two days of shaping

The Next two days for me:













Willowcreek Leadership Summit: Satellite location in STL
I'm asking God to keep shaping me into a better leader.

If we're going to live out His mission, then I need to lead the way.

Some speakers this year include:
Bono
Tony Blair
Tim Keller
Davis Gergen
Craig Groeschel
and many more...

@ Leadership Conference

I'll be at Target Leadership Conference in Rockford from Thursday to Saturday.
I'm pretty pumped that Reggie Joiner from reThink Group will be a speaker. He's the developer of 252 Basics, the Kids Factory curriculum we use. Just love the stuff.

Also excited to hear Gabe Lyons. He's a co-author of unchristian. Other guys there will be Dan Hunter and rocker Dave Mudd. Great guys!



Bonus: I'm having lunch with Scott Hodge on our way up to the conference. Totally pumped to connect with him.

I'll be blogging (maybe several times) during the conference.

Bearing The Responsibility of Relationship

We all have people we like to connect with--friends, family, and people with like-minded thinking. On the flip side, we all have people in our circles of influence that we must connect with simply because of job duties and leadership responsibilities.

I believe, as people of spiritual influence and leadership, we must feel a “responsibility of relationship” with all the people on our teams and ministry projects.

To become a more effective leader, I must intentionally build relationships with all of my team, not just the ones I share the most common interests with.

We struggle in this. We tend to grow closer to some, and then fade away and keep a distance from others. But as a leader, we have to push through those natural human tendencies and build relationships with more people – especially those we work along side or oversee.

Some may say this results in superficial friendships. I disagree. I believe we find those common grounds with the less-connected people on our team and do whatever it takes to bridge the gap in relationships.

I’ve watched too many leaders gravitate to the same few people they like and share common threads with, as others are left out from the flow of friendship. Thus leaving some disconnected, feeling less needed, and self-labeling themselves an outsider.

Leaders need to take the initiative. Leaders need to step out of their comfort zones. Leaders need to be more inclusive. Leaders need to build a strategy to connect with everyone one their team in an authentic way.

We must bear a responsibility of relationships with the people around us –whether we gravitate toward them or not.

Seem impossible?

Adding to our team!

My wife and I had lunch today with a college couple from our church.

They are incredible people. They have been attending our church for almost a year.

Today we added them to our Kids Factory team, where they will be working with 1st through 5th graders as small group leaders.

It's always refreshing to talk to people eager to serve. I'm looking forward to working along side of our new teammates. May they invest in children's' lives that will impact eternity.

Raising a team of people to serve others is an incredible responsibility. I'll do my best to invest in them so they, in turn, will invest in even more.

What are a few  ways to invest in our leadership team?

- Connect with them personally through meals or coffee.

- Email or text them about "non-business" stuff so they know you care more about then than your own job.

- Resource them as often as you can. Pass along websites, blogs, and podcasts that will inspire and instruct them.

- Share your vision with them as often as possible.

- Bless them over and over in as many ways as possible.

These are just a few off the top of my head.

What did I forget?