I was privileged to attend the Willow Creek Leadership Summit again this year.  Actually it was at a satellite location in Springfield, Missouri.   This is always a spiritually refreshing time.  God speaks through the speakers and challenges us in fresh ways.  I find that it is so important that as a pastor I have times away when I am fed, challenged, directed and encouraged by the Lord.  It is easy to let the tyranny of the urgent discourage these times away, but they are of utmost importance.  Jesus modeled times of planned negligence for the sake of renewal and time with the Father.  I would be terribly unwise and arrogant to presume that I don’t need the same and more.

For me there were three favorite elements of this conference.  First God used multiple speakers to confirm some areas that He has been leading me into.  I deeply appreciate the confirmation God provides through His Spirit and his people.  The second was a speaker named Wess Stafford.  Wess is the President and CEO of Compassion International.  His testimony of God’s faithfulness to use our brokenness was very powerful.  I am praying and looking for ways to use his talk with our church.  Finally I enjoyed a talk by Gary Hamel.  Gary is the Director of Management Innovation Lab and a Visiting Professor at the London Business School.  He spoke on Managing Differently Now.   It was a wonderful dialogue on change and why it is essential that we sometimes change.   Not change our core beliefs or Biblical foundation, but change our methods and systems for accomplishing our unchanging purpose.  When the world around us is continually changing, lately at an ever increasing rate, and the church’s approach to reaching this world does not change we are ever increasing risk of becoming irrelevant to most of our world.  It was both a challenging and encouraging talk.  I look forward to sharing this with leaders in the church to encourage additional dialogue about the importance of appropriate change for the sake of reaching our dying world.  Certainly and interesting and difficult subject.

All in all it was an excellent conference that God has used in my heart and life.  I pray God continues to speak to me and guide in this journey of being a pastor.  If God doesn’t lead me, I really don’t want to take the journey.

Al