Wisdom calls out...

The past few days have been quite inspirational leadership wise. Last week was in a Leadership Roundtable on Long Island discussing innovative church planting and administration, this past weekend reconnected with the fruit of Michele and I's labor from 18 years ago at a church's 100 year anniversary on Sunday, and today...heard from Dr. George Wood about Spiritual Leadership. In other words, it's easy to say that WISDOM can be found where ever we turn, so Proverbs 8 is quite true.

I've always been a fan of working with, and as a team. I think the days of, what I'll call, "Lone Ranger Vision", should be done with. Enough of one person holding hostage of what God wants to, or can't do. Dr. Wood made an interesting comment in passing regarding the apostle Paul. He said that he had worked with 91 people in the building and establishing of the Church, and even Jesus brought worked with a few...but what did he know. Great Coaches understand that its their responsibility and calling to get people on the field to work together, they are not there to hog all the attention.

During my trip down memory lane this past weekend I saw the fruit of this team mindset. The team...is STILL paying dividends! Although we may all not be together anymore, stuff is still going on! I wonder if the Disciples realized this way back when...I wonder if we realize that that what we do today, isn't just for today, but for tomorrow.  We discussed that latter thought last week in the Leadership Roundtable regarding innovative and traditional thinking churches. Our focus is not just about today. Our focus is all about how what we do today, will bear fruit tomorrow in its due season.

I see the future differently now that I can look back and see the past. Wisdom calls out...so that we can have the strength and understanding that our lives are really building a legacy.

Smart vs. Great and the Church

 “Smart companies respond to the users. Great ones lead the way by changing how users think.” Ge Wang, Associate Professor of Stanford University speaking of Apple and the work of Steve Jobs

When I read that quote last week in USA Today, I was immediately struck at the absence of what happens when "smart" and "great" are not employed. Professor Wang delineates smart and great to highlight the innovation of Apple and Steve Jobs, but how would we refer to an entity that does not respond to the changing climate of cultural interests or demands? Corporate America indeed survives and falls according to market share, so what is the label for those companies or entity's that don’t respond to the users and find themselves…irrelevant? Surely the Apple/Jobs story is an important lesson, as Apple has recently battled Exxon/Mobil as the worlds most valuable company, and at this time, seems poised to continue that trend. 

Can we indeed LIVE without oil and an ipod? Some may say no, and certainly in a lot of the world we would have to say, yes, we can LIVE without oil and ipods...or even a new iphone with which we could buy oil right from the phone. So if Apple and the Steve Jobs legacy is remembered correctly...they consistently dreamed of how best their product would be implemented into the lives of it's users. They somehow presented their products in a light that people would be drawn to them, and then soon discovered they could not LIVE without them.

Hmmmm. Question. If I can LIVE without oil and and ipod, can I LIVE without God? John 12:32 says "If I be lifted up I will draw all men..." So, if the Church lifts Jesus up in a way that the "users" understand presented in their own language and culture, we may see a whole lot more find faith in Christ the pursuit that they will abandon all other pursuits for. The answer per say to a problem I didn't even know I had. Smart and Great are important words here.

I'll finish this uncompleted thought with this observation. Nobody....NO ONE, no company, no global entity should put forth more effort, creativity and passion into communicating it's message to the masses than the Church. We ALONE carry the only can't live without message/product that we can NEVER be satisfied in communicating with excellence and anointing. After all, I can LIVE without the iphone4s, but I am LOST without Christ.