Month: November 2016

Taking the Plunge: Finding & Leaving Your Comfort Zone

Posted on November 28, 2016 by - Articles, Change Management, Decision-Making, Leading Organizations, Strategy

When was the last time you had the courage to break consensus and trust God?

Organizational risk always begins with giving up something comfortable. It doesn’t take much nerve to change something that is already broken. But changing something that’s working for the sake of something more important — now that is where real risk comes in. People push back. Results dip at first. And everyone anxiously watches to see what will happen.

The good news is that we’re not on our own to take risks:

Risk is something God calls us to and leads us through.

Consider how Joshua must have felt as God called him to lead the Israelites out of their comfort zone. After 40 years of learning to live in the wilderness, Joshua led them into an unreasonable situation—trying to forge a river during flood season. As I review Joshua 1-3, I am reminded of the following three principles:

  1. Risk Requires a Culture of Courage
    God’s call to Joshua, and Joshua’s call to the people, was simple: “Be strong and courageous!” If you’re going to lead an organization to take risk, you’ll have to establish a culture of courage within your team.
  1. Risk Requires a Break from Consensus
    Many churches in particular believe that every member should have a voice in every decision. That’s not a biblical model of leadership. In this case, Joshua never called a board meeting or took a vote. He followed God forward, trusting His faithfulness over consensus.
  1. Risk Requires Trust in God
    God’s only command was to lead the ark of the covenant into the Jordan. From there, Joshua assured the people that God would act. As leaders, we are called to follow God’s leading, trusting Him for the results.

Are you resisting risk for the sake of your comfort zone?

whiteboardIf it’s been awhile since you took a significant risk, you’ve likely developed a comfort zone in your organization. You can identify it by placing everything you do within these four categories:

  1. The Past: These are products or ministries targeted at existing customers and experiencing low results. Many organizations call them “sacred cows.” If you have any of these roaming around, it’s time to eliminate them.
  1. The Core: These are the opposite of the past, experiencing high results with new customers. The Core is every entrepreneur’s dream. But nothing gets to “The Core” without going through “The Future.”
  1. The Future: The Future always begins with products or ministries focused on new customers. They’re experiencing low results because you’re just introducing them and working out the issues. But as you make those changes, the future should gain momentum and become a part of the core. In order for there to be a future, churches and businesses alike must make serving new customers a priority.
  1. The Comfort Zone: This category is the most deceptive of all. It involves products or ministries experiencing high results with existing customers. For a while, it feels like this success will last forever. But in time, culture will shift, better solutions will emerge, and existing customers will bail for something better.

The Comfort Zone will always fail you eventually.

I’ve met leaders who mistook the comfort zone for long-term success. They invested further in their existing methods with the expectation that even greater results would follow. But in the comfort zone, the opposite happens. The further you invest, the weaker your returns. Eventually, those methods shift from the Comfort Zone to The Past. That’s when leaders realize they are stuck. But the truth is they’ve actually been stuck all along—stuck feeling comfortable and believing that risk wasn’t necessary.

Risk prioritizes the future today in order to build a greater tomorrow.

Stepping away from proven products for the sake of the future is one of the riskiest steps a leader could take.

For Joshua, it was a decision to leave solid ground so future generations could thrive in the Promised Land.

If you’re a pastor, it’s a decision to sacrifice the preferences of existing Christians for the sake of those who’ve yet to meet Christ.

If you’re a business leader, it’s a decision to disappoint some legacy clients in order to expand your impact with new customers.

Most of all, it’s a bold move that says, “Regardless of how things were in the past, our priority is the future.”

Which aspects of your organization are sitting in the comfort zone?
Have you asked God what risk He may be calling you to make?

Political Enemies Connect at the GLS in El Salvador

Posted on November 25, 2016 by - Latin America, Stories

For the first time ever, the GLS brought together two of the most unlikely of groups.

The GLS team in El Salvador invited members of both the Salvadorian guerrilla as well as members of the army to the GLS event last week.

Both groups said yes!

Not only did they both attend the GLS, they also shared lunch and fellowship together. This does not happen! They are normally enemies in the political field. But since they were invited, they had no choice but to attend and share the same table. Two of the people that were there were the people that signed the peace treaty. In the same room, were people from the opposition party.

What happened next was God at work.

From the political right and the political left, they sat together, talked, and even laughed.

Regional Leader for Latin America, Luis Pinto, took this opportunity to talk to them about Jesus Christ.

Even though the members of the guerrilla group are atheist, they were respectful to Luis while he talked about Jesus and the Summit values. “When I was sharing our values, they were impacted by our value to collaborate instead of compete,” Luis shared. “They said this would be a good value to bring between the government army and the guerrilla.”

Imagine what might happen if these two groups, normally enemies in the political field, were to collaborate for the better of society, rather than fight against each other? As a result these efforts to bring people together, we’ve begun to see division erased.

The GLS committee started a gathering for political leaders from various parties, including 157 politicians. They commented, “I need to learn how to forgive those who were my enemies.”

One politician asked to bring the GLS to the president of El Salvador, and the GLS committee is waiting for a date to make it happen.

Thank you for supporting and praying for the GLS in El Salvador. Who knows what the future outcome will be of this chance meeting between this army and guerrilla group. Only God could ordain such a meeting. Please pray the future of El Salvador.

 

To continue to support the GLS in El Salvador,
consider your year-end gift to the Willow Creek Association.
Learn more at www.willowcreek.com/give.

Thank You From Our Courageous Partners Around the World

Posted on November 24, 2016 by - Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Central America, Latin America, South America, Stories

To all our friends who pray or financially support the Global Leadership Summit around the world… thank you!

Your generosity goes a long way. You are creating a ripple effect. You are leaving a legacy.

Be encouraged and inspired by our partners around the world expressing their thanks for the impact you have had on their lives and in their countries.

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Thank you from India

int-1229“I want to say thank you to every one of you who has contributed and supported this ministry and the GLS. You helped bring these principles to various nations of the world. I can tell you from India, that it’s going to make a big impact. I want to say thank you. I pray this will reach many more. I pray that the GLS will impact our nation in an even greater way when we see righteousness and justice restored. So I’m excited for it. Thank you.” – Valson Varghese, India

int-1115“I want to thank all of you who support the Summit. I would like to tell you how excellent it is that you’re giving your resources to have the Summit annually and helping leaders worldwide. Yes, you are helping the leaders of our nation. I am grateful to you. I want to thank you and bless you in the name of Jesus!” – Bobby Roa, India

 

Thank you from South Africa

int-0470“For South Africa, we would like to thank you for your dedication and faithful commitment to helping the WCA roll the GLS to the world. If not for your contribution this wouldn’t be possible. Without strong leadership there cannot be country change, community change and we cannot fix this broken world. Ethical leadership is so vital. So in South Africa, we want to thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for all that you are doing and all that you will do. We trust for 2016 that we will see an incredible growth as God uses the GLS to change our broken world. Thank you.” – Janine Couchman, South Africa

 

Thank you from Kenya

int-1891“I want to thank all of you who have participated in contributing to the success of the Global Leadership Summit that has been in Kenya for the last 10 years. The investment you have made has not gone to waste. It will surely transform the future of our nation.” – Patrick Kuchio, Kenya

 

int-1282“To all the donors, I would just like to say thank you. You have no idea how much you give to us, how much it means to us and how far it goes, especially for the sites in the rural areas. The pastors there have so much passion for leadership, for growth, for improvement, for something different, for their minds to be expanded and for their minds to be given something new. What you give means so much and it goes such a long way in enabling us to reach those leaders who have such a yearning for leadership. They are always grateful. A number of times when we finish a Summit event, people are thanking you and telling you that they are so grateful. We’ve seen families changed, churches changed, people’s hearts changed and bad situations made right. All of this is because of you, and we are very grateful and we are very encouraged. We pray that the Lord may continue to touch your lives.” – Miriam Chumbi, Kenya

int-1874“We are very grateful for the GLS. To all our donors we want to say thank you very much for investing in the GLS. Your investment is changing lives. Through your prayer and donations, God has taken it to another level. Many leaders have been transformed through the GLS. Thank you very much and many the Lord continue to bless you.” – Stephen Mairori, Kenya

 

Thank you from Honduras

int-1717“Dreams are from God. We need people to be bold with their dreams. We are the voice and we have a great resource that is the Summit. I want to leave a legacy and I want to be remembered as a person who fixed something. To all of the donors and investors, thank you for all you are doing. I am the result of a Summit. I love the Summit. Every year I pray to God that I can be a part of the Summit, because we are the voice.” – Angel Andreakis, Honduras

 

Thank you from Guatemala

int-1826“I want to thank you for all you have done; all you have given. If you can see the face of a pastor who leads a church in a poor community, and see their faces through every challenge, and then see them come to a Summit and be in touch with other leaders who are struggling with the same problems and be encouraged to do a better job, you would want to continue giving generously. So thank you for all you have given. You are blessing my country and all the pastors and leaders because you have given something.” – Carol Pinto, Guatemala

Int-1850“Thank you very much for everything you have given to the GLS and for helping other people grow in leadership. I think that is a way we change a country, a nation, a community.” – Emmy Munoz, Guatemala

 

 

Thank you from Sri Lanka

int-1249“When I came on board with the GLS in 2011, I saw it as just a simple tool being taken to business leaders. But as I followed the program, I began to realize the potential to change our country. I’ve been given the opportunity to take the GLS to all parts of Sri Lanka. And that has been possible purely because of donations. I speak for my team when I say we are truly grateful. We don’t really get to see who is behind all this, but we know there are a lot of people supporting us in various ways and we are thankful for that.” – Ihaab Iqbal, Sri Lanka

 

Thank you from Ghana

int-1146“On behalf of GLS in Ghana, I would like to give a very big thank you and God bless you for all your kind thoughts. We want to assure you that what you are giving is not in vain. It goes in deep levels and helps people come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ. It improves leaders in terms of integrity and execution. Please do not stop giving your donations or assistance. We can multiply your gifts. The effects are bringing results to the church, community and church at large. May God richly bless you all. Thanks!” – Fred Tiako, Ghana

 

Thank you from Trinidad and Tobago

int-1751“Resources are critical to the success of any event or movement. In a nation where resources are difficult to come by, it really means a lot when we get funding to support our events and support a movement. We are really grateful for help in that area. We’re also grateful for your deeds—the gifts of time and other ways people give. It goes a long way and helps us fulfill our mission to impact leaders in our nation.  Thank you.” – Russel Aching, Trinidad and Tobago

 

Thank you from Brazil

Int-0215“Thank you so much for giving and making the GLS happen in Brazil. Because of your support, church leaders are starting to recognize that they can make a difference and Brazil is becoming a better place.” – Val Abreu, Brazil

 

 

Thank you from Zambia

Int-0426“To all people who support the GLS, I want to say thank you so much for your generosity. Your generosity in Zambia has helped bring 120 church leaders from poor, under-resourced communities to come and participate in the GLS. Over the last two years, we have also been able to bring 30 young because of your support. We are most grateful that you are helping develop quality leadership in Zambia. Thank you and God Bless.” – Lawrence Temfwe, Zambia

 

Thank you for supporting these brave leaders and spreading the ripple effect of the GLS across the world. Your generosity goes a long way. You are leaving a legacy.