The Leadership Balance

It is one of the hardest things to balance in leadership. The balance between leading with enough confidence to have people follow you & influencing with humility without feeling like a doormat. This balance is one of the things that set apart great leaders from good ones. It is the leader that knows where they’re going without stepping over people. It is the leader that has enough self-security to admit they may possibly be wrong, or that someone else may be able to do a better job.

Confidence
The very definition of Leadership shows the need for one to be confident. You see it on every grade school playground & in the highest tiers of government; people influencing people. Some people just have the natural instinct of leading people, while others have to learn. No matter what, there has to be a growing in confidence because no one will ever follow someone who isn't confident in themselves. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "If I have lost confidence in myself, I have the universe against me." This is very true, however, there is also an extreme to this that can actually push people away...no one wants to follow an arrogant leader!

Humility
On the other side of the spectrum is the ever important characteristic of a great leader...humility! This is the aspect that, I believe, draws people to a person because they are leading out of their character...not manipulation. I recently heard a quote that says, "If you are too big to be lead, then you are too little to lead." I love this quote because I've seen so many people who cannot be lead...that is a shame!

Evaluation
So, here we are at a place where we must look ourselves in the mirror & ask the question, "How am I doing on balancing these two leadership characteristics?"

Worship Leadership Summit-Part 2

Here are some quotes from the first couple days that jumped out at me...

• “Help make other people successful & they will help make you successful!”
• “The reason you can’t do everything is because you can’t do everything”
• “The Church is God’s PLAN A…& there isn’t a PLAN B”
• “If you’re too big to be led, then you’re too little to lead.”
• “God’s job is to promote us, it is our job to humble ourselves…if we do His job, then He will have to do our job.”
• “It is much easier to attract a large crowd of people than it is to lead them somewhere.”
• “Vision is like teaching the 3rd Grade, it is repeating over & over again the most important things.” --Max DePree
• “You are what you are because of people you have met & the books you have read.”
• “The man who doesn’t read good books has no advantage over those who can’t read them”-Mark Twain
• “To the young boy who has a hammer…everything looks like a nail.” –Mark Twain
• “Everyone thrives on affirmation & praise.” –Ken Blanchard

There are some of the immediate things...I will chew some on some of the other content & write more of my thoughts in the coming days.

Hotel Review-Airtel Plaza Hotel

It is true that conferences are great times to reflect, refill & refocus, but you must admit that one of the most important things that happen on a trip is where you stay. We have the distinct privilege of lodging at Airtel Plaza Hotel in Van Nuys, CA. Airtel is connected to the Van Nuys Airport so one of the coolest things about the hotel is the theme. All of the people are dressed up like they are pilots & flight attendents & all the hotel locations have aviation themes...it's really kinda fun. The not so fun part about it is that while you are lounging out at the pool to have a relaxing sun slumber it is not uncommon to be suddenly startled by a huge airplane flying directly over you. These things are great, but there are 2 major things that really stick out to me:

1. Room Odor
It is really beyond me...this is really a very nice hotel, but my room smells like someone hid all of the lost dirty socks they have accumulated over the years under the bed or something. I looked to make sure...& I didn't find anything. I also looked in the closet...nothing! I don't know where the smell comes from, but I'm not sure I want to know :)

2. Towels
Walking into my hotel room, let me tell you...you would be impressed with just how stinking white the towels are. The walls almost look pale in comparison. You can tell, they take pride in their white towels. However, it didn't take me long to realize that there is one major principle in hotel towel maintenance. "Make them white at all costs!" I found this out after my first shower here...I thought I lost my first layer of skin. As I was drying off with my sandpaper...I mean...towel, all I could think was...man, this towel is really white :)

So, there are my observations...overall, great hotel, bed is comfy, air conditioning works...it is all good here is Cali. More to come folks :)

Worship Leadership Summit

Well gang...as of Sunday afternoon, I left the corn-covered plains of Indiana & headed out to Van Nuys, California to go to a Worship Leadership Summit here @ The Church on the Way (Jack Hayford's church). I will have some further posts following, but right now I am sitting in my hotel reflecting on a couple of days of good discussion on worship leadership in the church & how that effects Crossroads. Tons of things running through my little head...I will share some of those things in coming posts.

Masterpiece!!!

I noticed this morning that Brent posted some incredible original drawings from Brad on his blog (go see it), & it inspired me to share a work that I personally have as well from our little Leonardo.

Now at first glance this may look similar to a drawing that a 7th Grade boy may have drawn in his math book while he was supposed to be working on his homework. However, if you look a little closer this isn't just another 7th Grader drawing. Notice the fine brush strokes that develop the contour of the ninja figure. Also the symetric lines that give Ninja stability. Lastly, don't miss the detail in the flying object...it's almost like it's looking at you!!! This is definitely my favorite Brad Conner original to date...no offense Brent :)

Oh, also, if you want to see the inspiration to this drawing...click here!

Blog Highlight...

There are a couple of brand new blog births around Crossroads this week. I would invite you to check them out because both of them have some really great insights & thoughts.

Brent Faulkner
Brent is involved in Student Ministries @ Crossroads. I have known him for years now. He has a great heart for students, creativity & missions. He is getting married this June to his lovely high school sweetheart Addy.

Michael Dubbels
Michael is one of the newest additions to the Crossroads team. He works specifically with our database system & with our "First Steps" Ministry, which comes along side new believers & also helps facilitate people in making their next step with Christ.

Both of these guys love Jesus & have some incredible insights...go check them out. Add them to your favorites because these will be blogs that you will want to come back to.

A Worship Thought...

One of my favorite quotes that turn my attention back to why we do what we do in worship is by a Danish Philosopher named Soren Kierkegaard. Check out his quote...

"No, no, we Christians have it wrong. If the ministers have the leading roles, if the choir and organist are the supporting cast, if the parishioners are the audience, then what role does God play when we worship? The problem with thinking of ourselves as the audience is that it leaves God out of the picture, and out of our worship. So Kierkeggard proposed a different model. He said, what would it be like if we understood worship like this: we parishioners are the primary actors and actresses; we have the leading roles. The clergy, the organist, the choir and the ushers--they form the supporting cast. And God is the audience. All that we do in worship is directed toward God. The way we say the prayers, the way we sing the hymns, the attentiveness we give to Scripture and sermon, the money we offer: all of that contributes to our worship performance before God."

In reading this quote it always invokes many different thoughts, but particularly how easy it is for us to get it all mixed up. So often I put too much attention on those sitting in the seats & way too little attention towards who is the true audience. I love the imagery of God sitting back in His seat, looking at those who walk throught the doors & wondering in anticipation..."I wonder what they are going to bring to me today." I don't ever want to bring Him anything less than what He is worthy of. What about you?

Do you have any additional thoughts? How does this view effect our goal to reach seekers in our services? What are the differences between having people in the audience & God? Does that effect quality in any way? Interesting...give me your thoughts.

The Trumpet Call

This may be a bit out of context & not completely exegetically correct, however, it still spoke to me. I have been studying 1 Corinthians & verse 8 in chapter 6 stuck out to me like a sore thumb from where I sit. It simply says,

"Again, if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?"

As I read this, I could just sense God calling me to the recognition that as a lead worshiper, we are the trumpet...calling the Church to battle in worship. It is a clear message...if we aren't clear, who will get ready for battle? Who will know to strap on their armor & grab their swords...someone must lead them. It must be me...it must be you...it must be us!!!

iBirthday :)

Well, the day is finally here. I've been patient & waited for some time now, but the day has arrived :) Sunday afternoon my family took me out for my birthday & they handed me a bag that was sure to bring me hours upon hours of enjoyment. It is the gift that keeps on giving! I got my ipod. I've played with it...found out all the cool things it can do. I've loaded only a fraction of my CDs on it, but still have 27 Gb of space left. This is a beautiful thing. Anyway, I wanted to share my joy with everyone out there.