not help but to think that I need that same zeal in my life. As I am honest with myself and as the Holy Spirit illuminates and points out different areas of my life it becomes very clear that there are things that do not honor Him. And instead of trying to justify those areas or try to convince myself that they aren't that bad I need to be more like Josiah and absolutely obliterate them from my life. Be Holy for I am Holy God says. It couldn't be any clearer than that.

What the Scriptures credited to Josiah would be something that any child of God would love to be known for: He turned to the Lord with all his heart, soul and strength!

What in the WORD...

Today I was reading 2 Kings chapter 22. I am currently working my way through the book of 2 Kings and I am always amazed at how God can speak to my heart even as I trip over names that I feel stupid even attempting to say out loud. Well today was one of those days. As I was navigating through this passage and through the names, I was just floored by verses 11-13. You see 2 Kings 22 talks about the Book of the Law, the Torah, God's Holy Word being found. And when they were found they were brought to the king and the king instructed that his secretary, Shaphan, (see what I mean about the names)read it to him. Here's what verse 11 states...
"When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore His robes. He gave these orders to Hilkiah the priest...God and inquire of the Lord for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the Lord's anger that burns against us because of those who have gone before us have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us."

The king hears the Word of God and there is an immediate and dramatic response. Now I am not saying that every time we read the Word there should be a strip fest...if that were the case Christians would not be welcome at Starbucks anymore. But, shouldn't there be a response, shouldn't there be movement, shouldn't there be a desire for a reckless abandonment to do whatever we needed to do to obey God's commands and honor Him with all we have. I know I fall guilty so many times in reading the Word as though it was another thing on my to do list, or I read it as though I was reading a history book or an anthology, or even worse I read it because I need to "craft" a sermon. When I approach God's Word from any of these views or mindsets I fail to understand that I am a beggar in need of something much more than what can satisfy my stomach. When I approach God's Word without understanding that it is God's spoken, holy, infallible, powerful word to me I run the risk of just engaging in a spiritual activity rather than engaging the King or Glory. When I do not come to God's Word with an expectant and humble heart I run the risk of NOT having my mind enlightened and my view enlarged to the grandness and power of who God is. When I do not approach God's Word the way I should than I run the high risk of it just being a rote mundane thing I know I should do,. When what I really need to do is celebrate that because of what Christ has done and because of my faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit now dwells and resides in my me and is ready to illuminate my eyes and minds to see and understand what my once darkened mind and hardened heart could never comprehend apart from Christ.

So maybe it's not ripping or tearing your clothes or hair, but encountering an infinite, Holy God through the power of His Word should cause us to tremble and should leads us to a right response. I was reminded yesterday of the scene from the Chronicles of Narnia when they were about to meet King Aslan and one of the kids asked "is He safe?" and the response came quickly "He's not safe, but He's good!" I pray that my heart would not grow dull or my ears grow tired of expecting God to speak through His Word and I pray that I would seek to respond accordingly to what He reveals.

12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Hebrews 4

Happy reading to you and if you do feel led to strip, make sure you're at home and if you're not please don't tell them you go to Summit...just kidding. God Bless You!

The Gospel...

Today we continued our series entitled "The Invitation". The aim of this series is to walk through our mission statement to help people truly understand and hopefully fully embrace what God has called Summit to be all about. Today we wrapped up our discussion and look at the Gospel. The Gospel is the central message of our faith. Without the Goodnews of Christ life, death and resurrection the Apostle Paul says our faith is useless and we should be pitied. But the facts of the Gospel is that Christ did live a sinless life, did die on the cross as the payment for our sins and as the bearer of God's wrath and He did rise again on the third day proving that He was and is the Way, the Truth and the Life. What is discouraging is that we have watered the mighty Gospel of Jesus Christ down to praying a prayer. This morning our hope was to unpack more of the fact that the greatest gift of the Gospel is God and that the power of the Gospel should lead to life change and abundant life. The Gospel should lead to life change. It can not be just a little prayer we prayed to get us out of HELL! I was reading a friend's blog this evening and ironically he had a post about his thoughts on the Gospel. He is a very sharp guy and a pastor on staff at my home church in Miami. I copied a small portion that post on the Gospel below. Enjoy the read. I pray that you are enjoying the fullness of the Gospel every day. God Bless You.

For too many years there was such an emphasis on numerical growth, numbers of baptisms, etc… that a mentality and strategy of evangelism developed that was misguided and even heretical. “Pray the magic prayer” and get eternal life (but can be counted on a tote board) became a form of evangelism that created legions of false “salvations”. Repentance, acknowledgment of sin, a knowledge of grace, the responsibility of Lordship were left out of evangelism and discipleship and tares filled baskets intended for wheat. Genuine salvation is a conversion, not a decision. We’re changed because of the Holy Spirit, not because we “will” it. We come to Christ because He draws us, not because we had someone present a handy-dandy plan replete with a charming personality and a disarming method of explanation. Salvation costs us everything while it cannot be purchased with anything we could possess. Decisionism leads to a false sense of security and salvation and should be rejected.

WOW!!!

Today was a wonderful day. Our Back 2 School Bash was a huge success. I praise God for His goodness and faithfulness. It was absolutely awesome to see so many people from the community come out. We actually had people lined up at 10am...yup, some stood in line for three hours to receive a back pack. There was no complaining as people had to stand in the hot sun and as we did our best to move quickly and offer drinks. It was great to see how appreciative people were, of course that is not why we did this, but it did give us a great platform to share with people that everything we were doing was provided by the goodness of God. I was blown away to see so many of our people engaging our community. They worked hard running the bounce houses, handing out cotton candy, pop corn and snow cones. Every where I turned I saw our people serving and engaging people, what a snap shot of what the Body of Christ should be all about. Way to go Summit. Today Christ was exalted, today people were able to see and experience the Gospel. I pray that the seeds that were planted today would produce fruit for God's glory. I pray that what we did today would not be an isolated event but a spring board that gives us greater influence and access into our community for the sake of the Gospel. If you gave towards this endeavor, if you served today or if you prayed for this event thank you. God truly showed up and to Him goes all the glory. Please continue to pray that we would truly live out God's mission for Summit..."to glorify God by presenting the Gospel to every man, woman and child and connecting them into a loving relationship with Jesus Christ and others."

Here's a link to the story that Wink News 4 did on the Back 2 School Bash. God is good! http://www.winknews.com/news/local/26219864.html