Willow Creek Leadership Summit 2009 - Day 1

This is the third year that I have attended the Willow Creek Leadership Summit and the first time I have attended from a satellite location. I am in Omaha for the summit and then will spend the weekend 40 miles east of there in Harlan, IA.

The host church is Brookside Church. I haven't been to a lot of WCA churches, but it would not be too difficult to imagine that this was a WCA church. It has a very "Promiseland" like children's ministry wing, which coincidentally happens to be in the lower level of the church. Their primary worship space is much like the Activity Center, where Willow first met when they move onto the current South Barrington campus. They have a Chapel at the other end of the building from the worship center. If you have been to South Barrington, you would immediately recognize the architectural similarities.

I am really in no position to make any assessment of the church doctrine or beliefs. I will say that they were well prepared with an abundance of very friendly volunteers. Apparently this was not the first time that they have done this. Logistically, they did a fine job. I will say that I was surprised that lunch was not provided. It wasn't a big deal, but having been fed (abundantly) the two times I attended previously, I was unprepared to track down my own lunch. I ended up walking down to a local convenience store to grab a sandwich.

As far as the summit itself goes, I think that this was the BEST Day one in the past 3 years. I think that all today's sessions were home runs. Rather that recount my feelings, I'm going to jump over to Twitter.com and capture comments from others, posted throughout the day.

jaxnc: Tons of ideas from being @ the Summit #tls09. Best opening day in a few years. Challenged, inspired, convicted.

mikechem: Great day at the Leadership Summit. Speakers stressed the need for leaders to empower people for innovation, creativity and trust. #TLS09

leebiles: @donnamct I was blown away by tim keller retelling of the prodigal son; you always got to bring it back to the gospel! #TLS09

patamo: RT: "The longer you're down in your trenches, the easier it is to mistake the edge of your rut for the horizon." Gary Hamel // #TLS09

bexmann: Just spent a whole day getting my world rocked by the Leadership Summit...holy cow. #tls09

ajelwind: Here's Josh Wilson, who performed at today's Leadership Summit http://tinyurl.com/nk3ffy #tls09

gilesshih: #tls09 kiva.org provides over $85 million in micro-finance loans each yr to entrepreneurs worldwide - lives are being changed!

saddacracker: RT @tonysteward The elder brother in the parable of the prodigal son was lost, not in spite of his obedience, but because of it. #tls09

LifeVerse: People are not looking for a mild dose of God, they want a full dose of God. Bill Hybles Leadership Summit #TLS09

Want to read more? Check it out... http://twitter.com/search?q=%23tls09#search?q=%23tls09

Share your Vision!!!

Last night Karen and I enjoyed an evening BBQ with the family of one of my son's friends. This was the first time that both families had gotten together. The other father, Jeff, and I got to talking about Leadership and Vision. After sharing some of my thoughts another guest, Dale, suggested that I reminded him the the "Dancing Guy at the Sasquatch music festival. Check this out...

For those of you that know me, what do you think? That is just about how I dance. ;-)

In terms of sharing a vision, see how contagious it can be. You may feel a little foolish at first, but if you are confident in your vision and stay the course, others WILL follow.

If that wasn't enough for you, hers is the Loooong version. Watch this one with discretion...