2017 Willow Creek GLS--Marcus Lemonis--People, Process, Product

(Here at the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit trying to get some leadership tips for Operation Christmas Child)

I have to ask what it feels like to be invisible.  At the end of the day I feel like I’ve lived my life being invisible.  The TV show is just a mechanism for me to communicate what noone else is saying and a mechanism to convey that things can be done the right way.  Most people come to these events thinking I will teach them how to make more money.  I don’t really care that much about money. 

The real message I have is how to understand yourself better.  For me, that was the biggest challenge.  To understand how people are motivated you have to understand their back story.  I’m 43 years old.  I used to have a lot of hair; I used to be thinner.  Take yourself back to the summer of 1987.  I was lying on a sidewalk at 11:30 at night; I was wearing a black garbage bag; I was a foot away from cars and thought it was the end of my life.  I had developed a terrible eating disorder (bulimia) that still haunts me today.  How does a boy who was adopted into a wonderful life complain about things.  In those first 13 years I went through a lot.  I was molested by a family member, I attempted suicide twice, I was unhappy.  I was suffering from an identity crisis.  Something in my brain caused me to want to solve all those problems. My parents were older parents.  The suicide piece could be the most embarrassing thing I’ll talk about.  My parents didn’t know about a lot of my struggles.  I had a special relationship with my mother who was my mentor.  I got up from that sidewalk.  My all-boys Catholic high school and my faith were a retreat for me.  I went to Marquette—an all Catholic college and was working on pursuing my faith.  I was still alone all the time.  I couldn’t connect with people my own age.  I went to school in Milwaukee (from Miami) because I needed a fresh start.  Here’s what I learned…

All those problems found me.  I went through college and became a bartender. I made a lot of money but I was still lonely.  I lived by myself.  I sat by myself. I think in life, particularly in faith, you have this moment that something happens and you understand yourself better.  I got a call from the Registrar’s Office the summer before my senior year and told me I couldn’t graduate because I didn’t take a language in my freshman year.  They said I could take advanced Spanish every day at 8:00 every morning.  I was friends with the priest who was the head of the school and so I went to the teacher and said, “You’re going to pass me, I’m not going to show up, and I’m going to get you tenure.”  The teacher didn’t buy it.  I went to the head of the school and said I couldn’t go to meetings at night because I have to go to class at 8:00 in the morning.  I didn’t go to Spanish class—I passed—and the University did not get what it wanted.

I realized what I ultimately wanted to do in life was to put people together and solve problems but I realized I didn’t need to do it in a dirty way. When I try to be funny it helps me forget about painful things in my life.  I want you to think about the things that have happened in your life.  I have a theory about business that’s different from everyone else’s.  The Shark Tank attempts to make people’s dreams come true in 15 minutes and will break them down to their core.

I believe business (and life) is about making connections.  I have hearts on my shoes and people laugh at that.  The most important thing for me in life is being vulnerable and transparent.  When I go into a new business I tell them about my life so they are comfortable discussing their issues.  When you earn someone’s trust you can navigate anything together.  If someone’s not honest you can’t do business with them.

I believe vulnerability is something that’s very difficult to unleash.  If you’re the owner of a business and there’s someone that works for you that you wish didn’t work there I’d like you to stand.  Ask yourself if you’re still sitting—is there anybody who works with you or for you that you wish didn’t work there.  As leaders it is our responsibility to be stewards of our people. 

I need three mothers to come up.   – (Converation with a son and mother when the son has a classmate he doesn’t want to be friends with because he is different and doesn’t smell good )  Trying to discuss this makes us laugh.  We don’t want our children to think this way so why is it okay to think that way in other circumstances.  If you have someone on your team it’s your duty to help them. 

Where my faith and business intersect is in the area of tolerance.  We tolerate differences.  The best leaders are ones that are race blind and even aptitude blind.  My challenge is – what is your purpose and what is your role in that purpose?

8-10 years ago my mom came to Chicago.  I picked her up; she got in the car and didn’t say much at all to me.  I took her home, she put her stuff away, she pulled out a chair and said “you need to sit down.”  She said, “I don’t know where you came from or who you think you are, but when I picked you up out of a box I had a purpose and my purpose was for you to do great things.  I don’t know if you think living in a fancy house is a big accomplishment.  I don’t care.  You know what—you were fat because you ate too many Doritos and I let you.  I take responsibility.  When I brought you home I had the vision you would be a leader.  I picked you to do good things and to take all those bad experiences and do something with them.  I don’t care about your car.  We’re selling your house.  We’re selling your car—you don’t need a $100,000 car.  I’m not impressed; I’m depressed.  We’re gonna sit in this house all weekend until we figure out what your purpose is in life.” 

The 2008-2009 downturn happened.  I own 100 businesses but my primary one is the RV business.  I thought I would lose everything.  I felt I’d lose what I had built and I was responsible for thousands of people.  I was watching TV and watching the stock market crash.  I felt the world had sensationalized what was happening in the marketplace and I asked myself this question:  I always felt like an underdog.  How do I take what I have and find other people who are like me to help them? Not just with my words or my money but with my hands.  I decided to get involved in changing the platform for small business in America.  It’s not the greatest investment on paper but it’s the best investment for me.  I could influence people on how to trust the process.  The main reason I do the show is because I felt I needed to answer my mother’s question.  My purpose is to help those who don’t have the same opportunity.  I thought this awkward kid could help awkward people.  I’m investing in people like me.  I say ‘awkward’ because we’re not conformists.  Leadership is about taking a chance on yourself, first, and putting yourself in harm’s way. 

I was able to build a network of friends and family by helping people.  I wake up every day realizing I don’t have a choice about working with people I don’t like.  I bare my own soul so people understand I’m willing to walk a day in their shoes and I hope over time I’m creating people who will help other people.

The most fulfilling thing that’s happened to me is the change in the underbelly with young kids today.  I was somewhere with Justin Bieber and was shocked by the number of young teens who didn’t want to talk to him but wanted to talk to me.  It was a tipping point moment that the youth of this country has a platform to think differently about themselves. 

When I leave here today I ask just one thing from you.  Give a fat kid who attempted suicide who was molested a chance—even if you don’t know their story.  Because that story may turn out to be something great.  And that soul-fulfilling experience will replace all the money you every dreamed of. 

2017 Willow Creek GLS -- Sheryl Sandberg One-on-One (CEO of Facebook)

(Here at the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit to learn some leadership tips for our Operation Christmas Child team)

Sheryl:  Thank you for having me. 

Bill:  What was your first conscious memory that you might be a leader

Sheryl:  Probably way into my career.  My mom would say I worked it our with my little brother when I was 4 and he was 2 that he would follow me around and I would say “Right, David?” and he would reply “Right”

Bill:  You didn’t lead in high school or college?

Sheryl:  I ran for sophomore class president and won .  But as a girl growing up I was called ‘bossy’ and I don’t think women are encouraged to be leaders.

Bill:  If we could get leaders to self-identify younger they would dive into leadership

Sheryl:  That’s right for both boys and girls but I think more important for girls.  Say to the ‘bossy’ girl – she’s not bossy; she has leadership skills.  We expect boys to lead but not girls but we need to change that.

Bill:  At first you went to Google and didn’t have a solid job description then went to Facebook

Sheryl:  I wanted to work in technology because I thought it was changing the world. My job offer at Google was to be the business unit general manager but there was no business unit.  I loved the mission and felt it was going to grow.   Someone told me when you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship you don’t ask, ‘what seat’ you just jump on.

Bill:  At Google you were asked to hire 400 people.  You say ‘hire big’  -- what does that mean?

S:  We hire people for experience and skills and they’re both important but skill is most important.   Hire people you are GOING to need, not the people you need now. Make sure you hire people who can get you there.  If the person is willing to take the job they will create the job.

B:  Do you fire fast?

S:  It’s not fair to fire without cause but there are times when infractions are made and firing must happen

B: You’re known for candor

S:  My mother is a great communicator and taught us to mirror and be direct in communication.  I believe in being direct

B: Another axiom of yours is to focus on results not face time

S:  Don’t reward people for just being there; the results count.  The goal is not to have face time but to get results. Set ambitious goals and hit them.  We also make heroes of people who try hard and fail because we learn from failure.  We’ve given product of the year awards to people who failed.

B:  Most people know you’re a phenomenal leader but when you started the “Lean In” movement that requires a different set of skills.  You’re trying to move people to a cause.  Where did the passion for this start.

S:  When I graduated from college in 1991 I saw bright women going into jobs nad thought my generation would make things equal but women still only have 5% of the Fortune 500 jobs and political jobs.  We would have a more equitable world if women got an equal seat at the table as well as people of all races and backgrounds.

B:  From a strategic standpoint this was welling up in you.  When did you have the aha moment that you would do something.  Was writing the first strategy?

S:  I first studied the themes that hold women back.  No one else wanted to talk about it.  I was invited to give a talk to 10 women about social media but I gave this TED talk on the lack of women leaders.  The most important thing that happened was 33,000 learning circles of 8-10 people getting together to support each other and it’s making a difference.  No one does anything alone.  You need support and a peer support that meets every month is a great way.

B:  I fell this book should be mandatory reading for men.  They think they problem isn’t as dramatic as it is and how they can help.  Probably 50 pages in your book brought these things to my attention.

S:  Equality is actually good for the men—lower divorce rates, less depression in women, etc.  If you can work better with half the population you are going to out-perform.  We all laugh at the sexist jokes.  We interrupt women more than men.  We assign the office housework to planning parties to women and that doesn’t get you promoted.  Men should do their share as well

B:  One of the anecdotes in the book I appreciated—

S:  It was St. Patrick’s Day and the volunteer at the door said to me, “He’s wearing BLUE.  He’s supposed to be wearing GREEN.”  I felt terrible the rest of the day about this.  I called my husband and he said, “Our son in learning something important today.  He’s learning he doesn’t have to be like everyone else.”  We expect women to do things and applaud men if they just make any effort. 

B:  We struggle to let women lead in our church and one section in your book made me emotional.  Would you read it.

S: (end of book)  The march toward equality continues…we owe it to the generations that came before us and to those who come after us to make things more equal and that will make it better for all of us.  I want my son and my daughter each to do what they want to do and are respected and supported.  When they find where their truest passions lie I hope they both lean in—all the way.

B:  You’re working as an executive and go to Mexico on vacation….

S: We went on vacation to Mexico and my husband went to the gym and died of a cardiac event.  The grief was overwhelming.  Eventually we wrote this book to help others

B: Let’s go back to right after his death.  You use the word ‘incapacitated’ by a paralyzing fog that was with you night and day.  Did you turn to your faith, your work?

S:  I turned to everyone and everything and sometimes it helped and sometimes it didn’t.  It’s not just about you but about all the people around you.  I turned to my friends, to others’ experiences, I looked for God, for comfort in tradition.  People said it never goes away but it gets better.  I want other people to believe that which is why we wrote “Option B”

B:  Ways to get through grief

S:  Personalization is a trap (It’s all my fault—blame ourselves for things that are our fault and are not our fault but it is human to make mistakes)

     Pervasiveness is a trap – feeling everything is terrible.  Reminding myself my children are alive helps—it could be worse.  Need to find good.

    Permanence is a trap – doesn’t feel like it will ever go away

B:  You started using a word ‘resilience’

S:  I started asking if I had enough resilience.  Don’t ask me how much you have; ask me how you can build it. 

B:  You decided to mark every moment of joy and find reasons to be grateful.

S:  You know, everyone has heard of PTSD.  Who’s heard of Post Traumatic Birth?  You learn from the bad experiences.  Joy is something you have to look for.  Even four months later I knew I deserved joy.  Adam told me, “If you don’t think you deserve joy, your kids do.”

B:  You became a different kind of leader after these tragic life experiences.  How has this shaped you as a leader?

S:  I don’t ‘sweat the small stuff’ as much.  I learned more about how to support others in times of stress and hardships.  You can’t ignore those.  When I went back to work all the chit-chat stopped when I came around.  When we don’t say anything we don’t acknowledge the grief.  I also realized you need to build people back up.  I thought before my only job was to take the work off their shoulders and that is important but it’s also important to remind them they can still work.  As people come back to work I acknowledge their grief but also their contributions.

B:  What were the worst things people said to you

S:  You’re so sad it’s hard to be around you.  I was sad and angry and it came out in ways that were hurtful.  I needed friends who could be there even when it was messy.  I remember my friend when I snapped at her saying, “I know. I’m angry, too.”

B:  You turned to friends in darkest hours.  Why?

S.  When things happen like this you can’t get through yourself.  Before Dave died I’d ask friends who were grieving, “What can I do?”  Now I realize that doesn’t help.  It’s better to show up and do something specific.  You don’t have to be a best friend to show up.  I’m way better at showing up for people since Dave died.

B:  One some day you start to wake up and experience joy

S:  At first I needed permission to feel joy.  At a Bar Mitzvah I danced and then burst into tears.  I felt happiness for the first time in 4 months.  Then I needed to figure out how to let myself be happy, so at the end of the day I wrote down three moments of joy.  In writing those things I went to bed noticing the joy.  We have to give ourselves and other people permission to be joyful.

B: Word association:  Vision

S:  Mark  (I work with someone with incredible vision)

B: Leadership Development

S:  Investment (everyone can be a leader)

B:  If a leader wants to get better – how?

S:  Real feedback—get someone to tell you the truth.    Make it easy for people to give you feedback.  Ask for feedback from those who work for you.

B:  Is it easier for leadership development to be provided by the organization or by the individual?

S:  It’s always both.  We’ll get female leaders when organization and individuals both believe in them.  It’s never either/or

B:  Thank you for being here today.  I’m a big fan of yours.

S:  Thank you.  I appreciate your focus on leadership. 

2017 Willow Creek GLS--Bill Hybels

(Here at Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit learning to improve leadership for our Operation Christmas Child team)

Our mission is crystal clear.  In the next few days we want to stretch your mind, grow your heart, and invest in your leadership development. Everyone wins when a leader gets better.  The stakes of leadership are sky high. Our world is demanding a better brand of leadership.

Are there any leaders left who will put the interests of others before their own?  We believe you are not here by accident.  We believe it was your destiny for you to be sitting in your seat right now.  You have been prayed for by more people than you can imagine and you will feel the power of those prayers.  The highest value at the GLS is humility with each of us declaring we have so much more to learn.  Armed with enough humility leaders can learn from anyone.  With sufficient humility the religious can learn from those who consider themselves less religious and vice versa. If we all grant one another good gifts of respect amazing things will happen in your life in these days.

Imagine me as a 10-year-old sitting in a hot classroom listening to a substitute teacher—bored out of my mind.  I looked at my classmates and some were staring absentmindedly out the window, having lost all hope.  It was still 30 minutes to recess.  Within moments an exciting vision fell into my mind—all 30 of us were sitting at lift-top desks and I wondered if I could organize all my classmates to all lift and drop their desk lids at the same time.  I started silently appealing to all the troublemakers first who I thought might become early adopters. I asked them to spread the plan to others. Then I went to work on the best students and I had to persuade them one-by-one.  Eventually the whole class bought into the vision. The final challenge was to make sure the teacher had her back turned to us so at 30 seconds before 3:00 I asked her to clarify something and she turned to write on the board.  Then all the desk tops fell at the same time and the teacher screamed like someone in a horror movie and we all exploded into laughter.  The teacher shouted, “Whose idea was this?”  The bell for recess rang but she refused to let us go until she found out who did it, so I eventually confessed.  When I was the only one left the teacher had me sit in front of her desk as she decided on the consequences. Finally she said I would stay in for recess and stay an hour after school every day this week  and said she would call my parents.  She paused and said, “Billy, it’s obvious to me that you’re a leader. Enlisting your class to join you in this prank was no small feat.  You pulled all this off as a 10-year-old.  I think you’re going to be quite a leader.  I only hope you use your influence for good.”  I put my head down on the desk and thought about that – am I a leader or just a troublemaker?  How could I get people to do good stuff and would that be as much fun?  God used that incident to arouse my curiosity about leadership.  In many ways my leadership journey started that day because of a teacher who planted a leadership seed.

Almost every leader can tell me how they first came to think of themselves as a leader and who first planted the idea of leadership in their mind.  Who do you owe the most for giving you leadership responsibilities and believing in you?  We all owe huge debts to those who took us under their wing.  None of us got to where we are today all by ourselves.

Recently I reflected on the top 5 people who inspired me to lead and wrote each of them a note of gratitude.  I vowed to God I would never stop playing that role in the lives of young people until the day I die. 

I was in India as I was doing that exercise and was headquartered into a hotel.  A young Indian server there put her heart and soul into her work and tried to motivate others.  She set the example because she just kept moving.  On my last day I thanked her for her service and asked if she planned to do this for a long time. She said she just decided to enroll in a course in hotel management. I told her she would have a fantastic future in the hotel industry.  She blushed, thanked me, and went straight back to work.  The next day I had a note from her.  She told me she could barely sleep the night before because of our conversation.  She said no one had ever suggested she could have a bright future.  She said she would remember our chat for the rest of her life.  That talk took me only two minutes.  We’re here because someone had a conversation like that with us somewhere in our lives, so 2 quick challenges-

--sometime in the next 7 days, reflect on the people who influenced your past and express your profound gratitude to them

--renew your covenant as seasoned leaders to notice and encourage younger leaders—invest two minutes in a conversation that could change a young person’s life

I get emails from all over the world advising me on what to talk about the next year at the Summit.  For months the biggest suggestion has been how to lead in a culture of disrespect.  We seem to be living in an era of racial, ethnic, and religious divide—an era with increased disrespect for women and the poor.  Social media has devolved into a cesspool of negativity and graduation speakers are heckled. 

“Mastering Civility” by Christine Porath was helpful to me.  New survey shows 50% of workers are treated rudely at least once a week.  95% of the US population believes we have a civility problem.  We are near a crisis point.

Incivility decreases the performance of a worker by 50%.  25% of disrespected workers take their frustration out on their customers.  Restaurant owner in NYC believes “customers can taste incivility in their food.”  Southwest Airlines has said they will not tolerate disrespect—they took a passenger off a flight and bought him a ticket on a competitor’s airline.

The solution has to begin with me.  Who I am as a leader and what I stand for is the place I must start.  How I ask people to behave really matters. 

The presidential election campaign was embarrassing.  So much disrespect and I could feel divisiveness seeping into our congregation.  So I preached on respect and reminded people EACH person has intrinsic dignity.  We don’t get to choose who we respect.  The Bible commands us, “Show proper respect to everybody.” 

10 rules of respect for every leader

1.     Leaders must set the example for how to differ with others without demonizing them

2.     Set the example for how to have animated conversations without drawing blood

3.     Leaders must not interrupt others

4.     Must limit volume level and not use belittling or incendiary words that derail the discussion (Jesus said not to call someone a fool) – challenge yourself to choose 5 of these words and refuse to use them

5.     Be courteous in word and deed

6.     Must  never stereotype

7.     Apologize immediately when wrong

8.     Form opinions carefully and stay open for additional information and change position if new data comes in

9.     Show up when you say you will and do what you say you will

10. Set rules of respect for everyone in the organization you lead

Set a meeting and draft a written code of respect for your organization to follow.  Christine Porath cites a leader who drafted a code for his employees such as “we will greet and acknowledge each other.”  And “We will say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’”  Basic courtesies set a tone of civility.  “We will treat each other with respect.”  And “We will address incivility whenever it occurs.”

AT&T Corporation CEO Randall Stevenson addressed race relations in the company and said, “I am not asking you to simply tolerate each other.  Tolerance is for cowards. ,,, Do not merely tolerate each other.  Word hard to move into uncomfortable territory and seek to understand each other.” 

When is the last time you reflected deeply about your own convictions about respecting others?  Have you examined the kind of organization you want to build?  Everyone in your organization is looking to you for clarity on this issue.

I challenge you to set a meeting and develop a civility code.  If each of us would do this we would call millions to a higher level of civility which could make a differnce in our world. 

One more thing—4 years ago an Argentinian was selected to be the pope of the Catholic Church.  Pope Francis decided not to live in the Vatican but in a modest guest house to symbolize his approachability and respect for those who live in modest means.  He washed the feet of juvenile offenders and Muslims.  He proclaimed a year of mercy and asked Catholics to forgive others.  He is trying to teach the world to respect everyone always. 

It’s time for us as leaders to step up to champion civility and acceptance.

Succession is the next topic I want to talk about.

In 2012 I mentioned a board member asked me if I planned to preach until I “die in the pulpit,” and as I thought about it I realized I needed to consider this.  I want Willow Creek to achieve its future and it deserves a well-thought succession plan.

After many months we created a “succession document” that contained all elements of transition and a timeline for it.  Usually in the top three questions from leaders around the world—succession is one of them.

Questions are:

Who? – who will make the final decision.  (At Willow Creek it is the board.)

When? – Clarity on this will drive the whole transition process

How? – how will the process be led? Clarity is important here. 

Phases = Planning (working through details which should not be rushed)

                Internal – internal successors have a much higher success rate

                External –

               Transition – credentialize successor

Now here we are 6 years later and we will give an update to the Willow congregation in the fall.

In the last 6 years we’ve learned—

--having a well-planned succession document really helps

--kept succession journey bathed in prayer and kept personalities and politics out of it

--in my view our process has been too long; one day I wrote, “If a succession plan is long and complicated enough it will motivate a leader to want to move on.”

--If a succession plan lasts too long it affects the vision casting of the organization

--If any restructuring needs to take place it can be delayed

--We underestimated the emotional toll this would take on the rest of the staff

--We made one tiny process mistake that caused unnecessary pain; I worked for 5 years to see who God would want to take Willow into the future.  It was a very thorough, prayerful, and expensive process.  When I made my final recommendation to the board, they would then do their own process to validate my decision or not.  During this process the board and I got disconnected.  It would have been wiser for the board to check in with me every 30 days.  The board’s plan came late and caught me off-guard.  I might have over-reacted and this made the process a bit bumpy but we eventually arrived at a unified plan.  During that 30 day period I turned to some people outside Willow to help ground me.  Proverbs 11:14 says there is wisdom in many counselors and those who counseled me reminded me God works all things together for good. 

For those in the middle of a succession plan or about to begin one—it’s hard! Jack Welch said, “As hard as it is to build a good organization it’s almost impossible to transition one successfully.”  Talk about your feelings during this process, find some safe friends to talk with, and keep in Scripture during this process. 

Everywhere I go I’m asked “What will you do when you’re done at Willow?”  I explain that God found me on a hillside when I was 17 years old.  He reached out to me in His kindness and redeemed me by His grace.  At that time I had a plan laid out for my life—running my dad’s business and making money.  What I came to understand is that our God is so kind and so smart that He writes a customized story for our futures and invites us into it as we trust God’s story-writing capabilities.  A few years after my redemption I left my father’s business and started a church in a movie theater.  If  I’d missed that I’d have been a rich guy with a poor soul; instead I’m a poor guy with a rich soul. 

I have zero anxiety about my future. I know the Summit will be part of my future and I know God will write a better script for me than I could on my own.

God will do the same for you.  If you’re interested, you can experience that for yourself. 

One more topic—from time to time God writes an ending to a part of our story.  I have spent my whole life challenging people to discover God’s story for their life.  What I have not done a good job at is helping people discern when God might be writing an ending to their current story.  One day last spring I sensed God whispering to me, “Bill, I am now beginning to write the final chapter of your Willow story.”  I’d been involved in this succession process for 6 years.  I thought the work of transition needed to be done but I never thought of God actually showing up to tell me a season was ending.  On one hand that day I sensed God releasing me from my current role but I had no idea what it would be like to walk into the future without this responsibility.  To imagine a future not consumed by these people felt foreign and irresponsible.  God clearly but gently told me this season was ending.  I wish I could tell you I just moved on in my spirit that day but I cannot.  It took countless hours but I can tell you now I have just a tinge of excitement about what God might write for my story in the future.  Willow will still be my home church and I will offer coaching without you having to pay me a full-time salary. 

I want to pose the question:  Might it be possible God is writing an ending to the current season in your story?  God is teaching me that endings matter too.  Carve out enough solitude to read Henry Cloud’s book “Necessary Endings.” 

A friend told me this would be his 15^th straight GLS.  He said I come to get new marching orders.  God tells me to pay attention to ‘this one’ every single year and I need new marching orders.  Another friend emails me the day before the Summit each year and says, “Punch me in the face again, Bill.” 

Let me throw out a few challenges—

1)   Spend 15 minutes in a chair you love to sit in every day and read and reflect on your life, your leadership, your faith, your family – read the Word and reflect on what God is saying to you.  100% of the leaders I work with who had a ‘crash’ of some sort admitted to squeezing out all reflection time in their lives.

2)   Make this the year of the ‘grander vision’, improving not only your product but getting behind an organization that is making change in your community and the world.  Mere financial success is not enough; your soul was created for more than that.  Mere profit should bore you.  Does your company have a grander vision of some kind?

3)   Measure the health of your organization’s culture and be committed to making your culture the best it can be.  It will only be as healthy as those at the top wish it to be.

4)   Have a personal betterment plan for your leadership in the coming year.  The best leaders have a year-round plan—read a book, listen to podcasts, etc.

5)   Lead on the homefront as well as leading at work. 

When I was in my late 20s an older leader came to visit me and told me he had some concerns.  He said someday your ministry will be over and if you’ve lost your family you will hate what’s left of your one and only life. 

               

An Ephesians 3:20 Day

Today was an Ephesians 3:20 day...

I am continually amazed at how God, by His grace, orchestrates opportunities for our team that we don't pursue on our own.

I've been posting frequent updates on our need for stuffed animals for our September packing party.  In fact, I did the math again this morning and found we need a total of 8,883 more in the next seven weeks.

An on-air personality from our local Christian radio station, WCTL, messaged me a few days ago and asked if we wanted to come into the station and do an on-air interview about the need for stuffed animals and promote the Chick-fil-A stuffed animal drive coming up next Tuesday.  This was totally unsolicited and a wonderful answer to prayer.  

(as an aside—my oven died 3 months ago and after praying and procrastinating for weeks we finally went to Fullerton Appliance store and bought a new one last week from Rick Griswold)

So…this morning my media coordinator, Pam, and I went to WCTL and had a good interview. Driving down Peach St. after we left the studio, Rick Griswold from Fullerton Appliance came on WCTL.  He’s on air every Friday.  He started talking about our need for stuffed animals and spontaneously offered his stores in Erie and Meadville to be drop-off sites for stuffed animals.  He further promised to donate a new stuffed animal for every appliance they sell in the next month.  I was able to stop in the store and promised to bring them drop-off boxes for the stuffed animals and he also offered to put brochure holders and brochures in both of their stores.  

So...I came home to work on making a collection box. Have I ever mentioned I'm not crafty and truly hate making posters and displays?  Again, by God's grace, and the help of some old Operation Christmas Child posters I managed to get the job done and returned to the store two collection boxes  and everything they need for their promotion.

In other news, I made a simple email contact with the Erie cable access TV channel—CATV—and they are going to run announcements for the packing party and will also run the video Samaritan's Purse made of the 2010 packing party on their station.  You can see it here if you'd like.

Just so exceedingly, abundantly beyond what we could ask or think--an Ephesians 3:20 kind of day.

Multiplication Merry-Go-Round

This summer has been a wild ride and I'm starting to feel like I need a vacation. It would be nice to go somewhere for even a few days and shut down for a while.

I firmly believe God equips us with all the time and energy we need to do His will...so if I can't keep up I'm either not abiding in Him and relying on His strength or I'm doing things He hasn't called me to do.  On the other hand, I know there are hard seasons that come when we're called to serve beyond normal capacity for a time.  Maybe this is one of those seasons.

Our packing party is 55 days away and God is meeting needs day by day.  We've been asking God to give us 1,000 stuffed animals each week.  Week before last He blessed us with 681 and last week with 563. We still need 9,000 by September 23rd.

Somehow we managed to cram our Operation Christmas Child schedule from July into the beginning of August. Since the beginning of the month we've crammed in a prayer team meeting, a packing party team meeting, our logistics training and team family picnic, two long packing party work days, and one project leader workshop.  Whew!  Next Sunday we're set for another project leader workshop followed two days later by a stuffed animal drive at Chick-fil-A.

Last Monday we were blessed to receive our prayed-for crayons and loaded and hauled 188 cartons of crayons to our storage container.  On Thursday we had 35 people at our work day who whipped out 7,344 bags of crayons and 2,250 packets of paper.  The paper is finished! Now we just have 20,000 more bags of crayons and about 6,000 jump ropes to finish before September so we can concentrate on folding boxes the week of the packing party.

The one-after-another OCC events, sandwiched with a few other major volunteer gigs, have felt a bit overwhelming.  This morning I griped on Facebook that most of the things I do these days seem to be things I don't really want to do and long to see in the rearview mirror.  My mother would say, "Don't wish your life away."  And she would be right.

In the midst of this hopefully not never-ending merry-go-round, we are praying for multiplication--for God to take these little events and make them monumental for His kingdom.

We're praying for 54,321 boxes this year in our area and today I reminded some project leaders that if each of our 200 participating churches and groups would prayerfully pack 20 more shoeboxes God would take us to that goal.

I don't know how the multiplication will happen, but we're trusting God to give us the victory as we pray.  We got four new prayer partners signed up today--and that's a win!

Multiplying--even on the merry-go-round.

Waiting For Small Things

This morning as I prayed I started thinking about waiting.  In actuality, we spend a lot of our lives waiting, and sometimes we don't even know what we're waiting for.

This picture was taken back in 2003.  We prayed to pack 1,200 boxes that year and God ended up giving us 1,234 (love that number.)  If you'd told me then that fourteen years later I'd be praying for 27,000 boxes I might have run away screaming.  I didn't know what I was waiting for; but God did.

For the past couple months I've been 'meeting' in a Bible study with younger women in Maryland. I'm the only one who attends remotely via FaceTime.  I hope some day I get to give each of them a hug, but I'm enjoying seeing them from afar and talking about women of the Bible.

Last night we talked about Sarah and how the biblical account of her life doesn't really begin until she's 65 years old.  She lived for 65 years doing her daily routines--serving her husband and never knowing that hundreds of years later a group of women would be studying her life and passing judgment on her decisions.  She spent years waiting on God's promise.  I can't begin to imagine her emotions when that baby moved inside her for the first time!

People I love are waiting and I was praying for some of them this morning: waiting to marry; waiting to hold a baby of their own; waiting to be healed.  Waiting for God to do big things in their lives that only He can do.  And I, too, am waiting with them.

But there's also the faithful waiting for the small things.  We have been praying week by week for stuffed animals for our packing party and, WOW, has God been blessing us.  Last week He brought us 941 and this week so far 681.  Now we're waiting for Him to provide more places to store all those blessings.

The past few days have brought more opportunities to wait.  My email isn't working properly, despite spending more than five hours on the phone with support technicians.  My oven hasn't worked for a few weeks now and the washer won't stop leaking.  You know the drill.

Then yesterday I got a text from the manager at Walmart who ordered 9,000 boxes of crayons for us three weeks ago.  He said the "home office" dropped the ball and never placed the order.  They have 2,800 boxes for us and are scrambling to find more.  So...do I start hitting all the stores around me to amass hundreds of boxes as I have in years past...or do I wait?

Father, we are waiting on You--in the big things and in the small things.  We wait for You to show Your glory.  We wait for You to refine and purify us in the waiting.  And we trust You for the blessing as we wait.

Night Watch

Okay, so...I can't seem to keep up with anything these days.  I feel kind of like this nondescript thing pictured here that came in a bag of donated stuffed animals.  Out of shape.  Out of sorts.  Out of synch.

Unable to sleep, I decided to check my blog and was stunned to find I haven't written in three weeks again.  I alternate between feeling overwhelmed and feeling foolish for feeling overwhelmed.

We've been praying week by week for stuffed animals and God keeps providing--maybe we're not seeing all we've prayed for but I believe God's providing them.  Last week we prayed for 1,000 and have 528 in hand.  Week before last, though, we got 1,451 in just one week!

This week we're praying for 1,000 again.  Today I spent 7 hours at yard sales and managed to snag 213.  I know I'll be picking up more at church tomorrow.  It'll be interesting to see where the total lies. We still need a total of 11,300 more before September 23rd.  

Meanwhile, we're finally having our first packing party planning meeting tomorrow.  I've never been a great planner, so I can't seem to get a firm agenda in line for tomorrow's meeting.  To make matters worse, I double booked tomorrow afternoon.  I scheduled the meeting for 3:00 and at 4:00 I'm supposed to be at a training for the day camp where I'll be volunteering this coming week.  I definitely need a firm agenda for this meeting, and I don't have one.  Oh, and I need to get the house cleaned before tomorrow afternoon, too.

And, I promised to get a plan for regional prayer calls set up and I haven't done that yet.  I did finally get my winter clothes put away this week, though.

On a high note, I can finally announce our exciting family news--we're going to be first-time grandparents right around Christmas time.  This is a true blessing after a few miscarriages over the past year and a half. To say we're full of anticipation is a gross understatement.

As I sit here and watch the full moon tonight I'm thanking God for His amazing answers to prayer.  I want to recognize them more often.  Today I talked with a woman at a yard sale who said she packed four boxes for Operation Christmas Child for the first time last year.  I asked her how she heard about the project and she said she saw it on someone's Facebook page.  As I walked back to my car I thanked God for using social media to bring gospel opportunities to more children.  You just never know how something simple like hitting the 'share' button on a Facebook post can be used by God to answer prayer--your prayers, my prayers, or the prayers of children on the other side of the world.

By the way, do you think any of them are praying for the thing in this picture?