What’s on My Mind at the Moment

Here are some of my key takeaways from the second day of the Leadership Summit at Willow Creek Community Church.

Session 5 – Craig Groeschel – IT: How Leaders Can Get IT and Keep IT
In this session, Craig talked about his new book IT. He talked about how some leaders and churches have IT and some don’t. He talked about how churches share the same systems, like worship and teaching, but they produce different results. The difference is IT. Craig doesn’t know what IT is, but he describes it as something in addition to the power of the Holy Spirit.

Here are some of the qualities of organizations with IT:
- Laser focus
- They see opportunities where others see obstacles
- Willing to fail
- Led by people with IT

In Craig’s talk, he also asked some important questions:

- What are you doing that you need to stop doing?
- What has God called you to do that you are afraid to do?
- What are you going to do to get it?

Session 7 – Catherine Rohr – Risk Taking, Barrier Breaking, and Bold Leadership
In this session, Catherine Rohr, founder and CEO of Prisoner Entrepreneurship Program (PEP) was being interviewed by Jim Mellado, President of the Willow Creek Association.

PEP helps prisoners who are about to get out of jail by training them to use their entrepreneurship skills for legitimate businesses when they are released.

In this session, I was impacted by how passionate and bold Catherine Rohr is when it comes to PEP. Am I like that with what God has called me to?

Those were my takeaways for the second day. As you can tell, I got a lot out of this year’s Summit. Like in previous years, I need to take a few weeks to continue to process through what God was trying to teach me.

I did like the changes that Willow made with the format of this year’s summit. It was great idea to eliminate the Saturday sessions. I’m looking forward to next year’s Summit.

I really enjoyed Day 1 of the Leadership Summit at Willow Creek Community Church. Here are some of my key takeaways:

Session 1 – Bill Hybels – The High Drama of Decision Making

- Turn enemies into friends

- Vision leaks. You need to keep visioncasting

- Facts are your friends

- When something feels “funky”, engage in it. Don’t avoid it.

- Leaders call “foul” when necessary

- Take a calculated risk

- “This is church” Don’t get caught up in the small stuff and forget about the big picture.

Session 2 – Gary Haugen – Just Courage: Charging the Darkness

- Lead things that are important to God.

- How to lead when it seems hopeless? Refocus on where we center our hope (God). If God is passionate about it, He will solve the problem.

- How do we lead when it is scary? Jesus came to, not make us safe, but to make us brave. Don’t go on a trip but miss the adventure.

- How do we lead others on the more demanding climbs? Choose not to be safe. Choose deep spiritual health. Choose to pursue excellence. Choose to seize the joy.

Session 3 – Bill George – Finding Your True North

The job of the leader is to:

- Align the people around a mission and values

- Empower the people

- Serve

- Collaborate

As a leader, you need to understand the purpose of your leadership. You need to know where you’re supposed to be. You need to gain self awareness. You need to use your strengths. You need to build a support team around you.

Interview with Wendy Kopp

I really enjoyed this interview format. I was very impressed with Wendy Kopp’s leadership style. Some key takeaways for me were to be relentless in my leadership and have a sense of urgency.

Session 4 – John Burke – Leading in New Cultural Realities

Our job is not to fix people, but to just cultivate the soil.

Efrem Smith

This pastor had a lot of great points. Some of the key ones for me were:

We want our church to be a sneak preview of heaven.

God wants to love the world through us.

Efrem Smith also spoke about our identity in Christ. Our identity is not based on our color, ethnicity, or any other external factor. We are all children of God.

It was a great day today. I look forward to Day 2 in just a few hours.

I’m sitting at kitchen table at my sister’s house in Illinois, thinking about the Willow Creek Leadership Summit that begins in two hours.  I’m really thankful that I can attend this event and be able to spend a little time with my family as well.

I’m not sure what God is going to teach me at this two day event, but I know that He is going to teach me something.  I’ve had the privilege of attending the summit for a few years now and have always been blessed by it.  This year, I’m looking forward to hear from Bill Hybels, John Burke, Chuck Colson, Brad Anderson, and my senior pastor, Craig Groeschel.

I’m also looking forward to connecting with some old friends, meeting some online ones for the first time, and making some new friends.

If you’re attending in Chicago, twitter me.