Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit -- Susan Cain

(Here at the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit in an effort to improve my leadership as a volunteer with Operation Christmas Child.  Learn more about OCC at www.samaritanspurse.org/occ ) --  Susan Cain speaks:

Quiet:  Challenging the Extrovert Ideal

I'm here because I want to tell you a story of how this quiet revolution has begun.  I went to summer camp at age 9 and my mother packed me a suitcase of books.  Then I got there and the counselor taught us a cheer r-o-w-d-i-e "that's the way to be rowdy" -- And I wondered why we had to do this cheer and spell this word incorrectly.  But I did the cheer and learned to look rowdy.  I was always trying to prove I was an extroverted person and I've come to believe it was a really big mistake.  It's a mistake we're making as a culture.

One half to one third of the population is introverted.  That seems surprising but it's because introverts get into the habit of acting like extroverts.  We need to learn to harnass the power of introverts.

Break up into groups of four and share a story from your childhood that illustrates you.  (I'm just kidding)  But how are you feeling as you hear this assignment?  This is how introverts feel often.

Introverts would rather do their own individual work and then come back and share with the group.

You've probably heard that introverts recharge by being on their own and extroverts recharge by being social.  How do you feel after being at a party for two hours?  That is an indication of how you are.

Introverts are more sensitive to stimulation than extroverts and can't handle as much.  Extroverts need more stimulation.  This can be mapped as early as four days after birth.

In one famous study math problems were given to extroverts and introverts to solve.  The introverts did better with softer noise and the extroverts with louder noise.  There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all environment.  People need to be able to choose their level of stimulation to do their best work.

Asian cultures may value introversion more highly.  In Confucianism there is the idea of yin and yang that is important between introverts and extroverts.

Implications for creativity--

--the most creative people are a blend of extroversion and introversion.  They need to be able to express their ideas but may need solitude for creativity.  Psychologists have shown that brainstorming is not advantageous for developing new ideas.

We are such social creatures that we end up being unconscious conformists.

What do we do to get the best ideas?
--Stop the madness for constant group work (suggest a hybrid process where people go by themselves to think and then come back to share with the group and stop periodically to let people think and process.  Make sure ALL share their ideas)
--Forget networking.  Focus on service.
--Restore quiet to our culture

church culture -- I talked to introverted church members who thought they were connected to God and then saw others in the church who seemed to connect with God in a more passionate manner and began to think they were less pleasing to God because they had more restraint.    Remember Elijah who heard God in a still, small voice?  We need to invite that quiet in.

What makes a "natural" leader?  What was Jesus' main personality trait? -- most when asked think that Jesus was an extrovert.  The perception is you must be extroverted to be a leader.

Jim Collins looked at the 11 top performing companies and he found every one of them was led by a level 5 leader and had 2 characteristics -- Very passionate about their companies but also described as shy, unassuming, low-key

How do we explain that? -- Many introverts get very passionate about a few things in their lives.  Many don't seek leadership for its own sake but in the course of their passions end up becoming leaders.

examples:
CEO of Campbell Soup -- shy, introverted.  During his 10 years he wrote 30,000 letters to employees.  Extroverted leader might use a different method.

US Army General -- always sequesters himself before making a decision

Gandhi -- so shy as a child he would run home from school so he didn't need to socialize.  Passionate about his cause

Take-aways:
--Groom an "unlikely" leader
--Find your complement (no one is good at everything)
--Find a role model

"My role model is my grandfather," Susan says.  He was a pastor who gave gentle tapestries of sermons but had trouble making eye contact with his congregation.  When he passed away at age 94 the police had to close the streets to accommodate the throngs of mourners.

After writing the book I began to get thousands of letters so I started an organization called Quiet Revolution.  They are working on a quiet TV series to interview famous introverts.  They have a Quiet Leadership Institute to train companies how to harnass the ideas of introverts.

www.quietrev.com

Public speaking has been terrifying for me but it is getting better.  I'm asking you all to take a step inward for a moment.  I want to ask you now, "What's inside your suitcase that you metaphorically carry around inside you?"  Whatever it is I hope you'll take these things out and grace them with your energy and your joy.

As introverts you have the tendency to guard your suitcase but occasionally take them out for all the world to see.

I wish you all the best of possible journeys and may you all have the courage to speak softly.

Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit -- Jeffrey Immelt

(Here at the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit in an effort to improve my leadership as a volunteer with Operation Christmas Child.  Learn more about OCC at www.samaritanspurse.org/occ ) --  Jeffrey Immelt on "Positioning Your Organization for the Future"

Interviewed by Bill Hybels --

Bill:  Jeff, you've been in the middle of one of the biggest acquisitions of your career and you've been flying back and forth to France.  How/when do you empower others to make decisions.

Jeff:  That's a good question.  Teams worked on this strategically.  When's it's the most important thing the company is working on you don't delegate it.  You have the experience and you want to protect your team.  You have to be hands-on at times like that.  We worked together as a team.

Bill:  I read the speech you gave to the French Parliament.  Did you write that speech?

Jeff:  I wrote most of it.

Bill:  You should be a pastor

Jeff:  I said sink or swim, I am going to do this myself.  No job has ever been beneath me.  You've gotta be involved.

Bill:  I was told that you're the purest natural leader this person has ever seen.  When did you become aware you were a leader.

Jeff:  "Thanks Mom!"  I don't think anyone ever thinks of themself that way.  I was an athlete and learned great skills.  From the earliest age I always wanted to do my best and I always tried to demonstrate self-confidence.  My parents taught me not to be afraid.

Bill:  After studies at Dartmouth and Harvard you went to GE.  Did you have a plan when you first joined the company did you have a plan to differentiate yourself.

Jeff:  I think anyone who plans to become CEO is a little weird.  I thought I would learn to be a business person and I got lucky.  I loved the people I worked with and for me it was always about the work--never the career.  It was about creating things.  In a company like GE you can create the future.  Your peers ultimately decide how far you go.

Bill:  As your career was advancing Jack Welch assigned you a terrible job to fix a plant in Kentucky.

Jeff:  I was 32 years old and it gave me the confidence to do what I do today.  Be around a crisis early in your career to shape your leadership.  These three years from age 32-35 really shaped me.  I made everyone, including me, learn how to fix a compressor.

Bill:  You eventually were chosen to be the new CEO of GE.  You may have had the shortest CEO honeymoon in corporate history.  How long were you in this position when 911 happened?

Jeff:  I started on Friday 9/07 and 911 happened the next Tuesday.  We live in a more volatile time today.  When you turn on the news today in 30 minutes you're bummed out.  We're going to live in this time for a while.  People are not going to be given the luxury to go backwards.  I think the best leaders go forward--keep the company safe but go forward.  I've never seen a time when the value of leadership is more important.

Bill:  I read about places where leadership is taught.  GE has a facility for a leadership development university--probably the most famous I've heard of.  Why is that so important to GE?  Why do you put so much time into that?

Jeff:  I lead a big company and you need to have things that drive the oneness of the company so we invest about a billion dollars a year in leadership development.  The campus has been around for 50 years.  Certain values of leadership don't change but you also have to constantly be tuning up your leadership.  We expect our leaders to go to train and teach.  I teach twice a month.  It takes away all the layers as I get realtime feedback.   It's a strategic imperative for the company but also drives the culture of oneness of the company.

Bill:  How do you feel when you invest in an employee and then they resign?

Jeff:  To me it's deeply personal.  We train people because we want them to be self-confident.  I don't want people to work at GE out of fear--let's come to work because I love what I do.  It's my job to make sure they are enjoying what they do.

Bill:  Jack Welch said when someone left the company he wanted to stay in touch with them.

Jeff:  He did after a certain period.  I think it's good you have a change in leadership.  We're not a perfect company but GE is an institution;  it's not about an individual.  There's a camaraderie that exists because of that.

Bill:  When you see _______ quality -- what makes you want to promote them? And what turns you off?

Jeff:  The difference is the willingness to stand apart and buck the system.  How'd I become CEO?  I never took "no" for an answer.   You want someone who questions authority and promotes change.  We bring the top 35 people together once a quarter and I give them a vision  "Let's do it my way".  You have to be willing to stand apart.  Excuses and lack of accountability turn me off.  We don't expect people to have perfect careers.  We expect them to learn from mistakes and get better.

Bill:  Hardest person you ever had to fire?

Jeff:  I had a person who worked for me as CEO but there was something that was missing about how he connected with the team.

Bill:  I am fascinated by this because some years back I had to make a tough leadership call.  My advisors asked if the person was meeting expectations, had high integrity, godly?  Yes to all these.  But the person is not connecting with his staff or with the team.

Jeff:  I said the same thing.  And I was right.  You're in the business of giving people confidence.  You can give negative feedback but want to do it in the tapestry of making them self confident.

Bill:  You've made a big deal for the value of diversity in GE.  How did that value develop in you and how do you foster is?

Jeff:  If you believe in talent and meritocracy you must believe in diversity.  More than half our employees live outside the US.   If people don't see diversity then it's code that you don't care about people.

Bill:  About political diversity -- When President Obama called to ask you to lead in getting more jobs in America--how did that happen?

Jeff:  I'm center right and the president wanted to form a council on job preparedness.  I grew up in Cincinnati, OH and my parents watch Fox every night.  The four of us who did this really wanted to help.  I'm proud of the work we did and I'm glad we did it.  We really wanted to make a difference.  We're a global enterprise but we're proud to be an American company.

Bill:  You talk a lot about simplification.  Can you explain that?

Jeff:  Institutions are all searching in this global world for new ways to run institutions.  Lately I wasn't sensing the joy in work.  I was spending a fair amount of time in Silicon Valley.  About 18 months ago we started on this culture of simplification based on:
--less management; smaller headquarters
--marketplace rules
--test and learn
--network and transparence
 
I respect everyone who wants to be a public servant but the system is antiquated.  Every good institution is trying to find a way to govern itself in a different time.

Bill:  You will need to create a succession plan.  How will yours be different from the one you were subjected to?

Jeff:  The board and I do this as a team.  I think it shouldn't be quite as public.  There are things that don't need to be in the public view that can be done more naturally.

Bill:  So your plan will be more private?  Will it be as long?

Jeff:  It will be more private (laughter)

Bill:  You refused to take a bonus your board offered you.  Did you not need the money?

Jeff:  It's all personal.  It has to be about what I think is right.  I felt this was a way to be accountable for what was happening in the economy and the company at that time.  The constituency you play to the most is not the media--it's your own team.  I said to my team, "Over time you're going to question my decisions but you're not going to question my intentions."

Bill:  I tried to dig up some dirt and the worse thing I could find is you work 80 hour weeks and you only take 12 days off a year.

Jeff:  I love work.  I have a great family.  I have one company, one wife, one daughter.  My dad worked for GE so I know the power of a GE job.  When you walk through a factory people love what they do.  The one thing we can't guarantee is outcomes but we can look everybody in the eye and say we can guarantee process.  No one will ever work harder than GE works.  Everyone from the top of the company down is going to work hard on your behalf.

Bill:  One last question--your wife is a little bit more regular in her church attendance than you are.  If you show up at a church after working an 80 hour week what would you like to experience?

Jeff:  In a big leadership job you're "on" all the time.  After a few years in leadership I started saying less because people hung on my words.  So you need time to regenerate.  Maybe a couple of hours a week is all you need so you can do it again.  The ability to sit for an hour and be at peace and listen to somebody else talk is priceless.

Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit--Carly Fiorina

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(Here at the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit in an effort to improve my leadership as a volunteer with Operation Christmas Child.  Learn more about OCC at www.samaritanspurse.org/occ ) --  Carly Fiorina speaks on

Defining Leadership

Before I begin my talk I want to tell you about myself.  All of us learn life's lessons from living life.  When I was 8 years old my mother was my Sunday school teacher and my mother gave me a plaque that said, "What you are is God's gift to you; what you make of yourself is your gift to God."  I did not feel gifted.   I went to work out of college as a secretary and the business owners came to me and asked if I wanted to learn about the company.  They saw possibilities in me that I didn't see in myself.  I later became the head of Hewlett-Packard and now serve on the board of organizations that help give a hand up to those who need .  I have seen the look in a child's eyes when they get a brand new backpack full of stuff because it isn't 'stuff' to them.  I've had triumphs and tragedies in my life and I always knew I was not alone.  I've learned a few basic things--

--leadership is the same no matter what the context is
--everyone has potential and more potential than most of us realize--human potential is the only limitless resource we have in this world.  Why do so many fail to reach their potential?  Some don't have a chance because of sujugation or lack of tools or opportunity or because they lost faith in themselves, others, or God.

Some things that crush potential:  fear; bureaucracy (rules-based, process-driven organization)--bureaucracies forget who they are intended to serve

What things unlock potential?--leadership;  The highest calling of leadership is to unlock the potential of others.

What leadership is NOT:

--It is not management-- management is the production of acceptable results within known constraints and conditions;  a good manager can be a leader but management and leadership are not the same;   a leader says "I am going to change these conditions."  Leadership is about changing the order of things.

--It is not necessarily the person in the corner office with a title -- anyone who wants to move persons from here to there by changing the order is a leader

examples:  Martin Luther King who changed the face of the nation but started as a pastor;  Nelson Mandela -- was not a leader because he became president; he became president because he was a leader.  He led as a prisoner while in jail.
Jesus -- symbol of powerlessness as a baby in a manger -- a nobody who recruited other nobodies;  He knew the potential of the poor
You--why are you here?  because a young man several decades ago started a ministry with the view of unlocking the potential of others.

Leadership is not about a big budget -- it's about unlocking the potential in others.

What do leaders do?--

Leadership Framework --

--Strategy; goals; vision (Where are we going and why are we going there?)

--Organization; team; process (Who is on the team?  What processes are important?)

--Metrics; results (How do we measure progress?  How do we reward success?  What gets measured is what gets done.)

--Culture Behavior (What's it like to work around here?  Ethics?--the leader has to set the tone and model the behavior)

Set the frame and set them free.  Let the people under you reach their potential.

20/20 rule -- When people embark on a leadership journey remember -- 20% of most people in an organization are change warriors -- identify, harness, and enlist those warriors;  20% of people are "hell no, I won't go" people who refuse to change--identify them and resolve because they are the source of resistance.  The other 60% are waiting skeptics and change won't happen unless that 60% get engaged and move.

Everyone has more potential than they realize.  Everyone has the capacity to lead.  Leaders are made, not born.  Leadership is changing the order of things.  Leadership is unlocking the potential of others.

Leadership is a profoundly human gift available to all.  All of us have the potential to make a positive difference, to change the order, to unlock the potential of others.

True leadership requires faith.  A love of God makes leadership easier.  Faith gives us the gift of humility and true leadership requires understanding it is not "about you" but about others and having a servant heart.  Faith gives us the gift of optimism--the leader must know things can be better.

The most important gift is to have faith in others.  You must know people can and will rise to the occasion and will use their potential to make a positive difference.

Faith teaches us that all of us are gifted by God and that knowledge propels a leader.

Leadership is a choice.  It can be exhausting but there is a look that people get in their eyes when their potential has been unlocked and that look is the same everywhere in the world and that look is all the repayment a leader needs.

Choose to lead.  Choose to change the order of things.  Choose to fulfill your own potential and choose to unlock the potential of others.

What we are is God's gift to us;  what we make of ourselves is our gift to God.

Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit -- Bill Hybels

(Here at the 2014 Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit to get some leadership training to help with my job as a volunteer area coordinator for Operation Christmas Child )-- Bill Hybels opens the summit speaking on "Hard Fought Leadership Lessons"....

Everything that matters in this world rises and falls on leadership.  If you care about anything in your community, you'd better care about leadership.  With that premise established, I launched into the first lecture at the first Global Leadership Summit.

World peace rises and falls on leadership as does the eradication of poverty.  As does the raising of kids and grandkids.  I am moved that people around the world are getting this and taking bold steps to better their leadership.  There is so much at stake today.

One of the supreme values of the leadership summit is humility--each of us declaring at the outset we have so much more to learn about influence.  We must cultivate the capacity to learn from a kaleidoscope of leaders.  Pastors can learn from business leaders and business leaders can learn from pastors.  The religious can learn from those who consider themselves less so.

Hard Fought Leadership Lessons--

Some leadership lessons come at very great expense.

First Lesson -- T or F -- All leadership is intently spiritual (TRUE) -- Remember how responses of a negative boss affected your spirit.  Your spirit cannot survive under negative leadership.

Leaders are visionaries and paint pictures that produce passion in other people.  Then comes the adrenaline rush of progress and the vision begins to consume us.  It becomes our identity and affirms our self worth but the condition of our team may fall to second import as we become obsessed with the thrill of the vision.

Often leaders with the highest passion have the lowest level of awareness of the spirit of their team.  The leader sacrifices so deeply for vision achievement that they feel no one else on the team cares as much as they do.  This is crazy-making to a leader.

Once the leader looks at the team through the "they don't care" lens they feel they don't need to be as care-ful for the hearts of the team members.  They feel the team members are expendable or exchangeable.  None of this is discussed openly but everybody starts to feel it.

An employee survey was taken at Willow 7 years ago--the results came and some were positive comments but some sensed a disconnect between them and the senior leaders.  One comment cut me to the core of my being, "I love my church with all my heart but I feel like a grunt."

What God treasures most in this world is people and one of my people felt like a grunt.  I fell to my knees and wept and said 'these things are going to change.' I read the comment at a staff meeting the next day and they were as crushed and agreed things would change and they would transform their culture.

It took me so long to learn this and so many people paid the price of my dim-wittedness along the way.  Don't get so addicted to vision achievement that the people around you feel replaceable or exchangeable or like grunts.

What practical steps are required to set the spirit of your team on fire?  Five key commitments--

1)  Used an outside firm to do a survey and interpret the results

2)  Leader and executive team really owned this change (Your culture will only ever be as healthy as the senior leader wants it to be)

3)  Got serious about training everyone on the staff who manages people  (it should be illegal to allow some people to manage other people)  People join organizations; they leave managers.  You will never reach your culture's full vitality potential until every person in your culture leads and loves well

4)  Raise the level of candor in performance reviews.  Jack Welch said, "The kindest form of management is the truth."  Use the words 'start', 'stop', and 'continue'.   (for example--if meetings need improvement--use the 3 M plan for meetings -- Move ahead; Modify; Motivate before the meeting ends--inspire them)  (example;  "Lisa, continue calling the best out of people."  "Paul, your team knows you pray for them; continue leading like that"--the main point is specificity so employees know exactly how to improve

5)  Ruthless commitment to resolving relational conflict regardless of how scary it feels.  "What if we all looked at conflict as a chance to improve relationships?"  from the book 'Reconcile' by ?Ledereck?

Chilling statistics--in the average Christian organization only 54% of employees are truly engaged in their work;  in the US corporate world only 30% engaged in their work; internationally the rate is 1/2 that;  Willow Creek showed 81% are highly engaged but it's heartbreaking that 19% feel either underchallenged or disconnected.  I won't be satisfied until 100% of our staff want to come to work every day.

Second Lesson -- T or F  Great leadership is by definition relentlessly developmental (TRUE)   Many give up on leadership development because they don't know how.  Bob Eichinger? (leadership guru)  5 ways to develop leaders--

--put them in a challenging job
--assign them to a short-term task force
--offer feedback
--provide coaching
--provide courses and seminars

Assigning people to short-term task forces allow you to test drive a leader's ability.  5 criteria-

--success or failure must both be possible
--emerging leader must be in authority
--must work with a broad group of people
--real pressures and a real deadline
--must be evaluated by a senior leader

How resourceful they are is crucial.  Resourcefulness is the greatest tool for a leader.

I was best prepared for leadership by a dad who fostered resourcefulness.  I was sent on an impromptu ski trip by myself as an eleven-year-old.  I had no idea where Colorado even was and my dad said, "Figure it out."  Then my dad said, "Figure it out and don't call me."   Admittedly my dad's approach was extreme and it wasn't nurturing enough but to this day I benefit from his mission to make me resourceful.

You need to know what an emerging leader will do when they don't know what to do.  No senior leader can know enough right now to figure out what to do when thrust into a big role.  Resourcefulness is key.

When is the last time you took the time to assign an emerging leader to a task force test?  Some young leaders have amazing resourcefulness that you can only discern by giving them task force tests.

Third Lesson --  Finding and developing leaders with a legacy mindset

two kinds of shepherds --

 1) hirelings (will not risk anything for the sheep and will leave when something better comes along)

2)  owner shepherd (actually care about the sheep; have a long-term view; will lay down life for the sheep)

Average tenure for a Fortune 500 CEO is 4.5 years;  In faith-based charities it is increasingly common to see 'hirelings' -- quality organizations cannot be built on the shoulders of hirelings.  Need to discern between short-term ladder climbers and legacy leaders

Legacy leaders will ride out rough patches; willing to address long-term economic viability because they are working for the grander vision; run on a higher-quality fuel source (serving God or wanting to leave a legacy)  example--Nelson Mandela was a legacy leader who even in his final years committed himself to leaving a legacy through leadership in his country.

Ladder-climbers--fueled by personal ambition

The Bible makes it clear--we get one shot at life.  Your gravestone will have a birth date and an end date and your life will be represented by the dash in between.  You can lead small and safe or selfishly.  You can choose to be a hireling your whole life.  Or you can be an owner type who leaves a legacy behind when you're done with the dash.  You don't drift into becoming a legacy leader.  The drift is always toward safety and comfort.  Every legacy leader comes to a decision to pursue a grander vision and never looks back.  Have you reached that point in your life yet?  Or can you really just talk a good game?  This is the only life you get to live out.  Don't go to your grave without tasting life that is truly life; a life that leaves something beautiful behind.

Have you given any real thought to what your legacy will be?  What of beauty will you leave behind when your life is done?  We've been praying that God will speak with you and rock your life and when God whispers to you, I pray you wil pay attention and do what he asks you to do.

Fourth Lesson -- Endurance

The grander the vision the greater the price tag.  The single greatest mission was Jesus' redemption that required the spilling of His blood.  Don't be surprised at the cost of being a legacy leader.  You need to develop strategies to endure.  May need more times of solitude to recharge.  It's hard to hear God unless you lower the ambient noise of your life.

Tells story of a woman who tried to row across the Atlantic Ocean and had been alone for 83 days.  She reached for her radio and said, "Help" (have you ever felt that exhausted, discouraged--on the brink of hopelessness)  Imagine her surprise when an 1100 foot ocean liner shows up and stops for her.  They gave her provisions and cheered for her.  She probably thought, "All I did was ask for help and God sent the Queen Mary II to help me."  -- Some of you are exhausted and you need to radio for help.  Humble yourself.  Look toward heaven and say, "God help me."

We have a transcendently powerful God who will rescue those who are crushed in spirit.  You might be one prayer away from a divine Queen Mary style rescue.

Body Work-Out

No, this is not a picture of an Operation Christmas Child parade float waiting to happen (although--hmm, it could be.)

This is proof of the Body of Christ at work.

In March I was unsure of whether we should host another large packing party or not.  I had not been finding any deals on items, the storage container was virtually empty, and I, my OCC prayer team, and others were all praying for wisdom.  

I decided to buy this large load of washcloths that were obtained by one of our OCC Regional Area Coordinators, Loretta, from a textile supplier on the other end of our state.  I wrote and mailed her a check, even though I still didn't know for sure if we'd have a packing party and I had no idea how we would transport those items to Erie.  Loretta was the first member of the body in this link.

In April we decided to go ahead with the packing party and God began to open doors for us to purchase more items.  Loretta found a supplier for pencils and, on faith, I asked her to order some for us.  Still, I had no idea how to get those washcloths (and now pencils) transported.  But our prayer team and other members of the body, linked in prayer for this.

Months went by as we prayed.  Then about a month ago a young man in our church decided to start a Facebook group to encourage people to share their needs and live out the idea of "holding all things in common."  Another link from another member of the body.

Most of these people were not in my social circle or my social media circle.
I posted on this Facebook group my need for getting these items transported and  pretty quickly I had a reply from a couple who volunteered to drive to get these items.  Yes--another link.  And they asked and received permission to borrow a trailer from other church members--another link.

Last Thursday Don Sweatman went to pick up the items from Loretta and Loretta secured some volunteers--more links from the body--to help load the trailer.

Another plea on the Facebook group and some asks at church brought still more links of members of the body of Christ who came to unload that trailer and store those items in our storage container.

In less than two months these bundles of washcloths and boxes of pencils will be unloaded by still more body members and then packed into boxes by still others.

Eventually, members of the body of Christ in other countries will hand the boxes containing these washcloths and pencils to children to tell them of the love of Jesus.

When the children wash with those washcloths and write with those pencils they  will probably never know the Body Work-Out it took to bring these gifts to them.

But God will.  And He will be saying, "That's how it's supposed to work.  Well done."

Better Than Fireworks

This is a Throwback Thursday blog about a great Operation Christmas Child blessing that happened a month ago.  My Operation Christmas Child journey this year has been filled with more ups and downs than usual.

I've been reading Psalms and I can definitely identify with David who, when in the depths of despair, will suddenly burst forth in praise to God.  Highs and lows abounding.

On July 5th I had the surprise pleasure of meeting Lisa Seales from Virginia.  It seems like Operation Christmas Child shoe box packers and volunteers have a special bond.  Mary Damron, a national spokesperson for Operation Christmas Child, once said we'll know each other in heaven because we'll have little gold shoe boxes over our heads.  I'm not sure if that's true, but I do know that I just love to meet and talk with anyone who works for OCC.

Lisa was driving to my area on a family vacation so she contacted me and asked if she could bring some of her extra items to donate for our packing party.  That's an offer I'd never refuse!

I think Lisa's family thought she was more than a little crazy when they arrived to pick her up for her trip and she had a vacuum packed bag filled with 100 stuffed animals and a large box of great filler items.

This is what 100 stuffed animals looks like after an expert packer like Lisa gets done with them.

It looked like we were going to miss connecting on that Saturday afternoon, so Lisa dropped her donations off with my husband and left with her sisters for the shopping mall.  When I arrived home just minutes after she left and saw all the great items she'd sacrificed to bring, I knew we just had to meet.

I called her and we arranged to meet at the mall.  What joy it was to connect in the food court and swap stories of God's goodness to us through Operation Christmas Child.

I never tire of hearing of how God provides for each of us who packs shoe boxes, and Lisa's tales of her Target trips after Easter were classic.

In just two months, Lord willing, it will be three days past our packing party and the trucks carrying the 23,000 packed shoe boxes will be on the road.

And in those boxes will be stuffed animals and filler items that were lovingly transported from Virginia by my new friend.

This was the best part of my 4th of July weekend.  Much better than fireworks!

No Soap Opera

Man, I feel like I need a blog a day to keep up with all that's going on.  I'll need to tell you later about the "Walk A Mile In My Shoes" flip-flop drive that had my house full of flip-flops to be put into cartons and tubs for storage this weekend.

I started the morning working on those flip-flops and then decided to switch gears to start sorting the 500+ stuffed animals that were donated in the midst of the flip-flop deluge so I could start the washing process on those that needed to be freshened.

I'd barely started the sorting when my phone rang.  It was a truck driver letting me know she was a mile from my storage container with a load of five pallets of soap I ordered two weeks ago.

The company that produces the soap was supposed to send me a bill of lading when it was shipped.  They did not.

I asked them to have the trucking company call to schedule the delivery.  They did not.

I've been praying about this delivery ever since I placed the order--asking God to work out all the details since I've had so many problems with deliveries in the past.

Now here I was scrambling again.  But, you know, God really did have it all planned out.

My husband wasn't working on a job today, and I was able to call him and ask him to come to the church to help unload the delivery.  Pam, another team member, also agreed to come.

God gave me grace to get to Grace Church in good time and the sweet truck driver had just dropped two of the five pallets.  We struck up a conversation and she knew about Operation Christmas Child and had participated at churches she attended in the past.

"I hate to drop this load," she said, "because it makes my trailer smell so good."

My husband arrived soon and we started to unwrap the pallets and carry the soap into the container while still chatting with the driver.  I showed her a few pictures of past OCC packing parties and explained our process.

I also told her she was a part of the project and her work was making an important difference for kids around the world by getting this soap to us.

When it came time for her to leave, she said she wished she could stay to help us unload but just couldn't.  I told her I understood and asked if I could pray for her.

She grabbed my hands and I prayed for her safety and for her to know how much God loves her.  Then we hugged.

She hugged me really hard and really long, then, with wet eyes she said, "I had a really hard weekend, so this helps make it better."

"Anything special I can pray for?"  I asked, and she replied, "No.  Just life."

It's just life.  Not a soap opera.  But for a moment we shared our lives over 27,000 bars of soap.