Month: July 2019

The GLS is a Catalyst Changing Me and My City of Omaha

Posted on July 31, 2019 by Rosey LaVine - Because of the GLS, Business, City Movement, Influence, Leading Organizations, North America, Stories

I used to be stuck in performance addiction

I’ve spent much of my life running like a hamster on a wheel. For at least 30 years, I was stuck in two of the most accepted addictions of our time: performance and perfectionism.

Throughout the first half of my career, which spanned from fundraising to sales to executive leadership, I achieved the highest levels of success…and all the trappings that go along with it. Being caught up in the world of fame, fortune, rewards and recognition consistently fed my addictions and chipped away at my true identity.

I passionately believe the Summit is the most impactful leadership gathering, experience and resource for leaders to leverage that exists in our world today!

My mindset of leadership effectiveness was narrow and highly inaccurate, centering largely on a scoreboard that monitored my outcomes (and what felt like my worth) on a minute-by-minute basis. I adopted success at nearly an all-costs mentality, demanding the ultimate from myself in work ethic, time and energy investments and high achievement. Every goal reached was like getting a hit—deceptive, short-lived and unfulfilling—leaving me seeking and striving for the next one.

I’m beyond grateful the Lord intervened, saving me from myself and giving me the grace to obey the new direction He created for my life. I now coach leaders to live and lead more authentically out of who they are, while influencing more deeply and achieving with more sustainable impact.

God has used The Global Leadership Summit (GLS) to expand my leadership influence through the incredible messages shared by Summit faculty; exposure to healthy and diverse leadership philosophies; challenging concepts presented, connecting with Christian marketplace leaders and providing unexpected opportunities to serve in our community.

I’m honored to serve as the GLS City Strategist in Omaha and as the GLS Point Leader for Lifegate Church. I passionately believe the Summit is the most impactful leadership gathering, experience and resource for leaders to leverage that exists in our world today!

Growth through the Summit, Growth in leadership

Omaha has been blessed to experience significant growth in the GLS over the past couple of years. We’ve gone from a few hundred leaders in attendance to nearly 2,000, have grown from 2 host sites to 5 and have seen Summit partnerships increase from a handful to nearly 40. This year we’ve been particularly blessed to welcome the Archdiocese of Omaha as a first-time host site and include our Catholic brothers and sisters in what God is doing in our city around leadership development.

Undoubtedly, the GLS has been at the core of the God-infused movement happening in Omaha…

Undoubtedly, the GLS has been at the core of the God-infused movement happening in Omaha, and I’m just one of many who have been called into this space to co-create a leadership movement centered on the pillars of unity and leadership excellence. A unique infrastructure serves as Omaha’s foundation, with two special “pillar” organizations: Within Reach and Omahaleaders.com.

Within Reach, led by some of the most exceptional pastors in the country, represents about 40 churches who are unified and committed to what God is doing in His church throughout our city. The four primary focuses of Within Reach include: church growth, church plants, compassionate service, and leadership development.

Omahaleaders.com is led by visionary marketplace leaders and was birthed directly out of GLS partnerships. We’re growing and formalizing, and the leaders involved represent all spheres of influence in the city—business, ministry, government, education, healthcare, athletics, arts, entertainment, believers and unbelievers. The mission of Omahaleaders.com is to grow, serve and champion leaders in our community.

Championing leadership growth year round

The GLS gives us a common, non-divisive leadership language to speak and understand. It’s further unifying our efforts and posturing us to create purposeful conversations beyond the Summit. Because of our team work around the GLS, we’re joining together to ask the question: “What is God’s Grander Vision for our city?”

This year, Omahaleaders.com is sponsoring the following initiatives: GLS NEXT Omaha, Monthly Leadership Luncheons and Mastermind Groups. All will be held in the months following the Summit and are designed to help leaders maximize their GLS experience by taking action on the incredible speaker content and by fostering strong relationships community-wide.

What might God do through this movement?

This question excites us and requires us to be in a surrendered posture of listening and learning. We know that we’re committed to leadership excellence, we’re committed to Omaha, and we’re committed to what God might call us to in the city movement as He continues to unfold the pieces of the puzzle.

We’re focused on striding forward obediently with long, intentional steps in the same direction as His pace of Grace. As Omaha leaders say “yes” to the leadership assignments He gives us, investing 150% of ourselves, not in scoreboards or numbers goals, but in the people He’s called us to reach, Omaha’s Grander Vision will be reached.

4 Ways to Control Your Emotions in Tense Moments

Posted on July 30, 2019 by Abby Jungles - Articles, Emotional Intelligence, Leading Yourself

A man is stressed at work since nothing seems to be going right.

Twenty-three years ago, one of my employees—I’ll call him Dale—asked for a private meeting. Dale was serious and bookish and had very strong opinions. His work was fastidious. He rarely socialized with colleagues, but he was impeccable in his commitments to others. And he was skilled at his job.

As I closed the door to our huddle room, he came straight to the point, “Joseph, I’d like to offer you some feedback.”

I had expected a different agenda. But given my professions about candor in our culture, I was somewhat trapped. “Please do,” I said cautiously.

“Joseph, you are arrogant and difficult to work with. Your first inclination is to shoot down criticisms from me and others. That makes it impossible for me to do my job as an editor.” And with that, he was done. He looked at me calmly.

I compressed an hour’s worth of emotions and thoughts into mere seconds. I felt waves of shame, resentment and anger. In my mind, I made a frenzied inventory of Dale’s defects—as though assembling a case to rebut an aggressive prosecutor. I fantasized briefly about firing him. My chest felt tight. My breathing was shallow. Through it all, I did my best to fake a composure I clearly did not feel. My tacit logic was that confessing hurt would telegraph weakness.

An overwhelming majority of the bad decisions I’ve made in my life have been impulsive. They weren’t errors of faulty logic or ineffective deliberation. They were avoidable mistakes in moments when I was unwilling or unable to manage potent negative emotions. Likewise, the most consequential progress I’ve made in my development as a leader has been not in professional, but in emotional competence.

The career-limiting habits I entered my profession with were a direct result of my inability to deal with emotions like anxiety, embarrassment and fear. For example, I routinely procrastinated on tasks that provoked anxiety and a lack of confidence. I reacted defensively when embarrassed by criticism. And I struggled to speak up when my views were at odds with powerful colleagues.

The most consequential progress I’ve made in my development as a leader has been not in professional, but in emotional competence.

The ability to recognize, own and shape your own emotions is the master skill for deepening intimacy with loved ones, magnifying influence in the workplace and amplifying our ability to turn ideas into results. My successes and failures have turned on this master skill more than any other.

But can you strengthen this core muscle of your emotional anatomy? If your impulses tend to override your intentions in cherished areas of life, is it possible to make the converse the norm? Four practices have made an immense difference for me at important moments in my career, like this one when I faced “Dale.”

1. Own the emotion. Emotional responsibility is the precondition of emotional influence. You can’t change an emotion you don’t own. The first thing I do when struck by an overpowering feeling or impulse is to accept responsibility for its existence. My mental script is, “This is about me, not about that or them.” Emotions come prepackaged with tacit external attribution. Because an external event always precedes my experience of an emotion, it’s easy to assume that event caused it. But as long as I believe it was externally caused I am doomed to be a victim to my emotions.

For example, my anger following Dale’s criticism had nothing to do with Dale’s criticism. His statement could have corresponded to feelings of curiosity, surprise or compassion as much as resentment and anger. The fact that I experienced the latter rather than the former was about me, not him.

2. Name the story. Next, you need to reflect on how you colluded with the initial event to create the present emotion. Emotions are the result both of what happens, and of the story you tell yourself about what happened. One of the powerful practices that helps me detach from and take control of my emotions is to name the stories I tell. Is it a victim story—one that emphasizes my virtues and absolves me of responsibility for what is happening? Is it a villain story—one that exaggerates the faults of others and attributes what’s happening to their evil motives? Is it a helpless story—one that convinces me that any healthy course of action (like listening humbly, speaking up honestly) is pointless? Naming my stories helps me see them for what they are—only one of myriad ways I can make sense of what’s happening.

As I sat with Dale, I realized I was deep into victim and villain stories. I was thinking only of reasons he was wrong, but not of how he was right, and I was attributing his criticism to his personal flaws, not his legitimate frustrations.

The ability to recognize, own and shape your own emotions is the master skill

3. Challenge the story. Once you identify the story, you can take control by asking yourself questions that provoke you out of your victim, villain and helpless stories. For example, I transform myself from a victim into an actor by asking, “What am I pretending not to know about my role in this situation?” I transform Dale from a villain into a human by asking, “Why would a reasonable, rational and decent person say this?” and I transform myself from helpless into able by asking, “What’s the right thing to do now to move toward what I really want?”

As I pondered these questions in my interaction with Dale, I saw how my impatience and…gulp…arrogance, was a big part of why he was saying this. As I asked, “What is the right thing to do?” I felt an immediate release from resentment and anger. A calming humility emerged. And, I began to ask questions rather than present my defense.

4. Find your primal story. Over the years, I’ve wondered why the stories I tell myself are so predictable. In my research with hundreds of leaders, I’ve found that most people have habitual stories they tell in predictable circumstances as well. Early life experiences that we perceive at the time to be threats to our safety and worth, become encoded in our potent memories.

For example, perhaps a classmate in second grade coaxed you to an unsupervised place in the schoolyard and bullied you in a traumatic way. A parent may have shown you less approval than a sibling. From these experiences, the most primal part of our brains code certain conditions as threatening—physically or psychically. And from that point forward, you don’t get to vote on whether you’ll react when those conditions are present. When a larger work colleague raises his voice, your brain might connect with the old bully experience. Or, when Dale accuses you of being arrogant, your parental criticism triggers flare. I’ve found greater peace over the years as I’ve become aware of the primal origin of the stories I tell. And I’ve learned to challenge the perception that my safety and worth are at risk in these moments. When my chest got tight sitting across from Dale, simply thinking, “This can’t hurt me” and “Humility is strength not weakness” had an immediate calming effect. Reciting a specific script in moments of emotional provocation weakens trauma-induced reaction that is not relevant in the present moment.

Dale and I worked together productively for years after this episode. I’ve failed as many of these moments as I’ve mastered. But by working intentionally on these simple exercises, my successes are far more common.

This article originally appeared on the HBR website.

Challenge to Be Courageous Changed Our Spectator Church to a Fully Engaged Church

Posted on July 29, 2019 by Rosey LaVine - Because of the GLS, Church, Church & Faith-Based, Leading Organizations, North America, Stories, Strategy, Vision

The Summit turned our church upside down.

A local host church in Boise sponsored a team of 10 from our church to attend The Global Leadership Summit for the first-time in 2011. Once we went, we were hooked. I could go to another more expensive conference on my own and try to bring back what I learned to my team with diminishing returns; but what I love about the Summit is that I can take our whole staff locally for the same cost as sending one person to another conference we’d have to fly to. The Summit allows us all to personally engage —everybody grows in their leadership skills. We’re challenged, and we get to do it together.

But we didn’t anticipate how the Summit would turn our church upside down.

But we didn’t anticipate how the Summit would turn our church upside down.

When we attend, we pay attention to two things.

When we attend the Summit, we ask our staff to take notes and pay attention to two things:

What did YOU need to hear personally for your life, family and ministry?
What session do WE need to hear as a team leading this church?

When we come back together, the first step we take is to debrief what we learned and determine what stood out the most. Then, using the Team Edition, we revisit those sessions over the next several months.

The year Gary Haugen spoke changed everything.

The year Gary Haugen spoke was a year when everybody on our team said, I needed to hear that, we needed to hear that. It ended up being the most impactful talk we heard. What stood out was leading out of the God-given dream of what could be—not leading on the defense but leading on the offense—pursuing the dream and what could be and not letting fear be the silent killer of our dream.

Three or four weeks after the Summit, we have our annual vision retreat where a team of our leaders goes away together to seek God for direction and clarity for the coming year. That year, we played Gary Haugen’s talk to marinate in it again and see how God was going to speak to us. It prepared us for where we were going. We made some significant decisions about how we were approaching things. That retreat stands out in all of our minds as really significant and special—we left so energized by what God put on our hearts. He called us to lead out of courage in spite of fears regarding the costs we expected to pay.

We didn’t want to settle for a spectator church experience.

We stepped back, looked at our church and said, Our vision statement is Making the Invisible God Visible. If what we’re called to do is to make disciples and be disciples, are we doing that? Are we satisfied with the results? We could point to anecdotal success, but across the board, we saw a lot of people who were not engaged or were coming to church as spectators.

We didn’t want to settle for a spectator experience, where people come in and listen to a message and then leave.

We wanted to create a more engaged experience of our lives together as a church. We didn’t want to settle for a spectator experience, where people come in and listen to a message and then leave. We wanted to pursue full engagement—and that was across the board. It meant our team had to be more engaged in order to facilitate and model a more engaged experience within the congregation.

The game doesn’t happen in the locker room—it happens on the field.

We use this metaphor: Church is not about what happens on Sunday. Our Sunday gathering is like the half-time locker room during a football game. The game doesn’t happen in the room, it happens on the field. When we come into the locker room, we come in to get bandaged up, coached up, get some nourishment and spiritual Gatorade and revisit the playbook. Then we go back onto the field, because church is about what happens when we leave. Even though we’ve said that a lot, we realized our model didn’t reflect it—the most engaging part of our morning was during our songs of worship. After that, it was primarily a spectator activity.

We had to figure out how to get people more engaged.

We got rid of all the rows of chairs and brought in round tables so people could engage with each other at their tables. We made space within the service for discussion and collaborative exercises connected to the morning’s theme. But it messed with our comfort zones and a lot of people didn’t want to do that. We got resistance and push-back, and many dear friends even left over the shift in the model.

But we didn’t want to lean into fear.

As a church, we are now more engaged with each other.

We got rid of all the rows of chairs and brought in round tables so people could engage with each other at their tables.

We have a place for people to do practicums at their tables—so before we get into the message, we provide time for people to share with each other and answer different questions together. For example, one Sunday, we talked about when life overwhelms you. We prepped everybody by having people share at their tables about a time they felt overwhelmed. As people shared those experiences, they found out they’re not as different from others as they may have expected.

One of my favorite things that happens is when people decide to connect further over coffee or a meal after the service. People who come in longing for relationship in a church full of rows don’t end up connecting with anyone very easily. But now someone can walk in, sit down at a table and end up having a conversation with another person or family, and they can immediately find connection with someone else in the church.

The game changed.

In this new model, everybody gets to play. We are the body of Christ, and we minister to one another. God can speak as powerfully through the person sitting next to you as He can through any of our leadership team.

We’ve made some significant decisions as a church in rounds. For example, one weekend we got together and brainstormed at the tables about what the opportunities were in our city where we could make the invisible God visible by bringing an encounter with grace and surprising love to our community.

Instead of the staff coming up with an idea and giving it to the church congregation, the people actually brainstormed ideas at their tables. We combined all the ideas around commonality and themes and we said, let’s take the top five ideas and vote on them. One of our favorite ideas was based on a book called The Kingdom Assignment. The idea was to give everybody in the church (who wanted to participate) a $100 bill to fund their own grace project—whatever it was that they wanted to do to create an experience of God’s grace for others. That following Sunday, we had to give out a lot of money! We explained the parameters of the project, and asked people to report back. People did that over the next few months, and then we had a Sunday where we shared those grace encounter stories. It created such an engaging and participatory church experience that began at the tables but culminated outside the walls.

Leadership is about empowering others and getting out of the way.

What people came up with was amazing. Instead of the church staff saying, we have a dream, and you help us, we said, what’s the God-given dream in your heart? We want to encourage and empower those dreams.

One of the men, who had been incarcerated for a time, was working with people coming out of incarceration, especially people with mental illness. He wanted to create a welcome home party for people coming out of incarceration because they are often not welcomed back into the community, or the people welcoming them are the very people that they got into trouble with in the first place. He said, if anybody should be welcoming and believing in second chances, starting a new life, it should be the church, and we should proclaim that message!

He created a “Bar None” grace party. He lined up speakers, asked people to share redemptive stories, and invited anybody who was being released from prison. Our church provided the space for it, and people came together to do all the cooking, and some people used their own money to provide door prizes.

If God hadn’t taken me on my leadership journey, I wouldn’t be here today.

When I was asked to be lead pastor at my church, I never saw it coming. I’m wired very differently from our founding pastor. So, when I looked at what it was like for him to lead the church, I didn’t see myself in that role. When I measured myself against him, I felt like I came up pretty short. The pressure I put on myself, and the inadequacy I felt, was crushing. In the first few years of my leadership transition, God led me into a significant personal revelation of not defining myself by the people around me or the people I looked up to. God never asked me to be a second version of them, He asked me to be who He made me to be. And once I had the freedom to see who He made me to be, I had the freedom to be a leader.

In a similar way, God called our church to this new model of engaging our church—not to be a second version of another one. This journey has been a reminder that my success is not about me. It’s about seeing others succeed in what they’re called to do. God confirmed to me that my greatest joy is when others succeed in what they’re called to do. The Kingdom is better when I empower others, and then step out of the way.

10 Days Left Until #GLS19

Posted on July 29, 2019 by Abby Jungles - News & Updates, North America, The Global Leadership Summit

The Global Leadership has fresh, actionable and inspiring leadership content from a world-class faculty at a convenient location near you.

Can you imagine how the world could be better if you invested in your own leadership? Leadership is influence, and guess what? YOU have influence. Watch this special message from Summit Champion, Craig Groeschel.

Join 405,000+ of your peers for two days of fresh, actionable and inspiring leadership training from a world-class faculty at a location near you. Don’t miss The Global Leadership Summit in 2019.

Living Out Your Faith at Work

Posted on July 29, 2019 by Abby Jungles - Calling, Leading Yourself, Videos

Dee Ann Turner describes what it means for her to truly live out her faith in the workplace.

Jason Dorsey Invites You to #GLS19

Posted on July 26, 2019 by Abby Jungles - News & Updates, North America, The Global Leadership Summit

Watch as #GLS19 faculty member, Chris Voss, shares what he’ll be discussing at this year’s Summit.

Join 405,000+ of your peers for two days of fresh, actionable and inspiring leadership training from a world-class faculty at a location near you. Don’t miss The Global Leadership Summit in 2019.

Faith Marketplace Radio Looks to the GLS for Teaching & Inspiration

Posted on July 26, 2019 by Rosey LaVine - Because of the GLS, Business, News & Updates, North America, The Global Leadership Summit

Someone holding up a Light bulb against blue fading into pink sky.

Bob Lambert and Jennifer Villarreal, show hosts of AM1160’s Faith Marketplace, focus on inspiring, equipping and encouraging Christians in the marketplace. Both Bob and Jennifer have looked to The Global Leadership Summit for teaching, inspiration and resources to equip them for their roles in the media.

Global Leadership Network (GLN): You have both attended the Summit for a number of years. Have any particular speakers made an impact on your leadership?

Jennifer Villarreal: I attended my first GLS in 2014—the year Tyler Perry (GLS 2014) spoke. I watched several of his movies after the Summit and it was compelling to see how he incorporates a faith message in a non-conventional way to people who might not want to attend church or who wouldn’t ordinarily hear that message. I didn’t think his movies would send that kind of a message. I didn’t even know there was a message.

Bob Lambert: I’ve been attending the GLS for 22 years and have heard from the brightest minds in academia, business, government and ministry. One speaker who stands out for me is Ken Blanchard (GLS 1995, GLS 2000, GLS 2005), author of The One Minute Manager. He shared this prayer: “Take the ‘I’ out of me. Fill me with You and cloak me in humility.” It’s a prayer that asks God to help battle pride and I say that prayer to this day.

It’s impossible to go to the Summit and not walk away with at least one thing you can implement into your life or into your business that you can then pour into others.

Jennifer: I had just started my business SalesFromTheHeart.com and was encouraged to see how Tyler reaches a wider audience in unconventional ways. I’ve been able to lead people to the Lord in a non-conventional way. It’s something I never thought I’d be doing through business coaching.

Bob: At the Summit, I get to reconnect with people I’ve known for years. I also get to meet people who have successfully implemented leadership principles and aren’t just talking about it.

Jennifer: The Summit has been one of the ways I reach out to people. I always get two tickets and invite someone to come with me.

GLN: How do you make the most of what you learn at the Summit?

Jennifer: Because there is so much to learn, it can feel like content overload, but it doesn’t have to. I usually write down everything I learn and then make a list of everything I want to implement. I plug each one into my calendar along with any names that come to mind of whom I can reach out to get help with implementing the idea.

GLN: What would you say to someone who has never attended the Summit?

Jennifer: It’s impossible to go to the Summit and not walk away with at least one thing you can implement into your life or into your business that you can then pour into others.

Bob: The Summit gives you two days of consistent messages from top quality people. It will change and strengthen your leadership—no matter who you are or where you lead.

Bob Lambert , is the founding partner of Samurai Business Group: Sales Management & Business Development Training for financial services, technology, manufacturing & distribution, and education. He also co-hosts Faith Marketplace radio show: to inspire, equip and encourage people in business.

Jennifer Villarreal knows what it’s like to be lost, lonely, and tired from spinning in circles not fully moving forward in life, business, and spiritually. This led her to serve entrepreneurs through her Unshakable Confidence Club™ and customized coaching business, Sales from the Heart, Inc. When she’s not coaching or co-hosting Faith Marketplace radio show, you can find Jennifer indulging in gourmet tacos, in prayer, or constantly looking after (ok, spoiling) her 3 dogs! To find out more about Jennifer’s workshops, coaching & mentoring, books, audio and video training programs, or to inquire about her availability as a speaker, contact her at 773-614-SALE (7253) or SalesFromTheHeart.com

Eliminating Complexities

Posted on July 25, 2019 by Abby Jungles - Leading Organizations, Process, Videos

Todd Henry challenges you to eliminate unnecessary complexities for your team.

Sam Collier Invites You to #GLS19

Posted on July 24, 2019 by Abby Jungles - News & Updates, North America, The Global Leadership Summit

The Global Leadership Summit believes Everyone has Influence.

Sam Collier tells us how we can get to the next level in our leadership. Watch this video, and be sure to catch Sam at #GLS19.

Join 405,000+ of your peers for two days of fresh, actionable and inspiring leadership training from a world-class faculty at a location near you. Don’t miss The Global Leadership Summit in 2019.

When Pause Builds Momentum for Catalytic Change

Posted on July 24, 2019 by Rosey LaVine - Because of the GLS, Church & Faith-Based, City Movement, Leading Organizations, Nonprofit, North America, Productivity, Replenishment, Stories, The Global Leadership Summit, Vision, Wellness

We were forced to pause.

My first time at the Summit was in 2017. I had no clue how God was going to use this event to rock my world! He used that Summit to open my eyes to my lack of balance and my dependence on Him, starting with Juliet Funt’s talk on WhiteSpace.

The Summit began to have real traction for me when our oldest daughter became sick in November of 2017. For 23 days in November and December, my husband and I lived in hospitals, swimming in the unknown. The rest of the time was spent in and out of numerous doctors’ and specialists’ offices all while caring for our other three girls. We were forced to pause, existing outside our comforts and the control we thought we held.

It was so freeing to know that staying in tune with God’s desire and plan for my gifts and talents was all I really needed.

The words I heard at the Summit started to replay in my mind. I began to see that the whispers God had been planting all throughout the year, then emphasized at the Summit, led me to begin evaluating my relationship with my control issues and with His plan.

God gave me new perspective.

Thankfully, our daughter is doing well. Her story of healing is one that could only be done through Him. I give Him all the glory, not just for her healing, but for the refining that happened in me. God gave me new eyes to see His goals and stop focusing on what the world deemed as valuable. God’s leadership is full of grace, mercy and more precious than any job title, corporate ranking or job scope on earth. It was so freeing to know that staying in tune with God’s desire and plan for my gifts and talents was all I really needed.

The changes happening in our community through the catalytic momentum of The Global Leadership Summit are exciting!

I am so thankful for the Summit! Each year, I get powerful reminders of the simplicity of His plan, no matter our industry, title or career path—it’s all about loving God and loving people. My passion is reignited to build leaders who want to bring transformation not only in our county, but in the Kingdom of God.

The Summit is a catalyst for our hope.

The goal of Intercession Group is to not just educate and empower leaders, but to provide hope in the already established cultures of businesses and organizations—hope in the form of strengthening one’s faith and highlighting tangible ways leaders can use their influence to produce hope within the 80,000 residents of Kosciusko County. It is the best feeling to see the light bulb go on for the first time for individuals as they realize, “I am working in ministry every day!”

The changes happening in our community through the catalytic momentum of The Global Leadership Summit are exciting! We are in our third year of hosting the Summit and we have grown each year—our growth from 2018 to 2019 is over 200%! People ask, “How did you do that?” The answer is God—He is at work in our community, specifically the marketplace, and we are humbled to be a small part of the story that God is writing. The Summit is a gift—it inspires, equips and trains as we raise awareness and address the needs in our community and public schools.

The Summit is a catalyst for unity.

We are a county of 80,000 with 249 churches. Of our 80,000 residents only 35,000 say they are church attendees, leaving nearly 50,000 unchurched! With the number of churches in our small community, our residents have been longing to see unity. In discussions with the Global Leadership Network staff about Kosciusko County, Dave Bushnell, field director with the GLN, said, “I’d love to help!” I love this about the GLN staff. They don’t just offer suggestions, they offer service. This opened the door for me to ask him to facilitate the half-day Pastor’s Collaborative in June 2019.

We had 17 churches represented, key business leaders and nonprofit leaders for a total of 50 attendees in the room—this is the first time this has ever happened in our community. The response has been electric! 12 of the pastors signed up for GLS, and two churches committed to bringing their Elder teams. To put this in perspective, in 2017, 4% of our 535 attendees represented the Church.

This is what else happened:

Two local elementary schools have been adopted by churches.
Our largest church asked for all our GLS branding materials and worked that same night to begin scheduling a social media blitz.
Grace College and Seminary donated $2,000 toward conducting the GLS in the Warsaw Jail.

My executive board has renewed excitement and we feel that God is just getting started.

I have a vision of transformation for my community.

I have a heart for the 1 in 5 children in our community who live in poverty and need safe adults in their lives. What would it look like if our community became a beacon of light for those in hopeless situations such as poverty? What would it look like if our community was broken-hearted for the hungry right next door to them? What would happen if our teachers, who are the lowest paid in the state, said, “My community supports me and knows my mission field is important.”

You have no clue how God is going to use those two days to clarify your calling or shore up your confidence in where He has placed you.

By the world’s standards, these are not easy fixes, but we serve a big God who likes to show His glory in difficult messes. The Summit is a catalyst for these changes. It rallies leaders together to serve a mission and a purpose far bigger than themselves, their organization or even their skill sets. It sets the priority on God’s plan for our community and leaves a legacy far bigger and greater than a corporate headquarters or market share. What is exciting is that we already see God at work on this grander vision. We see him opening doors, softening hearts and beginning the work we never thought possible.

Just go.

If you are on the fence about attending the Summit, my advice is: Just Go. Go with an open heart and an open mind. You have no clue how God is going to use those two days to clarify your calling or shore up your confidence in where He has placed you.

Your team will see you leading by example. By giving yourself the freedom to step into a role as a learner, you show relatability and place value on continued collaboration. The Summit is not just to fill you up, but can be used to model the qualities you see lacking in your team, organization or family. Lead by example and attend!

Introducing the BRAND NEW Global Leadership Network

Month: July 2019