Leadership is Influence not Position

I was looking at some thoughts lately from Maxwell on leadership. They are helpful meditations: Here are a few of them:

Leadership is Influence, nothing more, nothing less.

I've been asked often to take a "leadership" roles in my organization and I always felt a little funny about that. I always felt that leadership is something one either has or has not. It isn't a role, a position, or a job. Rather it's your ability to influence people. There are many out there with titles, but a title doesn't make a man or woman a leader. Maxwell reminds us that in volunteer organizations, Positional leadership doesn't work. In a volunteer organization, influence is leadership regardless of whether that is coming from someone with a title, or someone without it.

VISION 08 Washington D.C.

850 international students attended the Vision 08 Conference this year. They represented 50 different nations. This was the most fun I've had at a conference in a long time! WOW! Aside from doing some teaching, one of my roles was to help coordinate the transportation of 1,000 people into D.C. and back over 3 consecutive days. I had a blast working with my cohorts Jerry and Jeremiah. We rented 20 buses to pull this off. What a fun experience. The highlight of course was seeing God impact the lives of these students. Aside from that, it was great to see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and check out the International Spy Museum. PTL!!

Getting Out

We've really had a great fall taking international students out into the outdoors. They are so curious and exciting to explore all the Hill Country has to offer-which is a lot more than I had expected. Coming from Montana and growing up skiing and hiking around the northwest I didn't expect much from Texas. BUT, I have been very pleasantly surprised. I just love how the outdoors provide such great opportunities to talk with students about real life and spirituality.

Updated Family Pic

here is what our family looks like now. This was taken yesterday in our backyard. It amazes me that there are now five of us. We are having so much fun. Our kids are growing through so many fun phases. Brennan does the spider crawl and casts webs on passers-by that he sees, and Madison is all into her new friends at preschool.

Baby Macy is HERE!!

AFter 38 weeks of waiting, she is finally here!!! We are so excited. Maddie and Boo are really enjoying her as well. Maddie started preschool last week so there are lots of changes and events (Hurricane IKE for one) around here.

I'm running for president of the United States

Not sure if you've heard, but I've decided to go for it. I will run for the presidency in 2008. I hope I have your support. Check out the mania that is surrounding me right now below...

http://www.inews3.com/topstory.php?id=4d696b657c4b72696567

you may need to copy the above link and paste it into your browser...once elected, I'll have a secretary...of course, who can help me with my blog. I hope by then to make more frequent entries.

A Great Church in Germany

If you ever find yourself in Datteln, Germany. you must attend Wendepunkt!!! Stefan Arhelger is the head pastor and a dear friend of mine. Years ago he was trading Japanese futures contracts in the stockmarket in Frankfurt and God called him to go to seminary. Stefan went to Spain on an internship with TEAM international. This is where we met. We were teammates. Together we went through the villages of southern Spain preaching the gospel with a man called Leif Erickson. yeah, seriously. That was his real name. It was an amazing summer and one that radically changed my life. Over the years Stefan and I managed to get back together in Spain, Germany, Prague, Russia, and the U.S. It's amazing how much our lives have changed over the years. Here is a link to Stefan's church.. go check it out!!.

www.wendepunkt-datteln.de


God has used him in great ways. Who knows, maybe one day you'll get a chance to meet him.