The key to Logan Uniting Church fulfilling its redemptive potential is every person passionately following Jesus, listening to the prompts of the Holy Spirit and stepping outside of our comfort zone in witnessing and serving.
As part of our trip through the USA Glen and I attended the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit in Chicago. This was two days of world class business and church leaders sharing their insights - FANTASTIC.
SOME of the standout speakers were:
Jim Collins
Jim Collins, nationally acclaimed business consultant, serves as a teacher to leaders throughout the corporate and social sectors. Author of the best-selling books Good to Great and Built to Last, he is a student of companies—how they grow, how they attain superior performance, and how good companies can become great companies. His writings, based on groundbreaking research, have been featured in Fortune, Business Week, The Economist, USA Today, and Harvard Business Review. His latest volume, How The Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In, looks at common mistakes of organizations in a state of decline, and what leaders can do to reverse negative patterns and flourish anew.
Key Learning
Organisational decline is almost always self-inflicted
Stages of decline
1. Hubris born of success
2. Undisciplined pursuit of more
3. Denial of risk and peril
4. Grasping for salvation (Search for silver bullet)
5. Capitulation.
In the last 100 years only 18 of the fortune 500 companies are still alive and kicking – what they have in common is that they have more reasons to endure than money – they have undiluted core values which are not open to compromise. (E.G. Apple, Sony, Proctor and Gamble.) They changed their practices but not their values. They were also not afraid of “BHAGS”, Big Hairy Audacious Goals.
Andy Stanley
Under the leadership of Andy Stanley, North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia, has become one of the largest and most innovative churches in the United States. Founded in 1995, the church has grown to three campuses and a weekly attendance of more than 22,000 people. They have also helped plant more than 20 strategic partner churches across North America. Stanley is a dynamic speaker and author whose books include Visioneering, Next Generation Leader, and Communicating for a Change. His latest volume, The Principle of the Path, explores a basic truth that can eliminate regret, as it helps to successfully move people from where they are to where they want to go.
Key Learning
• Myth – Great Leaders solve problems and relieve stress – actually problems and stress should not always be eradicated but leveraged for good.
Leveraging tensions
1. Identify the tensions to be managed in your organization
2. Name those tensions – are both sides good (e.g. Salvation and Justice)
3. Inform your core
4. Continually give value to both sides
5. Don’t weigh in too heavily on your personal biases
6. Don’t allow strong personalities to win
7. Don’t think in terms of balance but rhythm, seasons of focus.
T.D. Jakes
Named by TIME magazine as one of the “25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America,” Bishop Thomas Dexter (T.D.) Jakes is an entrepreneur, global advocate, philanthropist, and pastor of The Potter’s House. Located in Dallas, Texas, this multiracial, nondenominational congregation has more than 30,000 members. Known for his service to both the church and the global community, he’s led initiatives to combat domestic violence, homelessness, poverty, and AIDS. A prolific writer, Bishop Jakes has authored more than 30 books, including two New York Times bestsellers.
Key Learning
• You cannot clone passion – people must receive it – but it is more than emotionalism it is commitment to a cause or endeavour
• People follow people who take risks for great causes
• You cannot do things without people – treasure them
• Evaluate what people can do – challenge them with something they can reach, do not defeat them with something they cannot reach – gift assessment is crucial
• Do not let depletion become normal – re-fill.
(Thanks to Steve Everist, Associate Pastor Pittwater Uniting Church, for the above
summaries)
These are only three of the 13 speakers we had the privilege of being challenged, equipped and inspired by.
On the 8th and 9th of October a large group from Logan Uniting will attend a video version of the Global Leadership Summit at Gateway Baptist. This is a fantastic opportunity to be equipped as a passionate disciple of Jesus.
We still have some very early bird registrations available and once they are taken, church council will contribute $30 each for a further ten registrations. Please contact the church office and make an investment in your growth and therefore in God’s Kingdom.
Yours in Christ
Graham Keech
No comments:
Post a Comment