Barnabas File

Along with over 78,000 others, I participated in The Global Leadership Summit of the Willow Creek Association on August 8-9.  I was at one of the 269 Host Sites around the U.S. and Canada.  A version of the Summit is now made available now in 100 countries during the months following the event through a combination of video and live presentations. I always feel that I have to provide a disclaimer to get my friends who are uncomfortable with megachurches to read a blog involving Willow Creek, so let me say that I attend the Summit for three reasons: First, Willow Creek Community Church, the “mother church” of the Willow Creek Association, does “big church” well, and they are transparent when they falter.  The same spirit infuses the Summit. Second, the worship is always different from what I usually experience and that is not bad.  I need to be “stretched” a bit. Third, the Summit organizers enlist some of the most creative and challenging leaders...

Colin Powell is a hero of mine for many reasons. He rose to the rank of four-star general in the United States Army.     He was the first African-American to serve as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and as Secretary of State.   To the best of my knowledge, he was the first ROTC-commissioned officer to become chair of the Joint Chiefs.   Powell has served his country as a diplomat under three U. S. Presidents.   He is a Republican who refuses to be partisan.   And, most of all, he doesn’t take himself too seriously. One of Powell’s greatest talents, however, is his skill as a story teller.  Colin told the story of his rise from the streets of the South Bronx to halls of power around the world in A Soldier’s Story (2001) and My American Journey (2003). Others have written about his diplomatic work and his leadership philosophy.  In It Worked for Me , Powell shares his own approach to leadership, personal responsibility, relationships,...