Leadership Summit

Yesterday I went to a leadership summit with some of the staff members from my new school. The conference actually took place at Willow Creek, but we were at a satellite location. We got to here Bill Hybels and Gary Haugen, along with four other speakers talk about effective leadership. Something Gary Haugen said really struck home to me. He's the founder of International Justice Mission, which rescues victims from all forms of violent oppression. He said true Christian leaders lead in things that matter to God. He asked us to ask ourselves if Jesus is interested in the same thing we are. That was really something that made me think. Then he went on to say that if we are leading in a situation that seems hopeless, we need to recenter the basis of our hope. He made a point by saying that if God wants it done, it's His responsibility to get it done. All we need to do is bring the little that we have and give it over to Him. He'll use what we think are inadequate resources to get His mission accomplished. A great example of this is the story of the feeding of the 5,000. The disciples did not have what they understood to be adequate resources, but Jesus just asked them "What DO you have?". That was all he needed.

The conference was a very powerful day for me. It also gave me the opportunity to get to know some of the teachers. I think this will be a staff that I can work well with!