Relentless-- Summit '08 - Hybels

Session 9: Bill Hybels- "Relentless"–adjective that does not relent; unyieldingly severe, strict, or harsh; unrelenting:

God searches the whole world looking for hearts fully committed to Him.. there He sends His strength and power...

Mother Theresa decided to "refuse Him nothing"... What does it look like in my life to give God cart blanche' authority in my life?

Takes steps to move time and resources out of day to day worldly pursuits and more into His work...

Embrace callings from God without delay-so that lives are not lived with regret with "If only I had listened", "If only I had acted"...

Every leader can tell stories about how their dream almost died... It should come as no surprise when this happens to you (obstacles beyond your control, overwhelming circumstances)
How do I know when I hit obstacles if I missed what God called me to do or when God is working on His own time line? Be very careful when in this era....

Mother Theresa was amazingly relentless... just to be allowed to "start" her calling...
Outlast the problems, the obstacles, the people in the way- Who knows what God may do if you hang onto the calling- We must endure... Sometimes the calling may only come once in a lifetime...

Be relentless about becoming a Godly leader... be relentless to be someone worth following.
Mother Theresa: "I will seek to love Him as He has never been loved"- said in one of her "dry" times in her life...
Much of life can be lived without feeling the "presence" of God. Mother Theresa felt this... Hybels is honest about the same feelings..

Very powerful video.... "Here am I, send me..."-

"What life are you waiting for to finally step up and step into God's call for your life?"-BH

Thoughts:
Am I living in a way that will allow me to hear God's call for me and His purpose in my life?

There are some phenomenal "causes" in life. When do you know a trigger has been pulled in your life? When do you know when it's YOUR calling?

I think one of the hardest challenges of a vision/call/idea is having the persistence to go on while many people close to you are telling you all the reasons why it doesn't make sense...

God.... "Here am I.... send me...."

So... is it us? Do we sit back waiting for God to just do stuff, say stuff, and take care of stuff....or... are we stepping out because we are really His plan?

Why Gather?

Why gather? Why would we want to gather for a Sunday morning experience? Could it be that we need to bring our stories in to the light of the God story...to experience a renewed mind...to be transformed.

"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." - Romans 12.1

Erwin McManus, in his book Wide Awake states "while our imagination is not limited, our thinking so often is." Profound truth. Experience affirms that our thinking gets contained, restricted

...by our old tapes that inform our feelings and behaviors

...by our misinformed notions of God and life

...by our need for security, to keep things "normal", as we know it.

What we think is critical; relationships are impacted and navigated, decisions are made, and events or appointments are prioritized based on what's in our mind.

As Christians, we are called to be Christ-followers. Christian. We're called to live life as created beings, surrendered to our Creator. Pursuing his passions, his Kingdom, his will, his character, his agenda, and all that He is. We are called to renewed minds and lives, transformed and surrendered to whatever that means.

Why gather? We need to gather to renew our minds because it's easier to let people, culture, and "normal" patterns of living to suck us into their flow. It's easier to restrict God's will by expecting him to make us happy with our desires in our time frames. It's a tougher challenge to surrender to His will to transform our mind - to help us live from a core of truth about Him, the world,
ourselves, and others.

We gather to experience the Living God as we bring our life stories into the light of the Scriptures, God's story. We gather to re-imagine...life, love and legacy.

From Ideas to Reality

How you move from an idea to reality? How do you ensure creativity and innovation are part of the equation?

What are you doing to capture ideas and then keep things moving in the direction of better?

Brainstorm? Post-it palooza? White-board? Test and evaluate?

The folks over at the Catalyst Blog (a really creative bunch of people) have a helpful glimpse of the 5 elements that drive what is regarded as the most creative conference in the country:

1. Create - This is about brainstorming, but it is also about volume. Imagine looking for 300 ideas for the creative elements of a conference! Could it be that this kind of volume happens when we don't stop too soon? To achieve this kind of volume you'll need to embrace a "yes and" culture (as opposed to a "but/or").

2. Criticize - This is big. Think about your creative meetings or team sessions; what happens when an idea is criticized? Can you imagine a culture where critique was not only welcomed, but expected? Wanted?

3. Optimize - What if there was an expectation that every good idea could be built on? What if you asked "how can it be better?" What would happen in an entire organization truly allowed iron to sharpen iron and spurred each other to a higher level? What if we embraced and lived next level thinking and acting?

4. Validate - Does the idea line up with the vision? Is it consistent with what you're trying to do? If not, does anyone have the courage to say no? Can we validate that it passes our values filter?

5. Execute - Creativity and innovation aren't enough. Executing on what you've planned is the payoff. Creating, critiquing, optimizing, and validating are all great...but it's the execution that makes it worth while. Execution is essential...the best ideas that are only partially executed or never executed fail to make a significant Kingdom difference.

Thinking Impact

"Within our dreams and aspirations we find our opportunities" ~Sue Ebaugh

As we find our opportunities, we will need to make decisions. Decisions and outcomes are intricately linked and they begin with thinking.

Do you ever wonder why decisions produce outcomes that are less than what you hope? Maybe it's because the thinking that determines those decisions is not based on the current reality. Maybe it's only wishful thinking. Albert Einstein said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. And yet...many of us make decisions all day long that are based on assumptions that are no longer correct.

Some time back Andy Stanley talked about this concept in a message called "Breakaway." Here's what he said, "Your thinking determines your decisions and your decisions determine your outcomes."

I’m asking myself: "What are the deeply held beliefs that led me to make the decisions that produced this outcome?" I’m thinking this is where I might find an adjustment to my thought process which impacts decisions and outcomes.

Pursuing the dream...embracing the journey...

Re-imagine

Re-imagine...dream again. Take the journey...embrace the path...pursue the dream. This is the journey I'm on with a group of Christ-followers, leaders @ GR.

Imagination is a gift that can spur Hope, perseverance, and open doors of possibilites. Re-imagine God's love, re-imagine life with anticipation and joy, re-imagine laughter, peace, and purpose.

Possibilities exist...take the first step towards your created destiny.

Take time to sit and re-imagine then move toward action.

Opening Doors

"Pursuing a goal is a wonderful adventure of smiles and tears,
courage and fears, dreams and demands, passion and patience." Author Unknown

Some people see a closed door and turn away.
Others see a closed door,

try the knob,
if it doesn't open,

they turn away.

Still others see a closed door,

try the knob,
if it doesn't open,

they find a key,
if the key doesn't fit,they turn away.

A rare few see a closed door,try the knob,
if it doesn't open,they find a key,
if the key doesn't fit,they make one.

Think about yourself....what kind of person are you? Are you someone who sees a closed door as an obstacle, or someone who sees a closed door and knocks or tries the knob, or someone who makes a key? Doors can be seen as the opportunities, challenges, conflicts, and choices we face in life. Each door provides an opportunity to make a key, to move towards the goal or the dream; it could be the very opportunity to move from imagination to reality.

A Blessing

Franciscan benediction:

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain in to joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

May we be truly blessed indeed....

Reaching the Summit

Two days @ the Leadership Summit…Yikes!!!! Thought I’d pass along these thoughts…it’s just a tip of the iceberg but it’s enough for me to chew on for weeks…bring it on, God…sitting at His feet…10 things to ponder...

Gary Haugen
1. Leadership doesn't matter as much in things cheerful, safe, and easy... it's critical in things that are scary, dangerous and hard. Jesus did not come to make us safe; He came to make us brave. If I'm playing football and no one is hitting me--I may need to check to make sure I'm in the game.
2. God, please rescue me from all things petty.
3. Follow my compass not my clock. (Direction matters more- staying on course than my timetable.)

Bill George
4. We have knowledge workers--people smarter than the leaders of the company--give them the opportunity to lead. Each of has to find our true north, our authentic leadership and lead from that foundation, all else, anything less will take us off course and can lead to disaster organizationally and/or personally.

John Burke
5. Our job is not to fix, grow, or change people- only to work on the soil/environments we create. We do our part, God does His.

Craig Groeschel
6. Better ministry is better, not more ministry. In order to reach people no one is reaching, do things no one is doing.
7. God break my heart.

Chuck Colson
8. Your job is not to pander to your people, it's to lead them.

Catherine Rohr
9. Simple prayer: Bring it on, God.
10. God has better plans for me than I do; I just need to chill out and give up control.

Embracing the journey...pursuing the dream

Vision essential; Action Required

Many of us have heard "dream big" and we do. There's a passion in one's soul undeniable...a fire in the depths uncontainable...to see the dream become a reality-- to make a difference...to change a world...person by person, family by family, church by church, and community by community...to see the Kingdom come more and more in the here and now.

Dreams become realities step by step by step. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Dreaming big is essential and creating a process of implementation of the plan is vital. Change comes one decision and one action step at a time.

Truth:

Vision without action is merely a dream.

Action without vision just passes the time.

Vision with action can change a world.


What kind of church do you want?

http://www.leadingsmart.com/leadingsmart/2008/08/what-do-you-wan.html


What action will you take today?

Embracing the journey...pursuing the dream