Month: January 2018

Stuck on What’s Next

Posted on January 25, 2018 by - Articles, Communication, Execution, Leading Yourself, Productivity, Resilience

When confronted with too many good options, it’s easy to get paralyzed. The complaint is that we don’t know what to do next because we’re pulled in many good directions—and doing one thing with focus means not doing something else.

This is a common way to get stuck.

After all, if you’re at this crossroads, where more consideration means more possibility, while more action merely means walking away from a potentially better choice, it’s easy to settle for the apparently safe path, which is more study.

No one can blame you for careful consideration. More careful consideration seems to insulate you from the criticism that follows taking action.

But getting stuck helps no one.

Here’s an alternative:

Write up a one-pager on each of the five best alternatives you are considering. Use the document to sell each idea as hard as you can, highlighting the benefits for you and those you seek to serve.

Then, hand the proposals to your trusted advisors. They vote (without you in the room) and you commit to doing whatever it is they choose. Not thinking about it, but doing it.

Merely agreeing to this scenario is usually enough incentive to pick on your own and get to work. 

When One Man Decided Not to Quit

Posted on January 24, 2018 by - Because of the GLS, Calling, Caribbean, Central America, Latin America, South America, Stories

If you are considering quitting your ministry, hold on. Rethink what you are doing. If you are stressed or lack strength, whatever you need, ask God. Trust God and continue moving forward with your ministry.

When Carlos Arroyo heard these challenging words at The Global Leadership Summit in 2012, he made a decision not to quit ministry. The trajectory of his life changed as he decided to follow the passion God put in his heart. As a result, in Carlos’ current role as regional director for the GLS in South America, he has served thousands of leaders who’ve had the opportunity to hear God’s whisper on their own calling through the Summit. In turn, his work is having a transformational impact on hundreds of thousands of lives.

God speaks through transition

“I moved to Panama in 2012 because of my wife’s work,” says Carlos. “It was a transitional period in my life. I’m originally from Costa Rica, and was pastoring a church there before we moved. Prior to being a pastor, I was a sales manager in the marketplace. When I moved to Panama, I was deciding whether or not I should quit ministry or go back to working in the marketplace. I thought I could serve the church from this new position. I was struggling with this decision when I attended the Summit.”

God had something in mind that aligned with Carlos’ passion for the church, ministry and seeing lives change. It was even bigger than Carlos imagined, and God used the Summit to speak to him.

“God spoke to me at that GLS,” says Carlos. “I prayed and I renewed my commitment to ministry, even though I didn’t know yet what that would look like.”

God equips the servant leader

A year and a half passed, and there were no apparent opportunities to do ministry, however Carlos continued to be involved with the GLS in Panama and Costa Rica. He also started serving as a volunteer for the GLS in Central America and the Caribbean. “I continued being patient and I kept believing that God would speak to me,” says Carlos. “It was imprinted on my spirit and my heart to be in ministry.”

God provides opportunity

After a year and a half, Carlos received an offer from WCA to become the regional director for South America, Panama and Cuba. “This is my ministry,” says Carlos. “It is not just a job. I am serving God doing what I am doing. I believe I have even more opportunities to influence leaders than I had when I was a pastor. Now I can mix up my market place experience with my experience as a pastor, and help address the challenges that people face. I can serve them in a better way. Now I can influence leaders who influence more leaders. I thank God for this opportunity.”

God blesses South America through Carlos

Carlos’ brings fresh strategy in how to expand the GLS in South America. With his vision to expand the GLS within major cities, he believes the GLS can go beyond scratching the surface of opportunities in some of these countries where there is the biggest need for sound, godly leadership.

The vision

When Carlos became the regional director, he quickly realized the many opportunities we could go after. “I am a thinker,” says Carlos. “I like to think about the strategy and try to do things with a reason behind it. So I started to figure out new ways to serve South America. Through prayer and strategy, I approached the reality of the region, and I learned something. I come from a small country of about five million people. I traveled to South America for the very first time and came to a realization: Lima, Peru is home to 10 million people; Buenos Aires, Argentina is home to eight million people; Bogota, Colombia is home to approximately 10 million people, etc. This is huge! How can I serve this many?! It’s like dream for me!”

Carlos remembered the GLS vision for every Christian to develop leadership skills in order to expand Kingdom impact. “How can we expand Kingdom impact by having only one site in such big cities?” asks Carlos. “I realized we need a lot of sites within these large urban areas, so this is the strategy I’ve been following since 2014.”

As a result, Carlos is adding great value to the GLS expansion process. In Lima, Peru, we will have four sites. In Buenos Aires, Argentina we will have three sites. The expansion within major cities is multiplying. “My grander vision is to have GLS events and a year-round process all around South America,” says Carlos. “Like candles throughout the major cities, we can impact millions of people. That is my grander vision, and we have already started, but I have a vision to impact even more lives.”

The need

There are many needs to make Carlos’ vision a reality. “We need more resources,” says Carlos. “What type of resources? It’s not just financial resources, but also people resources. We need people to work with me to take care of such a large region. South America is huge! We need South American leaders to work on marketing and expanding the GLS with me.”

The other need has to do with countries that are very under-resourced. “We still need more funding to help them host the GLS,” says Carlos. “We want to keep the price accessible to pastors and leaders who usually do not earn much money. One of our strategies is trying to approach market place leaders and sponsors to help us with the costs.

With financial and people resources, Carlos believes the GLS impact in South America could be exponential. “We have lots of opportunities we could be leveraging to serve communities and the Church even better.”

Thank you for praying for and supporting leaders like Carlos, and giving opportunities for leaders to realize their calling

Willow Creek Association donors, supporters and people who love the GLS, I am Carlos Arroyo from Latin America, and I have the blessing and the opportunity to serve several countries in South America, as well as Panama and Cuba. I’ve seen the needs we have met through your resources. Thank you very much. Without your heart for giving, we could not have had the GLS in countries like Bolivia, Ecuador, Cuba, Chile, Peru and others in the rest of Latin America. I encourage you to continue with your great heart and gift of giving. I challenge you to invite others to be part of this movement. Under-resourced countries like ours need your support. I am certain that God will bless you, because this GLS movement is from the heart of God. Thank you very much.—Carlos Arroyo, regional leader for the GLS in South America

 

3 Ways to Reload Your Leadership

Posted on January 22, 2018 by - Articles, Leading Yourself, Productivity, Replenishment, Wellness

2018 is upon us and, by now, you’re probably knee deep into the thick of it all: meetings, tasks, projects…oh, and your inbox.

And, in case you didn’t do this over your Christmas break, take a minute and ask yourself, “How satisfied am I with my amount of reload time in 2017?”

Reload? Let me explain.

Think of the reload as WhiteSpace, think space, active rest, reflection, etc.

Pastor Jon Peacock, senior pastor of Mission Church, says, “It is one thing to relax and another thing to reload.”

I want to share three principles I live by in order to reload effectively and continue to live and work with greater purpose year after year.

1) Avoid Creative Inversion

Creative Inversion is a concept I heard from author Todd Henry in his book, Die Empty. Creative Inversion happens when ideas flow out of us at a higher rate than we allow inspiration to flow into us. As leaders, we are constantly on the hook for new and fresh ideas and creative solutions to urgent problems. How are you doing at keeping your well of ideas and solutions filled?

Maybe it’s a blog or podcast a day. Perhaps it’s a book a month. And especially one leadership conference such as The Global Leadership Summit every year.

What will you put into place in 2018 to avoid creative inversion?

2) Prioritize Rhythm Over Balance

Life balance is not only a myth, it’s uninspiring. When life balance is the goal, all we achieve is life balance. However, when rhythm is the goal, we achieve growth.

Jim Loehr’s The Power of Full Engagement changed how I approach all domains of my life with the following phrase: Stress is not the enemy in our lives. Paradoxically, it is the key to growth.

I have come to follow the blueprint of stress, rest and repeat in every part of my life. In my relational, vocational, physical, emotional and spiritual life, I intentionally move toward stress that shapes and grows these areas of my life. I then immediately follow up this stress with intentional rest before engaging in stress at the next level. This is how I believe growth is achieved.

We’ve always lived by principles such as, “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.” And while I don’t disagree, we tend to plan only for growth in the stress that acts on us. We fail to lean intentionally into stress in ways that shape us and form us into healthier leaders.

Perhaps it’s counseling for yourself or your marriage. Maybe it’s hiring a personal trainer for your physical life. Or maybe you serve and sacrifice in a way that forms you spiritually. The key in all of this is to follow with rest and reflection before re-engaging higher levels of intentional stress. This is living a life in rhythm.

3) Trust Is Required

The idea of pausing our work for WhiteSpace, reflection and rest requires trust.

I have found there are three ways trust is required to reload effectively.

First, we must trust our team. When we get away to reload, our lines of communication and understanding with our teammates must be clear. We also need to have a healthy plan in place to delegate work when it’s necessary to take time away to reload. Trust in both directions with our team must be in place to reload effectively.

Second, we need to trust our work. We need to believe the work we’ve already executed is sufficient enough to move on, and we also need to believe our work ahead of us will benefit from our time away to reload.

Finally, we must trust our God. I believe our Sabbath rhythm must rest the parts of ourselves that command us to love God with: our heart, soul, mind and strength. You have to trust enough to stand up, shut off the office light and say, “God, you got this. I’m going home.”

So, are you ready for a reload in 2018?

What is the state of your creative inversion?

Does your life aim for balance or rhythm?

And, is the necessary trust in place for you?

Here’s my hope for you and the people you lead this year: make 2018 the year of the reload.

Using Sports to Introduce Children to Jesus in Ukraine

Posted on January 22, 2018 by - Church & Faith-Based, Eastern Europe, Europe, Stories

An attendee of the GLS in Ukraine was so inspired by what he heard, he wanted to use his influence to introduce children to the Gospel in a new way. He discovered the game of floorball, and it took off. As a result, children are developing personal leadership skills while also discovering Jesus: