Wisdom Blog

In keeping with the Willow Creek 2010 Global Leadership Summit theme of how we move from where we are to where we are going, Jeff Manion, senior pastor of Ada Bible Church, and author of The Land Between, spoke about the challenges we will face on the journey.   As we reach toward our goals, having left our former comfort zone, we often find ourselves in what seems to be an inhospitable wilderness, wondering how we will ever get to where we are going.  This is what Jeff has aptly named The Land Between.

When we find ourselves in this place, our situation is not so different from what the children of Israel faced, after leaving their bondage in Egypt.  They found themselves wandering  through the Sinai desert, in a wilderness  that seemed endless, and the Promised Land seemed so far out of reach that they actually longed for the comforts they had left behind in Egypt.   The story of their journey reveals much about the dangers and also the opportunities to be seized in this desolate space. (more…)

Andy Stanley, from North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, GA, is next up in my series on the 2010 Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit.   The subject matter was foreign to me, as I have always tended toward resolving tensions and keeping my personal space a “zero drama zone.”  I was pretty proud of my problem solving conflict resolution skills.  Apparently, I had something important to learn.

Andy began by stating that in every organization there are problems that shouldn’t be solved and tensions that shouldn’t be resolved.  My curiosity was piqued, but I was not expecting to be convinced of this.  (more…)

Christine Caine was the single most passionate speaker to grace the 2010 Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit.

She was absolutely captivating as she energetically paced back and forth on the platform, emphasizing each point she made with both gesture and words.  It seemed she never even stopped to take a breath, nor did she lose our attention for even a second.  She began by saying “I want to stir you up today.” And that is exactly what she did.

Christine’s passion is for bringing hope to the hopeless and fighting injustice, specifically the injustice of human trafficking.  She recently founded an organization called the A21 Campaign.  This signifies abolishing injustice in the 21^st century.  A21 exists to rescue and minster to victims of human trafficking, an organized criminal industry that affects every nation.  Trafficking in women is the second largest organized global crime today, generating an estimated $12 billion USD annually.  The A21 website describes the harsh reality for a typical victim with these cold hard words.

“After a trafficking journey that typically involves deception, rape, beatings, and constant threats, victims are often forced to live in confining and unsanitary conditions. Once formally put to work, human trafficking victims can be forced to service from 40 to 110 customers in one day.  Malnutrition, sleep deprivation, as well as emotional and physical abuse become day-to-day normalities.   In addition, forced abortions and the contraction of STI’s, Hepatitis B & C, and AIDS are ever looming probabilities. Life for a victim of sex trafficking is hell on earth. This injustice is the reason The A21 Campaign exists.” (more…)

As promised, here is some more wisdom gleaned from the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit…

The work of Jim Collins is the subject for today.

He is a creator of wisdom literature at its best! If you have not yet encountered Jim Collins, he is a nationally acclaimed “business thinker” and best selling author. His wisdom literature contributions include “Good to Great”, “Built to Last”, and “How the Mighty Fall”. He is a researcher and student of companies, examining how they grow, the leadership styles they incorporate, how they achieve superior performance, and how organizations can learn from them and become great within their own circle of influence.

Jim spoke to us about team dynamics and leadership, with great emphasis on the traits of teams on the way up, and teams on the way down. Keep in mind this was not a list of his opinions, but the result of dedicated and methodical research on some of the most successful companies and organizations of all time. He has identified very human traits like denial, passion, arrogance, and humility, and identified how they affect the organization through its growth and decline. (more…)

The opening presentation at the 2010 Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit set the tone for everything that followed. Bill Hybels talked about the investment we must make in ourselves to develop our leadership skills to successfully cast a vision to move those we lead “from here to there”. That is, after all, what leaders do, they transform what is, by moving others from a current reality to a brighter future. The difficulty encountered is that most people resist change. We humans are creatures of habit, and the unknown can be a threatening place for us to go. Without wise leaders challenging us to reach further and accomplish more, we would never achieve our full potential.  A wise leader’s first objective is not only to prepare people for change, but to make them passionately desire it. I really connected with the example of this that Bill used.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spent many years getting his followers ready for “the big day”. Speech after speech focused on everything that was wrong with the way people of color had been treated. He raised their level of discontent to the point that all agreed the status quo was absolutely not acceptable, and then he cast a vision with those timeless words, “I have a dream!” Had he started his movement with his most famous words, people would have seen it as a pipe dream with no hope of completion. So when wise leaders begin to cast a vision, they must begin by making “where we are now” an unacceptable place to remain. (more…)

It’s finally that time of year again!  This coming Thursday and Friday, ministry leaders from all over the world will gather at Willow Creek and many satellite broadcast locations, to hear the leadership wisdom & inspiration of Bill Hybels along with an A-list of speakers he has gathered for the event.

As a pre-summit teaser, the attendees received a download of the first chapter of Bill’s book, The Power of a Whisper.  I read it last night and it actually had me reliving the moments when I have heard God’s whisper and understanding them in a whole new way. (more…)