Summit 2010 - Session 6 - Dr. Zhao Xiao

.:Beyond Economy: China's Transformation with the Cross

Four Stages or Platforms that Countries can have Influence

1 - Economics Stage - China was everywhere

2 - Political Stage - China is on U.N. Security Council

3 - Sports Stage - China hosted Olympics

4 - Faith Stage - Rarely see Chinese influence

Leadership is not just about influence. It also must be about thgoing the right direction

We must recognize, accept change.

What is the significant change between now and 500 years from now?

The most significant thing in the 20th century is not the two world wars or the rise and collapse of the soviet union. It is the rise of china because it will influence generations centuries into the future.

Summit 2010 - Session 5 with Adam Hamilton

.:When Leaders Fall

This is not an inspirational talk. But I think that for some of you, this may be the most important talk and could save your ministry or your church.

A study that was done in 2005-2006 of 1050 pastors had 30% admit to some sort of sexual impropriety during their ministry life.

Though there is not a one size fits all approach, our story might help.

I want to talk about three things
1 - Share about how my church handled a situation in this area
2 - Why Church leaders have a hard time in this area
3 - Five "Rs" for resisting temptation in your own life

Summit 2010 - Session 4 - Craig Groeschel interviews Tony Dungy

.:The Mentor Leader

"Stubbornness is a virtue - if you're right."

Being a pastor is similar to being a coach:

• What do you do the rest of the week?
• People watching can call better plays from home (or the pew)
• You can work yourself into the ground.

Known for encouraging a life of balance

• We are going to win, but you can't make football your life.
• You can be passionate about it, but you need to have other interests.

Summit 2010 - Session 3 - Christine Caine (Founder of the A21 Campaign)

.:Leading from a Place of Hope

I'm sorry that it took me so long to respond to God hearing your cry that I didn't come sooner.

The Cry of the World to Us:

If what you believe is true, then where are you? Because we live with no hope.

This is Our Time of Greatest potential

Ephesians 5:14 - wake from the dead, you who sleep.

Jesus Christ is the hope of the world and His church is still the best vehicle to bring that hope to the world.

It is our Job to Lead from a Place of Hope.

If we don't have hope, then how on earth can those without Jesus have any hope at all?

God's Word is true and it Brings Life to Everyone

A confident expectation that God's word is true is how you can keep leading from a place of hope and confidence.

If I think about 27 million slaves on the earth today, I can be overwhelmed because numbers are numbing and desensitizing. I have to think of each of them as an individual.  We must keep breaking it down and put faces to that number.

Summit 2010 - Session 2 with Jim Collins

.:Never, Ever, Give Up


There are 5 Stages of Decline

Step 1 - Hubris Born of Success

It is not success that leads to failure, but outrageous arrogance that inflects suffering on the innocent

Bad decisions taken with good decision are still bad decisions

Three very different leaders

Darwin Smith - Kimberly Clarke

Had a charisma challenge

Funky looking guy, socially inept introvert

"I was just trying to be qualified for the job."

Anne Mulcahy - Xerox

She was magnetic

She did not expect to become CEO, but was determined to fix the company

She was surprised that she became CEO and never sought it

"I was an accidental CEO."

Herb Kelleher - Southwest Airlines

Not normal

Rents a stadium and resolves a trademark dispute with the CEO of other business with an arm wrestling match.

"When the going gets weird, the weird become CEO."

What do these three leaders share in common?

1. It is not about them
2. They never, ever give up
3. They are level 5 leaders

(What separates the Level 5 Leaders from the Level 4 Leaders is humility of a very special type - it is an absolute commitment to do whatever it takes)

Summit 2010 - Session 1 with Bill Hybels

I though I'd give blogging through Willow Creek's Leadership Summit this year.  We'll see if I actually make it through the whole thing.

.:From Here to There

Getting stuck in a leadership slump

Half-a-dozen problems around Willow Creek that he just couldn't seem to resolve and right about this time, his secretary came in and dumped half-a-dozen new leadership books on his desk.

Then he started looking at the books and thinking about the problems and thought, "Maybe I've come to the end of my run."

Then had a wedding to do, and thought, "This will be good, because I know I can do weddings. Not my favorite thing to do, but I know I can do them. I've done hundreds of them."

Went through the whole wedding and everything went fine until the very end when he gave the nod to the vocalist to sing the final song, but she shook her head no.

"I can't even do a wedding right!"

He was in a slump.

Told God, "I need help. I don't know anything."

God told him, "Bill, you've been leading for 3 1/2 decades. You know a few things."

Leaders move people from Here to There.

We are HERE (current reality), but someday we are going to wind up THERE (preferred future) and we will all love life, our church will be stronger and better and more like Jesus.

He used to think the first step was to just describe "There"

Angelology by Danielle Trussoni

Angels and demons are commonly thought to be the two sides of the ethereal coin forever battling each other at the direction of higher powers. In her debut novel, “Angelology,” however, Danielle Trussoni introduces us to a third strain of the otherworldly, the hybrid Nephilim. Formed from the union of angels and humans, the Nephilim first appear in Genesis 6: “The sons of God saw the beautiful women and took any they wanted as their wives … [and] whenever The sons of God had intercourse with women, they gave birth to children who became the heroes and famous warriors of ancient times.” The Nephilim survived the Flood by sneaking onto Noah’s ark and set about infiltrating every level of human power.

Centuries later, the Nephilim live among humanity and are on the search for a cure to a mysterious illness endured by many of their greatest. Against this backdrop, secret correspondence between a former mother superior and Abigail Rockefeller bring together Trussoni’s heroes a young nun named Evangeline and Verlaine, an art historian. Together they begin to unravel the ages-old mystery of angelologists, a secret society dedicated to the eradication of all Nephilim.

While Trussoni’s narrative weaves biblical, historical and mythological threads into an entertaining and engaging whole a few moments bring the reader out of the world she has so carefully crafted. A flashback designed to illustrate the brutality of the Nephilim is a small moment of unnecessarily graphic gore that is out of place in the novel as a whole. Another flashback provides a clue to Evangeline’s ancestry so obvious that when it is revealed with a dramatic flourish 200 pages no one is surprised.

Though it’s impossible not to group this in with the recent spate of Dan Brown-inspired thrillers that redefine something “we thought we knew,” Trussoni’s novel is better than most. It’s a good read for those with more than a passing interest in biblical spirituality or history, but goes too far afield from established belief for strict adherents.