Letting go of responsibility is not something that comes natural for me.
I score high on Command in the StrengthsFinders assessment.
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Scott Williams is a great leader I have learned to admire online. I haven’t met him personally, but social media has allowed me to connect with him to the point I feel I can call him friend. Some day we will actually meet. In the meantime, I love learning from Scott at his amazingly popular blog Big Is The New Small.
This video blows my mind. I love big dreams…I love mind-stretching exercises…this one helps me think bigger than I might normally think. It’s 18 minutes long, but it’s worth watching. Whether you agree with this line of thinking or solution to global problems is not the issue here, but feel free to share them. I’m sharing this because I love how big Paul Romer is thinking.
I’m sure there is a perfect definition of this, but for me worship happens when you forget about yourself and recognize more about God in that moment. You can put that in the context of a worship service, where a person recognizes that I don’t care about myself or my struggles; I just care about God, or you can put that in terms of a work situation, where a person says, “None of this matters except for me bringing glory to God.†When self disappears and the image of oneself disappears and God’s purpose, design and plan becomes the most important thing, that’s worship.
If you follow my blog regularly, then you know that I’m trying to spur people to dream bigger dreams. Not only do I believe dreaming is a healthy practice, but I believe we need your dreams. Obviously we cannot life in dream world all the time, and I spend far more energy writing about accomplishing dreams than dreaming dreams, but I believe the world needs some more dreamers. I believe God encourages this process. If you don’t believe me, read my first post on this issue HERE.
The older I get (and that’s happening faster it seems that it once did) the more I’m beginning to assess my life and what the experiences of life have taught me. On my laptop I keep I file where I simply type principles/ideas/nuggets of wisdom as they occur to me. Sometimes these originate as a Twitter post, sometimes they are a line from a Sunday message, but often they just go in this file.
Geoff Surratt is part of the church famous Surratt brothers of Seacoast Church. I have had to the privilege of meeting several of them and I am always impressed. I sat in a breakout at a conference last year where Geoff spoke last year. He’s funny, witty, and smart. His latest book, Ten Stupid Things That Keep Churches from Growing, is a frank and honest book that identifies the most common mistakes pastors make. You can follow Geoff on Twitter also.
Recently Josh had a career decision to make. He wanted to wrestle through it with me. He actually took my advice. He honored me greatly, not by taking my advice, but with a text he sent me later, which said, “You are my new mentor!†He probably was joking, but he doesn’t know how much that comment resonates with me.
One of my weaknesses in leadership is failing to give enough details. I am skilled at painting the big picture. I have tons of ideas. I can usually get people motivated, but often they have no idea what they are to do next. Knowing this about myself, I must constantly ask if people around me understand what I am trying to communicate. This doesn’t come natural for me, but it is something I have tried to practice in my leadership. (You’d have to ask someone on my team if I’m any good at it.)
The team at Seacoast is packed with sharp people and Mac Lake is one of their best. Mac and I have never met, unless the world of social media counts. If it does we’ve met frequently. I’ve enjoyed our emails, Twitter, blog and TokBox correspondence. Mac is a deliberate and strategic thinker. I don’t know anyone currently more passionate about developing leaders than Mac Lake.