Leadership

Over the last few weeks I listened, learned, discussed, and taught about what leadership is. Just under a month ago we had a Salt staff retreat to discuss what leadership should look like in Salt Company, and then a couple weeks ago we had the Salt leader's retreat which is where leadership is discussed further and what leadership looks like for Salt this year, and then this last week was filled with a lovely week-long orientation for MBA classes, where we discussed and learned more about leadership. I was so intrigued as to how we as a Christian ministry would compare to the worldview of Iowa State Business when it came to leadership development, strategy, and standards.

So, I'd like to give you a real quick multiple answer (or maybe better known as multiple guess) quiz. I'm going to write a number of statements below, and you simple guess whether it comes from ISU MBA or from Salt Company.

• It's not about being the biggest and best, its through great relationships that make for great reward!
• Being a good leader is not about yourself. It is about putting other's interest before your own. It is key to know who is under you.
  
• You must know and take care of each member of your team. You are given a responsibility, a flock if you will.
• Leadership is about your mentality. You must think like a leader to be a leader.
• Leadership is about overcoming challenges and teaching others to do the same.
• Leadership is about understanding that it isn't about leadership, each part and person is essential to the productivity and efficiency of the company.
• Just care!
• In this day, leaders are needed more than ever.
• When you're a leader and you're creating a strategy that is unclear or vague, a true leader will take a step of faith to do what he senses is right.
  

It was a trick, they both said each one... In more or less words. The "just care" seems like its the biggest stretch (since it was the Salt Leader's motto), but one of the MBA core professors used it as his motto as well! He was also the one that said you should take a leap of faith. Maybe he's a believer or just likes to hang out with Mark Arant.

So, at first this really surprised me. I literally was laughing out loud throughout MBA orientation. I mean, how ironic is it that being a good leader in ministry is so similar to being a good leader for any business company? Unbelievable! How could it be that the MBA orientation would have been nearly adequate for a Salt leader's retreat?

Then it dawned on me. It makes so much sense! What it takes to succeed in the business world is EXACTLY the same as how to excel in Christian ministry. I mean, there is a whole class on ethics in the MBA. And then I continued down to think about the need for leaders right now. Could there be a correlation between the need of leaders during this economic crisis and the need for leaders during the deterioration of the American church? Not to say that it is solely because we don't have good enough leaders or that leading is even really the problem. You see, in my mind and I think in the mind of our culture, we put leaders in a higher position (though, yes, they will be judged at a higher standard).

You see, a leader isn't someone that is better. Their isn't an amount of righteousness or self-confidence you have to achieve to be a person that impacts others. But I do find it interesting that we are in a time that there is a drastic necessity for leaders, especially men. And how do we do this? Its simple and practical. "Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."

What do you see in this picture?


I see an example...

Just care! Love! Be brutally honest about who you are, what you're struggling with, what you've FAILED at... Care about those around you. Man, if only we were to love like Christ loved us...

The day the Google machine crashed

For the last hour of my life the server for gmail has not worked. I went to Black Engineering to print off some much needed material to complete my homework for tomorrow (two 30 page case studies). In the morning I will be graded on my participation in class over these articles. Gmail did not load, so I switched to the next computer. But, to my great disappointment, it would not work there. After this, I went to Gerdin with no luck and finally used a different user's sign in and Lago and yet, gmail would not load. Now here I sit in my apartment and still gmail will not load.

So this bought my imagination to the day the Google machine crashed! Oh, what a dreaded day that would be in my life! Here is a quick look as to what would happen if not only gmail, but google were to crash in my life:
I wouldn't be able to write this blog
I wouldn't know what I was supposed to be doing right now
I wouldn't know where I was supposed to be
I wouldn't know that the word of the day is "autochthonous," which if I were to use in a sentence it would be: The autochthonous fauna of Australia includes the kangaroo.
I wouldn't know the current weather of my five choices as I looked at the current news from different providors and saw the reception podcasts from Cornerstone as well as the current date and time with a notepad of things to do, while having the option of search wikipedia or google or simply look at the quotes of the day.
I wouldn't be able to assist people in getting connected in Connection Groups at Salt Company, or connect with leaders, or get those CG's to have the right number of people in their groups, or even know who is in whose leader's groups.
I wouldn't know who is supposed to get an invitation to my wedding
I wouldn't have about 50% of my homework
I would have to work to see who has written a recent blog
I wouldn't have this nifty picture attached at the bottom.
I couldn't conveniently chat with friends and family via text or video.

Wow... That's just scratching the surface!

So, I may be dependent on Google. Thank you, Google, for your free services to me and the rest of the world. Through you I my life is made simpler and faster... Or is it? Maybe if I just used a calendar, notepad, and other such things I could be as simple and efficient... But then where would that fun breakdown over the last hour go?

Father, shine Your face on Google! May it never crash...

Well, I'm off to go search through my 7117 emails to figure out what exactly that VBS set looked like that Tim Young and Jase Rohde helped construct back in the summer of '07

A taste of heaven...

Went to Anthem last Thursday... It was nothing short of anointed and majestic! Wow, had an awesome time with my East Asia team during the first Anthem time. So exciting to see how the Lord is growing us closer together and how He has provided for us to financially and even more as we prepare to see His harvest grow this summer... And once we stepped into Cornerstone, it was just amazing to feel the Spirits presence all around!



During the 9 o'clock service, I was moved to tears multiple times for various reasons. I was literally bawling during the song, "God take the day..." as I looked around and saw so many faces rejoices and asking our Father to show up in a mighty way... As I looked around and saw the next generation dying to themselves to glorify the Lord, I saw ones who had wandered and returned, ones who were broken and hurting, ones who were rejoicing and glad, ones who were of different nations, ones who had different talents and gifts, ones who were leaving to see God's kingdom grow all over the world... When I saw this, I saw that we had a taste of heaven! I was shook to the core as I rejoiced in the work God was doing, and that THIS was going to be heaven, praising the Lord all the day long!

The worship was amazing... After the recorded service the band was begged to come back and played 3 more songs where the Spirit was SO thick! I got to rejoice and worship with Mike Easton who will be leaving for the next few years to further the Lord's kingdom in East Asia, Jase Rohde who I'll be going to East Asia with this summer, and Lance Algood who I went to India with last summer... How awesome?!? Not to mention catching Mark Arant as he does a cannonball into the crowd to do some crowd surfing (which I'm positive was a dream come true for him), and throwing up Mike E as we sent him off in the last worship time together...

Father, praise You for showing up in an awesome way! May You be glorified and honored... We want to live our lives for Your glory! Take the day!

Engagement

So I got engaged! Turns out that each time I tell the story it changes... I feel like its very similar to my God story. You know, its not the same for each person you tell it to. It becomes more relatable to different people, theres also the choice of the 5-minute, 2-minute or 30-second story... Anyways, heres the story tailored to a blog:

So I started talking to my parents about engagement back in February... It turned out that I had been thinking a little bit more seriously or rather a more quick timeline than my parents were initially. The conversation that started February became a continual conversation all the way till April. My parents have always been supportive of my relationship with Jera and have always loved her. They gave me their blessing officially on April 13th...

Up to this point, I wanted to make sure to protect my heart, so I really hadn't done that much planning. But, the next day I went with my mom and got a ring. By nothing short of a miracle it came in at 4 that Friday, and I had a date set up for 6 with Jera. We went to Petersen's Pit and grilled some burgers while we played catch. We got to talk about our summers ahead and what God is going to do as we head to East Asia. Once it got dark we headed to and old abandoned school and looked at the stars from the roof (awesome!). From there, it got a little chilly and so we went to Jera's place, where she thought the evening was over...

But, I convinced her that it was Vieshea and that we should go be social... So, I told her I wanted my car to be safe so we started to walk toward campus, but we took a detour to an abandoned railroad bridge by Brookside Park. She actually was the first one to show me this place, and we both absolutely love it! So, our friends, Jase Rohde and Jessica Schmeckpeper, had put down a table top with some candles, flowers, cheesecake, and made it all look really nice. At this point, I was pretty nervous, so I pulled out my journal and gave her an entry from a year ago from that night. That was a prayer that I wrote in response to a conversation with Jase after he had set me up on a date with her... At that point, I told her from that point on there were many things I didn't know, but the one thing I did know was that I wanted to spend my life with her, and then asked her to stand up and asked her to marry me. She said yes and then cried and Jase and Jess came out from their hiding (with Brian Jones) and helped us celebrate. Later on we went to Vieshea stuff to celebrate with more friends...

So, I'm marrying Jera Lee somewhere around January 2, 2010... Couldn't be happier! Below is a pic the next day (notice my right eye scar... Thanks Kent Spray!)



Another cool note about this date we had that I forgot to mention earlier... While we were grilling and chatting at Petersen's Pits, we had the amazing blessing of watching an eagle fly around for a good 15 minutes and then sit across the pond from us perched and watching over us... It reminded us of Mark Arant's love for eagles and his parallels of God's goodness, look at: http://metropuritan.blogspot.com/2009/03/eagles.html

And it reminded me of the Eagle Song by Go Fish in their Out of Breath acapella CD (2003)
"I stood and watched an eagle glide, spread his wings, and soared across the sky. So gracefully he flew. Rising effortlessly. I wanted to know just how to be free." ~"The Eagle Song" Go Fish

It was awesome to have the assurance of God watching over us... How good He is, and how He will be our guidance that as we take this next step, He will be the focus of our eyes and that all our joy and pleasure would be found in Him. Praise You Father for blessing me beyond what I could ever ask or imagine!

Manly Men

I decided to throw this photo in as a teaser for the blog to come. This is a picture of me and five guys from spring break 08. We stayed in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park in Tenesse (12 of us all together). There were 6 sophomores and 6 freshmen. Our desire was to explore what real manhood looked like, studying the life of David and camping out! So the six pictured above (probably the manliest there, others would say differently) decided to go on a hike to the highest point... Not just any hike, but a 14 mile hike! Knowing this would take most all day, we packed up some food and left for our venture early in the morning. One of the greatest things about camping is that you wake up early, the other is that time doesn't matter, it's all about the ammount of daylight! So, after having pancakes and hashbrowns over an open fire and hearing about David conquerring Goliath, we set off to conquer our own Goliath. It was a beautiful morning and the sun was shining. We tried to keep a good pace in order to finish within daylight, jogging uphill occasionally. After about 7 miles the weather turned to smoky, foggy, wet, and cold! We picked up the pace some more as we reached higher altitudes. Upon nearing the summit, we ran into some friends from high school (the world is really small). Then shortly after that, we made it! IT was very cold at this point, and we were excited to wait for Jase to arrive with the Suburban to give us a ride back....

Which brings me to the next great thing about camping... No cell phone service! Which it is a valid question as to why I lost my cell phone somewhere amongst the mountains while chasing a deer... So, we logically brought walkie-talkies to communicate, however we had run out of batteries and none of our cell phones worked. We were already late for Jase to pick us up, so when we couldn't find him we feared he may have already left... Then two bicyclists came up on the road and we asked them if they had seen a suburban. They kindly notified us that the road was closed... 7 miles ago! Now we couldn't communicate with our ride and we were REALLY late. At this point, Jase doesn't have a great reputation for being patient, but an even worse reputation for spending time by himself (eg. waiting for a few hours for lost friends by himself in Podunk, TN)... So, the 6 of us double time down the hill. We toss our walking sticks on the side of the rode and try to do 5 minute walk and 5 minute jog. Each one of us testing our patience thin and our physical capacity to its fine limits. I can safely say that if it weren't for Jonas Bergen's shear joy, we would not have made it! But, a while later we did... Conquering the infamous 21 mile trek.

All to be said, we are manly men! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJGwVBvJMPM

Quarter life crisis...

Started this blog literally a month ago, but forgot to finish it until now:

So I've always made fun of people when they go through a "midlife crisis." I've always found that it is just a psychological thing that is experienced when someone is realizing that they have grown old and are now on the 'decline' of sorts of their age. Individuals feel that they have now been through their adult stage of life where they can enjoy their toys and stuff and now are elders who can't do the things they once did. At this point individuals typically will go buy whatever toys they once thought they would own, or travel to places they said they would travel, or do things they once thought they would do... So, I felt that this was a silly thing to go through because I of course would have done all that I ever desired to do and there would be no crisis to go through...

That was until a few weeks ago...

So it was Januay 28th, and I was feeling the toll of winter and classes! I had just gotten back from Colorado a couple days before (which was amazing!), but as I was sitting, nay sulking at work in the hall desk my mind wandered to sunshine and beaches. So, I decided to facebook my dear friend Jase Rohde, and simply asked him if he wanted to visit his mom in California this weekend as long as we were back by Tuesday. Then I continued my day until he texted me at 4, asking if he should change his oil or not...

So, there needs to be more of a background here of the character of the friendship I have with Jase. Jase and I have been dear brothers since the first semester of college, and namely the first time we shared a single bed at our freshman group retreat (another blog itself). Basically, Jase, Ben Hunt and a few other guys like that, we all have a unique relationship. Well, there is a lot of creativity in that group, which causes for much talk to be made, big ideas. In addition, there is a lot of doers in the group, so any big idea becomes a reality a lot quicker than it would in a typical group of friends.

Long story short: Jase, Jordan Adams and I left for California at 7:30 Wednesday night, made it Santa Maria, California around 10:30 Thursday night. The whole trip was kind of a haze, but it was sunny and 80! We spent most of Friday and Saturday on the beach beating the locals in sand volleyball. It was great to spend a weekend with Jase's family. His mom and dad are amazing and such an amazing model of parenting and loving the orphans and Christ commanded the church (another blog itself also). We then came back early Sunday morning, stopped in Vegas for a few hours to watch the superbowl at the Hilton Center with 10 projectors and hundreds of people (that could be a blog too). Got back Monday night sometime...

Well, me being me, I spent the whole weekend thinking a whole lot (not different than any other weekend). I was not that surprised by my decision to go on the trip, except for the clear irresponsibility and the fact that I left many things unfinished that could really get me in trouble. But really, I wanted to get to the root of my actions here. Was it really just winter blues? Did I really want to see Jase's family that bad? Did I really want to spend quality time with two of my most dearly loved brothers for a whole weekend? Was there something more?

I think all these questions had some truth rooted in them. What I truly found through the weekend, was that there were a lot of things on my mind that needed settled in my heart. Namely, what in the world am I going to do for the rest of my life? I had been struggling with decisions like where to live, if I should do grad school, and other life changing decisions. Really, I was overwhelmed with the multitude of blessings God had bestowed upon my life and He blessed me once again to give me a time to reflect and seek His face and wisdom in those decisions. So, I had a quarter-life crisis and wanted to get away... I bought a shotgun, buying a new motorcycle... Hey, I'm even going to China! Call it a crisis, but moreso I know I have been blessed beyond belief and I will make the most of every opportunity God has placed before me!

So I went to California for a weekend... It's a great story and I learned so much! I learned that I like my girlfriend, Jera a whole lot more than I even knew was even possible. I missed her every moment and it was incredible to see how God has worked in our lives and hearts the last year. I learned how much I love being with brothers and talkin about deep things while challenging eachother's views in a righteous way. I learned so much more about God's beauty, seeing the mountains and different landscapes between here and the coast. And I learned that sometimes you neeed to do things that don't make any sense in order to see God work in ways that you have never seen!

Would I do it again? Definetely! As long as I can bring at least one more friend...