I was inspired while visiting the small town of Jerome, Arizona on our recent vacation to the Southwest. While Cheryl enjoyed some local shopping, I enjoyed perusing the streets discovering nuggets of the city’s rich history. Jerome began as a mining town. People came hoping to get rich off the minerals in the area, especially copper. When the mines dried up, the city nearly died. Jerome’s population went from a height of 15,000 in 1920’s to 50 people in the late 1950’s.
Martha was our concierge at the Sedona Real Hotel in Sedona, Arizona during our recent vacation. She helped us pick a restaurant and gave us some quick travel tips, in between helping dozens of other people in person and on the phone, all within thirty minutes before her quitting time for the day. It was obvious it had been a busy day, she was surely tired, but you couldn’t tell it from her disposition. Everyone she helped received the same excellent service.
Here are a few more vacation pictures. As you can tell, we saw lots of different environments and we (mostly Cheryl) took lots of pictures…almost 1,000 of them, so this is a random
Could you make a list of dreams, or things you’ve tried at and failed at before? What has been impossible for you?
Go ahead and make the list, then give it to God.
We have had a great week. We are hitting four states in 8 days, starting in New Mexico at the annual Balloon Festival (see these pictures) then heading to Colorado, then Utah, and now Arizona. We’ll be home Saturday in time for church on Sunday. I’ll try to post more pictures later.
Thanks for all the Twitter/Facebook suggestions of places to visit. I had numerous invites from other pastors to meet for coffee or visit, but this trip was packed with Cheryl time. Hopefully we can connect at a conference soon. (I’m going to Story later this month)
Do you think perception matters in the field of leadership and the people a leader attempts to lead? Which makes me think of another question, is a person a leader if he or she “attempts” to lead? To be a leader must one have people who follow?
Part 3 results of the leadership perception survey I conducted last month. Check this blog for more information about this survey.
Part 2 of the results of my recent Leadership Perception Survey.
Over the next few days I will share some of the results of the Leadership Perception Survey I posted recently on my blog. Just so you know, there is no hidden agenda here. Several have asked. I simply believe perception of a situation matters, sometimes as much as reality. In leadership, we must always be aware of another person’s perception and realize that not everyone thinks as we do. That doesn’t mean perception has to alter what we do, certainly not if we are doing the right thing, but perception can play a factor in success and may alter the strategy we use to accomplish our vision.
Cheryl and I are on vacation in the Southwest. First stop was Albuquerque, NM for the annual balloon festival. We spent Saturday looking at hundreds of beautiful hot air balloons and returned this morning for another look. We left in time to catch the middle service of a great church, Sagebrush Community Church. Pastor Todd Cook was ending a series called “Heart†and shared a message that encouraged us to be encouragers. It was exactly what I needed to hear.
Earlier this week I was looking for an old file and ran across some notes from a “Dream Big†planning retreat we did as a staff in August of 2007. We were almost 2 years old at that time and the assignment was to brainstorm about “the sky is the limit†and “money is not an obstacle†dreams the staff at the time had. It was amazing to look at the list today and realize that much of the list is being accomplished or could be in a short amount of time. I realized it is time for us to dream big again!
Today my role very quickly switched from pastor to dad. I was in a meeting preparing for a potential new ministry our church is considering. We were talking future, big dreams, ministry, and new ways of helping people. I love thinking Kingdom-building strategy.
I am thankful for the women that bring their family to church every Sunday alone, because their husbands will not come. I know that many of those women have one great prayer request; that their husband would become a believer and/or assume the role of spiritual leadership in the home. Having walked through this with many families over the years, I would like to share some suggestions of things I have seen that work for wives in helping to wind their husband for Christ.
I spent most of my career in the business world. I was always extremely active and in leadership roles in church and other civic activities, but I earned my living in a for-profit environment. During those years, as an outsider looking in, I believed non-profits had so much to learn from the world of business.
Yesterday I shared a message on a familiar story. We use Truthcasting to archive our video messages. I’m thankful they no longer require you to login to view. Watch yesterday’s message here.
