Swimming with the Family
This afternoon Whitney and Caedmon and I went swimming at a great neighborhood pool: Miller Park Pool. We loved it. Here are a few highlights:
My son is fearless. He and I were strolling into the water, and I was thinking he would take it easy and take it slow. That is definitely what I did as a kid – way slow. So when I looked down at my swim trunks pocket, the next thing that happened really surprised me. Caedmon was running out into the water so excited to get wet. He had no idea he couldn’t swim; he had no idea that he would soon trip and go underwater; he had no idea what he was doing. He was just fearless. Who needs Daddy anyway, huh? So I grabbed him before he went under and directed him to the fun slides in the very-shallow part of the pool. He immediately – and fearlessly – went right up to the slides, went down them, and laughed the whole way. If there is a kid in this world who knows how to smile and laugh, it is my very joyful son. He laughted and splashed and slid over and over again. We had a blast. (This part of my son makes my parents and brother laught a lot; I was a timid kid, but my brother was a daring kid. So they love seeing Caedmon’s daring side.)
By far the majority of the folks at the pool were African-American. I love it! It is so good for me and for Caedmon. Every time I get around the folks in our neighborhood, I think of the picture of Revelation 7:9-10. People from every tribe, every language, every culture are going to gather together to be in awe of King Jesus. Jesus is so incredibly beautiful that every culture and language and custom of the world is going to find its greatest meaning and highest joy in Him! African-Americans will find just as much beauty and joy and worship-inspiring awe in Jesus as I will. Asians will find just as much power and majesty and bow-inducing splendor in Jesus Christ as Arabs will. And so on and so on. So every chance I get to interact and spend life with people of other cultures, I love it. After all, I will get to explore the new heavens and new earth with them forever. Why not get started now?
This is good, too, for Caedmon. I am so glad that he is growing up with people of different races and cultures. He will do well, I believe, in loving people – not loving white people or loving black people or loving poor people or loving rich people or loving tall people or loving short people or loving Asian people or loving Turkish people or loving African people. My hope is that – because of Jesus – Caedmon will excel in just loving people.
The slides were fun for Whit and me. They weren’t huge, but we did have fun. We took turns going down the adult slides and watching Caedmon on the kids’ slides. It was great to enjoy one another in this way. Thank you, Jesus, for Whitney!
I got sunburned. Of course. What else would I expect?
one-liners from Leadership Summit
Since I have learned that shorty, pithy statements can help in leadership, I should share some of those one-liners I picked up over the past 2 days. I do not remember all of the speakers who shared them, but when I do, I will stick that in there, too.
* Reward your best performers; remove your worst performers – Colin Powell, as quoted by Bill Hybels
* Check your ego at the door. – Colin Powell, as quoted by Bill Hybels
* The best way to get rid of your enemy is to make him your friend. Abraham Lincoln, as quoted by Bill Hybels
* He who you would change, you must first love. -Martin Luther King, Jr., as quoted by Chuck Colson
* Vision leaks. -Bill Hybels
* Get the right people around the table. -Bill Hybels
* Facts are your friends. -Bill Hybels
* When something feels funky…engage. -Bill Hybels. Or, in less pithy words, the problems that you sense aren’t going to go away on their own; they will fester and spread. You, the leader, need to step in and engage the problem ASAP.
* Leaders call fouls. -Bill Hybels
* Take a flyer. -Bill Hybels; a flyer is a calculate, but crazy risk.
* This is church. -Bill Hybels
* Wherever you go, you take you with you. -Bill George (I think)
* You don’t learn by studying; you learn by doing. -Bill George
* There are 100 cents in every dollar. -unknown
* Just because I am fascinated by something and others are following, doesn’t mean I am leading them in something that matters to Jesus. -Gary Haugen
* [In the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000], Jesus didn’t ask for what was needed; he asked for what they had. – Gary Haugen
* Jesus did not come to make us safe, but to make us brave. -Gary Haugen
* The first thing to disappear when spiritual life is diminishing…is laughter. -Dallas Willard, as quoted by Gary Haugen
* To reach people who have not been reached, you have to do things others are not doing. To do things others are not doing, you have to not do things others are doing. -Craig Groeschel
* Here’s some tweasers for when you get off that fence. -Jeff DeArment
take away from Leadership Summit Day 02
I again enjoyed the opportunity to learn from church leaders through the Leadership Summit. Here are a few take-aways from Day 02.
#1 through # a bunch. Craig Groeschel shared about IT. And we all know what IT is when IT comes to church and ministries and spiritual movements. Some churches have IT – that sense of life, of God’s presence, of IT. And some churches don’t have IT – things aren’t quite clicking or moving or tasting of life. You can’t really define IT. IT has a large part to do with God’s Spirit in a church, but there is more to IT than just that. IT is that aspect of a church that makes people walk in and be drawn upwards towards God and across to others. They can’t explain IT. But they want IT. I know I have tasted IT. I personally believe that IT is the sweet presence of God, the mercy of God expressed and poured out in a special way on a group of people.
Groeschel believes there are certain aspects that are often present when IT happens. These don’t have to be present – often God chooses to pour out His Spirit when they are not present. But most often some of these things are present.
(1) the church has a laser focus on its mission. Craig had a very insightful statement. He said, “Don’t think that more ministries = better. Think that better ministries = better.” So he asked: What are we doing that we need to stop doing?
(2) the church sees opportunities when others just see obstacles. Again, there was a nugget of wisdom: many of us believe that God guides by what he provides, but often God guides by what he does not provide. So the question is: What is God trying to show you through your greatest limitations?
(3) the church is willing to fail. And this one is difficult for me, even though I know it is true. Failure is often the first step to seeing God. For many leaders, God may have given them a vision and – in his sovereign wisdom – there are three or four steps of failure ordained before that leader really sees God’s vision begin coming to fruition. So the question is: What has God called you to do that you are afraid to do? Well, when are you going to do it?
(4) the church is led by people who have IT. Not a magic charisma, not an unexplainable attraction to a really cool guy. But the sweet presence of God that is powerful and overflowing. Leaders must have IT. Leaders must have IT before their churches can get IT. So the question is: What is God calling me to do to get IT? Not earn it. But return to it. The idea is a return to our first love, Jesus Christ (Revelation 2:4). Craig said for him it meant not reading Christian books for a year – only the Bible. It meant embracing Jesus through a time of suffering. It meant getting out of America to spend time sitting with and feeding malnourished babies and children. Through those things God renewed his heart – not just for a quick sermon, but for a long season. Through those things God gave IT back to him – the presence of God overflowing as life to others.
# final take-away. The relationships with other leaders in Omaha. I love spending time with other church leaders, hearing their hearts, connecting with them, and learning from them. I was blessed to meet leaders from the Abide Network, serving North Omaha somewhat close to our house. I loved meeting our County Treasurer, John Ewing, again. He is serving in public office with the heart of Jesus for our city. I briefly met Les Beauchamp, lead pastor at Trinity Church in Omaha. And I really enjoyed having multiple conversations and interactions with Ken Dick. Ken is the dad of one of the young men in Core; he has been director of the Home School Network in Omaha; he teaches computer science at UNO; and he is an elder at Christ Community Church. He has many connections and lots of wisdom. I was able to ask him lots of questions and learn a lot just in our short times together. Hopefully we can continue connecting in the future. Thank God for older, wiser men who love Jesus and are willing to invest in young leaders.
As a whole I am thankful to Jesus for the 2 days spent with The Leadership Summit. I learned a lot and experienced a lot. It isn’t the same flavor I normally seek out, but it is an important help in developing leadership in Jesus’ church. May God use these things in my life with Core.
