Scott's N-Cites

Leadership

I received a call from Chad Gilligan yesterday. He's the pastor of a large Assembly of God Church (Calvary Assembly) in Toledo and I had the privilege of spending some time with him on a mission trip to Uruguay. He had an extra ticket to the Willow Creek Leadership Summit Simulcast at Cedar Creek Church in Perrysburg so I got to get in on a couple of sessions today.

I've heard Bill Hybles speak before and, as usual, he said a lot of great things about leadership. After his message we had a break and I ran into a youth pastor friend, Jim Oberlander. We had a nice talk and I was moved when he asked to pray for me. God used him to bless my life today.

The second session was kind of frustrating for me. Though the speaker had tremendous credentials, he was saying things about the church that I had a hard time with. The major difficulty I had with him was that he was a huge proponent of the pastor having all the answers for the the church, and acting with confidence even when he/she didn't have a clue. That seems both dishonest and far too much responsibility for any person other than the true Head of the Church, Jesus. It's hard to be critical of someone whose church baptized 5,000 people last year, but I believe thinking critically is a responsible thing to do.

I had a cool evening as Julie C, Tony, Barb C and I helped a lady move. Seth went along, too. Mary was ready for the move and very grateful for our help. We ended up inviting her to check out our weekly gathering and she seemed pretty interested. After the move, Kim & Shani met us at Julie's for some refreshments and great conversation.

While we were driving, Tony took the time to teach Seth a couple of things about how responsible young men conduct themselves, and Seth listened very attentively. I am so thankful for Tony's love and interest in helping us see our children reach their potential! In those conversations, I got a great picture of what real leadership is all about. It's not about accolades and book deals and speaking engagements. Real leadership is motivated by pure love and happens in everyday life more than special events. Thanks, Tony and Jim, for showing me what it means to lead like Jesus!

posted by Scott @ 10:50 PM