Global Leadership Summit Goes Virtual

I will be very transparent that I attend these meetings more for information than inspiration, but I came away with both. Craig Groeschel, pastor of Life.Church, and Albert Tate, pastor of Fellowship Church, were the bookend preachers. Both were inspiring and competent.

Like most large events, the Global Leadership Summit went virtual this year. Although there were still some large group viewings across the country, the event was produced as an online event that could also be viewed by small groups and individuals across the country.

The production was well done, and I only experienced one brief service outage during the conference. This is unusual for an event this large. Of course, viewing from home is convenient and it is nice to be able to go back or pause as you wish, but there are a lot more distractions.

Groeschel is an effective communicator who is informative and encouraging, but he goes more for the head than the heart. Tate, on the other hand, is a charismatic preacher who tells a good story and goes right for the heart. Both accomplished their assignments well--Groeschel filling his role as “champion of the GLS” and setting the stage for the meeting while Tate brought it home with a fitting final challenge. He even sang a few lines from “Hamilton”!

The best quote from Groeschel was, “We can tolerate the pain as long as we know the purpose.” Tate helped us to understand the meaning behind “the real McCoy.” Look it up.

I always have my favorite speakers and that usually dictates the books that I buy afterward. There were four of them this year--one veteran and three newcomers.

Marcus Buckingham is well known for his work with the Gallup Organization on strengths-based research. Now on his own, he provided an overview of recent research based on resilience and the skills needed by individuals, team leaders, and senior leaders to instill a culture of resilience. He related this to his work on strengths and provided a free link to his StandOut assessment.

Rory Vaden is the Co-Founder of Brand Builders Group. His presentation on “Five Permissions to Multiply Your Time” provided a fresh spin on time management. His “focus funnel” is built on the concepts of eliminate, automate, and delegate. He also provides a free resource online.

Vanessa Van Edwards’ presentation of “The Science of Succeeding with People” is a “How to Win Friends and Influence People” for the 21^st century. Using some of her own techniques to engage and involve the audience, she observed that it takes two things to be seen as a leader: warmth--generating trust; and competence--producing respect. Both are essential. She was also transparent in pointing out the fine line between using her techniques for priming people to see one as a leader and manipulating them. You can learn more about her on her website.

Amy Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School, spoke on creating psychological safety in the workplace to facilitate learning, innovation and growth. She pointed out that there are three types of failures--preventable, complex, and intelligent. More about that in a subsequent blog.

Finally, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, psychologist and university professor, discussed the six characteristics needed to manage during a crisis (or any time, really) --intelligence, curiosity, humility, resilience, empathy, and integrity. He put his own interpretation on these and talked about cultural differences related to each as well. Again, more about this in another blog.

So, the books I ordered were:

Vanessa Van Edwards, Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People

Amy Edmondson, The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth

Marcus Buckingham, StandOut 2.0: Assess Your Strengths, Find Your Edge, Win at Work

Rory Vaden, Procrastinate on Purpose: 5 Permissions to Multiply Your Time and Take the Stairs: 7 Steps to Achieving True Success

There was an appearance by former President George W. Bush through an interview with Dick DeVos, but participants were warned that this was “exclusive content” and should not be recorded or quoted. So enough said about that.

Paula Faris and Trey McKnight were engaging hosts for the conference and provided a good connection with the virtual audience.

I especially appreciated a feature that provided messages from leaders around the world, both discussing how present challenges impact their ministries and how we can pray for them.

Another recurring feature was video messages from 14 leaders who have spoken at the Summit in the past 25 years. These were interesting and a nod to the heritage and impact of this conference. Of course, looking to the past reminds us of Bill Hybels, the instigator of this project who is no longer engaged with the GLS. Even so, his spirit was evoked, if not his name, when someone shared the quote that he always used to begin the meeting, “When the leader gets better, everyone wins.”

No matter how one accesses the Global Leadership Summit, I recommend it. It is worth the time, attention, and money.

Confessions of a Recovering Southern Baptist

I am grateful for my heritage as a Southern Baptist. I was exposed to the Bible and worship from a very young age. I grew up in a church in south Alabama that supported the Cooperative Program of missions giving. This meant that our church had the benefit of being part of a supportive group of local churches and the educational opportunities that afforded. Our state convention provided varied and effective ministries with groups like orphans, ethnic groups, and college students. We supported missionaries at home and abroad. We had good Bible study and training literature (which we paid for, of course). I went to an accredited seminary and paid a remarkably low tuition. Wherever you went on a Sunday morning (in the Southeast and Southwest, at least), you could find a church that sang the familiar hymns and studied the same Bible lesson. In hindsight, I realize that this Southern Baptist utopia was imperfect. There were significant theological differences, often geograp

The Bible Tells Me So

As I read the story of the Good Samaritan during my devotional today, I was reminded of the times that I have heard the story in the Christian education setting of the local church--as a youngster in primary and intermediate classes (old terminology), as a young adult in college classes, and then as an adult, often teaching the passage myself. The characters and story line are very familiar due to these experiences of Christian education. These are challenging times for Christian education in the church. Like so much of what is happening in the church today, the old forms do not seem to support present needs. What once worked no longer seems to be effective. Christian education or the formation of believers is in a state of flux. In an article on ethicsdaily.com , retired professor Colin Harris addresses this issue. He points out that the period of the 60’s and 70’s “saw the beginnings of a loss of vitality within the educational dimension of church ministry, as the

Metaphors of the Kingdom of God

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The Tragedy of Willow Creek Community Church

File photo of Steve Carter, Heather Larson, and Bill Hybels As Christian brothers and sisters, we need to pray for Willow Creek Community Church. On the eve of the Global Leadership Summit, a worldwide conference sponsored by the church in cooperation with the Willow Creek Association, church leadership imploded as a result of further allegations against former pastor Bill Hybels. Last year, Hybels introduced the team who would assume church leadership upon his retirement--lead pastor Heather Larson and teaching pastor Steve Carter. Although the founding pastor planned to stay on to assist in a time of transition, reports of sexual impropriety involving Hybels surfaced early this year. He accelerated his departure from the church and left the board of the Willow Creek Association. When other charges emerged last week, teaching pastor Carter resigned. On Wednesday evening, Larson and the entire elder board--lay leaders who provide accountability on behalf of the congreg

A Future for the Global Leadership Summit?

Craig Groeschel, the founder and senior pastor of Life.Church. The Global Leadership Summit which began as a project of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, and its founding pastor, Bill Hybels, over 25 years ago was held this week without Hybels. For several years, the GLS has been now produced by the Willow Creek Association, a spin-off organization and a loose network of churches but Hybels has been its driving force. Attended by thousands at the church facility in South Barrington and broadcast to thousands more at satellite locations, the annual meeting brings together not only evangelical leaders but outstanding speakers from business, charitable organizations, politics, and business. For the first time, Hybels did not appear due to allegations of sexual impropriety brought against him over the past year by former employees, staff members, and business associates. He has already left the church and resigned from the board of the association.

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