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well, we've had two full days at the Leadership Summit, and are
heading out for the final two sessions this morning. this year has
been a very different year than from past years. in all of my past
summit experiences, i have been able to criticize other parts of the
leadership structure of the church i was serving. this year, i am
that leadership team. cameron and i realize that we are the
leaders. we are the ones called to inspire, to challenge, to
innovate, to march forward into areas that seem blurry before they
ever seem clear...and it excites us to no end.

yesterday was a great day...we heard from michael porter, a harvard
business school professor. We sat in on an interview with colin
powell as he discussed leadership lessons. john ortberg reminded us
that with every leader that has a great mission, there is also a
shadow mission that must be kept in check. then we ended the day
with an interview with richard curtis, the british playwright and the
founder of comic relief in the mid-80s.

As good as all of that was for me, personally, I was most energized
by the ten minutes that bill hybels had to launch the day. briefly,
this senior pastor of perhaps the most influential church in the
world told nearly 100,000 church leaders that they have done a poor
job at growing people spiritually the way they thought they should.
for us, it was one more nod-of-the-head that indicating that we are
on the right track. For the first time, we now have some hard data
to help us see why The Springs will be a church that engages people
who are outside looking in, embraces those who have just accepted the
Christ-life, and empowers them to grow at their own pace and in their
own place.

we are not the average church, and we do not have average dreams.
that may not make us that unique, but we have a clear mission from
God and a clear vision for tomorrow. it's going to be a great ride,
filled with bumps and dips and smooth roads and steep roads. We will
share great victories and also probably share some not-victories, but
as we move our prayer is that God smiles as he watches his people
lead other people to be all that he has created them to be in the
places where he has chosen to place us, so we can extend the hope of
the Christ-life that he died to deliver.