Willow Creek Leadership Summit

I’m at the Summit Leadership Conference at a Satellite site in San Jose. Bill Hybels was the opening speaker with a model that he sets for Descion making. Bill lays out the ground work for making sound decisions within a four-fold principle.

Does the Bible have anything to say about it?.
What do councilors say about it?
What are the P/G/E’s? Pains, Gains, and Experiences that help you?
Is the Spirit prompting you?


He laid out these four principles that get him to making leadership “Axioms”. Short little personal leadership principles that guide you in life. He went on to list a few of his leadership Axioms… here are a few that I found helpful.

-Vision Leaks – this means that people need to hear again and again your vision. If you picture a bucket with holes on the bottom and see that you need to constantly fill it up.
-Facts are your Friends – It’s always helpful to see the raw data about the project your are working with.
-Leaders call Fouls – Leaders sometimes need to stop the meeting and call a figurative foul… something that was said with the wrong tone, or hurtful way, and afford the speaker a mulligan (and opportunity to say/do it over again)… sometimes the leader needs to call a foul on himself.
-When things feel Funky… engage – Sometimes there are rumbles or confusion or a funky tone in the group you are leading…. If that is the case, jump in and engage.
-Take a Flier – this is a word that means to envision and undertake something that is so way beyond the ability for your group to do. Something that would require God to be involved and would be insanely great, Rock their world.
- This is Church - This is a principle that reminds us that what we do at the church is not the only form of church there is. Some times, sitting with a grieving father, or a confused student, the joy of a special ed day at the park. You can look at it and say… “This is Church”

As a side note… I will say that Bill Hybels is really tan! He reminds me of George Hamilton from the Loveboat.

Not just any old Mountain Bike

Yesterday I was given a gift. A buddy of mine asked me if I had a mtn bike. "Well, I used to have one" I explained, "but my son grew out of his bike and started riding mine until he trashed it." (for the record... I do not fault my son for trashing my bike... he rides hard and the bike could not withstand his punishing abilities)

So this buddy of mine said he had an extra one in his garage that was given to him from a friend who is some big rider. I told him I would gladly take the bike from him. From the time that my old bike was trashed my son got a 2008 Specialized "Big Hit" and now is into extreme down hilling (something I will not do!).

Sam and I had not been able to ride together because he was the only one with a bike. So getting a free mtn bike seemed like a good start... it would allow us to start biking again.

So, after I got the bike and was coming home with it, I called my buddy Jason (who works for Specialized) to tell him about the bike and to inquire to its value.

The conversation went something like this....

Jon: "Hey Jason, someone just gave me a mtn bike"

Jason: (thinking: "hmmm, probably got a piece of crap")

Jason: "what kind is it?"

Jon: "Specialized"

Jason: (thinking: "well, thats a good start")

Jon: "its an enduro"

Jason: (thinking: "hey I used to ride a specialized enduro")

Jason: "anything else?"

Jon: "its a S-works full suspension, with Minute forks, juicy brand disk brakes..." (I went on to give more details of the bike)

Jason: "that sounds like a nice bike"

Jason: (thinking: "holy smokes!!... that's an awesome bike... its loaded... brand new it's probably worth 5K!")

Later in the day Jason came over to give me the full run down, and sure enough... its a sweeeet bike.

(I know what you're thinking... "what about your neck and back issues?")

My neck has improved dramatically over the past four days. Physical therapy, traction, and relearning posture has been a huge help... so we shall see!

Anyway... it was a cool opportunity and a generous gift, of which I'm deeply grateful. I look forward to riding with my son again... but I will stay on the bunny trails for now.