Month: July 2017

The GLS Transforms the Culture of a Church

Posted on July 7, 2017 by - Africa, Church, Church & Faith-Based, Culture, Stories

Grace Family Church is a contemporary, multi-campus community that has been part of Willow Creek Association since the year 2000. It has hosted the GLS in Durban, South Africa every year since its inception in 2005. In 2015, after selling out the GLS for a number of consecutive years, the church felt God saying to run the GLS over two weekends to accommodate the people who wanted to attend.

Grace Family began in 1992 when Mark and Christine van Straaten opened the doors of the church in a small school.  In 1997, they attended the Summit in Chicago and it turned their lives upside down. They returned to Durban and changed how they ran their church. God blessed their courage and vision, and the church has continued to grow and reach people with the message of Christ. Currently they have nine Sunday services every weekend, spread across three campuses with about 4000 people in attendance.

Skip Collins came to Grace in in 2007 where he serves as the campus pastor for the uMhlanga campus in South Africa. He is also deeply involved in the GLS every year as the producer at his site.

The GLS has impacted Skip’s life and his church.

“In 2012, I heard Craig Groeschel say ‘If you’re not dead you’re not done.’” said Skip. “At the time, I was 58, and my wife and I were empty nesters. I was actually wondering when I would ‘be done.’

“Just a few months later my wife and I were presented with the opportunity to start our own non-profit, and open a home for abandoned babies. The words of the GLS were still ringing in my ears, and four years later, we have had 37 babies in our care while they were waiting to be adopted or returned to their families.”

The GLS transforms the culture of Grace Family Church

Skip has many stories to share about the transformation he’s seen in people who attend the GLS. But one of the most recent is about the cultural transformation at his church after the 2016 GLS. Check out Skip’s story in this video as he describes how the culture of his church was transformed:

“We will forever be grateful to Willow Creek Association for their vision to train leaders around the world,” Skip shares.

“I know I speak for our entire staff and church when I say thank you. We are forever changed!”

6 Things You Don’t Owe Your Boss

Posted on July 6, 2017 by - Articles, Character, Leading Yourself, Replenishment, Wellness

The typical workday is long enough as it is, and technology is making it even longer. When you do finally get home from a full day at the office, your mobile phone rings off the hook, and emails drop into your inbox from people who expect immediate responses.

While most people claim to disconnect as soon as they get home, recent research says otherwise. A study conducted by the American Psychological Association found that more than 50% of us check work email before and after work hours, throughout the weekend, and even when we’re sick. Even worse, 44% of us check work email while on vacation.

A Northern Illinois University study that came out in 2016 shows just how bad this level of connection really is. The study found the expectation that people need to respond to emails during off-work hours produces a prolonged stress response, which the researchers named telepressure. Telepressure ensures that you are never able to relax and truly disengage from work. This prolonged state of stress is terrible for your health. Besides increasing your risk of heart disease, depression and obesity, stress decreases your cognitive performance.

We need to establish boundaries between our personal and professional lives. When we don’t, our work, our health and our personal lives suffer.

Responding to emails during off-work hours isn’t the only area in which you need to set boundaries. You need to make the critical distinction between what belongs to your employer and what belongs to you and you only. The items that follow are yours. If you don’t set boundaries around them and learn to say no to your boss, you’re giving away something with immeasurable value.

  1. Your health. It’s difficult to know when to set boundaries around your health at work because the decline is so gradual. Allowing stress to build up, losing sleep and sitting all day without exercising all add up. Before you know it, you’re rubbing your aching back with one hand and your zombie-like eyes with the other, and you’re looking down at your newly acquired belly. The key here is to not let things sneak up on you, and the way you do that is by keeping a consistent routine. Think about what you need to do to keep yourself healthy (taking walks during lunch, not working weekends, taking your vacations as scheduled, etc.), make a plan and stick to it no matter what. If you don’t, you’re allowing your work to overstep its bounds.
  2.  Your family. It’s easy to let your family suffer for your work. Many of us do this because we see our jobs as a means of maintaining our families. We have thoughts such as “I need to make more money so my kids can go to college debt-free.” Though these thoughts are well-intentioned, they can burden your family with the biggest debt of all—a lack of quality time with you. When you’re on your deathbed, you won’t remember how much money you made for your spouse and kids. You’ll remember the memories you created with them.
  3. Your sanity. While we all have our own levels of this to begin with, you don’t owe a shred of it to your employer. A job that takes even a small portion of your sanity is taking more than it’s entitled to. Your sanity is something that’s difficult for your boss to keep track of. You have to monitor it on your own and set good limits to keep yourself healthy. Often, it’s your life outside of work that keeps you sane. When you’ve already put in a good day’s (or week’s) work and your boss wants more, the most productive thing you can do is say no, then go and enjoy your friends and hobbies. This way, you return to work refreshed and de-stressed. You certainly can work extra hours if you want to, but it’s important to be able to say no to your boss when you need time away from work.
  4.  Your identity. While your work is an important part of your identity, it’s dangerous to allow your work to become your whole identity. You know you’ve allowed this to go too far when you reflect on what’s important to you and work is all that (or most of what) comes to mind. Having an identity outside of work is about more than just having fun. It also helps you relieve stress, grow as a person and avoid burnout.
  5. Your contacts. While you do owe your employer your best effort, you certainly don’t owe him or her the contacts you’ve developed over the course of your career. Your contacts are a product of your hard work and effort, and while you might share them with your company, they belong to you.
  6. Your integrity. Sacrificing your integrity causes you to experience massive amounts of stress. Once you realize that your actions and beliefs are no longer in alignment, it’s time to make it clear to your employer that you’re not willing to do things his or her way. If that’s a problem for your boss, it might be time to part ways.

Bringing It All Together

Success and fulfillment often depend upon your ability to set good boundaries. Once you can do this, everything else just falls into place.

The GLS Inspires Vision to Give More Vulnerable Children a Voice

Posted on July 5, 2017 by - Because of the GLS, Calling, Confidence, North America, Stories, Vision

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

It was the Super Bowl of 2015. Unlike the other commercials advertising beer, web domains or Doritos, one stood out among the rest, raising awareness on domestic violence and abuse.

For one young girl watching the Super Bowl that year, this commercial was life altering.

She was suddenly able to put words to the sexual abuse she faced every day from her own father. Watching the commercial empowered her to speak up.

What happened next has been an extremely difficult journey for both her and her brother.

But for both of them, they do not have to walk this journey alone.

This is where Tammy Crenshaw steps in. As a court appointed special advocate (CASA), she stands with children, empowering them to have a voice. As a CASA volunteer, Tammy comforts, cares for and serves children through possibly the worst time of their lives.

“CASA volunteers provide a common sense mindset in the midst of chaos,” Tammy explains. “I have been a CASA for Shelby County, Indiana since April of 2012. I have helped several innocent children’s voices be heard in the court when they have found themselves in a situation they had no control over. I help give them a voice. When their parents or guardians let them down by abusing or neglecting them, and then authorities and the Department of Child and Family Services step in, I steadfastly stand alongside the children. In some ways, there are similarities between a CASA’s role and our relationship with those families that foster these children.

“We are loving on children who feel lost.”

The CASA program is a nationwide volunteer program. Unlike the legal position of someone working for the Department of Child and Family Services with 20-30 cases on their desk at one time, CASA volunteers have just one case at a time. After an extensive 30-hour training course, a CASA is given a case. Each case then lasts from six months to a year, and they are able to offer individual attention to the children they serve.

Tammy has been on the same case with the young girl and her brother since 2013. And in 2015, after the young girl saw the Super Bowl commercial about domestic violence, Tammy was there to hold her hand while she testified to a jury.

Tammy has been by her side through the whole process.

“I know you will love me forever anyway,” the young girl said to Tammy one day while they were out shopping.

Those words have stuck with Tammy, “This is what it’s all about – loving these kids.”

The Summit changes the game for even more children.

In 2015, Tammy volunteered at her church to serve during The Global Leadership Summit. When she walked into the auditorium to catch a glimpse of the session, it was nothing less than a God-ordained moment.

A video played about a pastor in Colorado who desires for every orphan in the state to be adopted—where families are waiting on children, not where children are waiting on families.

The vision about “no child waiting” struck a chord with her.

“I was immediately hit with a sense of urgency,” Tammy shares. “The more he talked about his project, the more I knew what needed to be done for the CASA program. I realized it doesn’t have to be about fostering kids. It’s about addressing a need in the community—for me that was Shelbyville, Indiana.”

Tammy immediately texted the director of CASA.

A swearing in ceremony for eight new CASA volunteers. The presiding Judge is also pictured.

“As a CASA, I wanted CASA volunteers to be waiting on children, not children waiting on a CASA!” Tammy exclaimed. “I asked my director if there was anyone recruiting for our CASA program. She said, ‘No, but you can if you want. There is definitely a need for more CASA’s in our community.’  That was all I needed to hear.”

In 2015, a total of 106 children were served by a CASA. At the end of 2016, a total of 72 children were still in need of a CASA. As of May 2017, only 13 children are waiting for a voice in our court system.  Tammy is close to achieving this goal!

The recruiting program has been going so well, CASA received a grant, and Tammy was offered a job recruiting and training more volunteers to join. “I would do this job for free because I’m so passionate about serving these kids,” says Tammy.

You too can hear God’s whispers at the Summit.

Tammy is also passionate about the Summit, and giving people the opportunity to hear God’s whisper in their life the way he whispered into hers. “You may not know who the speakers are or what videos are going to play. I wouldn’t have known!” Tammy said. “You never know what you’re going to hear or what conversations might come out of it. Had I not listened, I would have missed the moment when God pointed me in the direction where I needed to be going. I believe it was for such a time as this!”

Because of the GLS in Togo, Pastor Provides Water to Community & People Discover Jesus

Posted on July 3, 2017 by - Africa, Because of the GLS, Church, Church & Faith-Based, Culture, Nonprofit, Stories

My name is Ahossey Yawovi Michel, and I am a full time Senior Pastor in Togo, Africa. I’m also on the board of the Evangelic Apostolic Church as well as the president of a local charity. Ultimately, I work toward my vision of helping people in my community by addressing their needs.

I’ve been attending The Global Leadership Summit since 2010. I can confess that the Summit is helping me to accomplish my grander vision!

Through my charity, we have been able to provide water to three different villages. The impact of this is bigger than water. As a result of this work, more people came to Christ! We are so grateful to God!

I sincerely want to thank Willow Creek Association because of the impact the Summit is having in our country. I believe God will do more great things through the inspiration of the Global Leadership Summit in the coming years. Thank you!