LeadTeam Report

LeadTeam was pretty good. Ok, I think it was the best so far. We had a great start with the Quiet Waters Retreat where we spent the day in fasting and prayer. We got a significant amount of time with our leadership where they were transparent in sharing their heart for the vision to which God is calling us.

I have a few questions that I'm planning on reviewing regularly:

• Am I thinking too small?
• Am I underestimating the power of the Gospel?
• Am I underestimating God's power within me?
• Am I thinking too narrowly?
• Am I working too independently of others?

Here is how I'll be describing RG when I'm meeting with partners in the US & Europe:

We are a Gospel-centered movement

transforming lives, communities and institutions world wide

in the power of God's Spirit

I'm excited about where RG is going.

Team is what we're about

Europe ruled the courts last night as we crushed all opposition. We worked them over so bad in the prep for the event that most didn't even show up. As a matter of fact, only two people showed up who weren't on our Europe Division Leadership Team. We showed our compassionate side by incorporating them into our team for the evening and going with some intra-squad action.

Mike Davis was wicked hot on the court with his outside shooting and nearly infinite number of assists.

Don Reynard carried the other side with his magical ball handling skills as he rained shots from around the arc and relentlessly drove the lane.

Everyone else showed grit, determination, a complete lack of skill, and an indomitable spirit of team. No injuries to report.

It was a beautiful experience.

LeadTeam

LeadTeam has been great. We started off with a day of fasting and prayer. I appreciate that ReachGlobal considers this important enough to begin our major leadership events with seeking God together.

Today, I had the privilege of sitting on a panel of guys involved in developing partnerships around the world. I was definitely the one who least deserved to be on the panel, but it was a good experience for me.

Our team from Europe challenged the rest of the world to a streetball game tonight. I'm interested to see if anyone takes up our challenge. It's great to be with these people, to be pushed and sharpened in our thinking and actions.

Reset

The past 10 days have been great. We had our City Team Leader Forum followed by our Church Planting Institute. The location was an airport hotel in Amsterdam, which was my home for 10 days. I love being with the other Area Leaders for Europe, and our City Team Leaders; these men and women are godly, encouraging people. Our partners from around Europe bring inspiring vision and stories where we can see God at work. I will admit that it was nice having someone clean my room every day, but I missed Kristi and the kids terribly.

I'm still enjoying the afterglow from the events and I've got some work to do this week from all the conversations (James Lauderdale did a great job with some video interviews with some of our partners), but I only have a week. Yeah, I leave next Saturday for 7 weeks in the US by myself. I'll be writing a bit more about what that time will be like and I hope to blog the whole thing during my trip. Until then, I'm going to go play some basketball in the driveway with John...

Battling in a Neutral Country

I was talking with my son, Matt, about stuff and he mentioned that I've let blogging get away from me. Updates, information, but no stories. Got me. I've been using Twitter more/better, but I haven't had the energy to write too many stories with all the traveling I've been doing lately. Since I've got a couple weeks before my next little jaunt I'm going to try to get a bit caught up. The discipline of reflecting on the past month+ and sharing some of those stories.
The easiest to share is from my last trip to Switzerland. The building over my shoulder was used in the James Bond flick "On Her Majesty's Secret Service." We were staying in Mürren, a town farther down the mountain, but it seemed like everyone still took a couple hundred stunning pictures of mountains.
In the middle of all this beauty pointing us to our Creator, we were there to discuss issues of the heart (Proverbs 4:23). For me, the focused on the battle I'm in to keep my heart engaged with God, my wife, and the people around me. It is a battle. The battle requires energy. More energy than I have. It drives me back to the undeserved working of my God on my behalf: grace. It pushes me to rely on my brothers as we stand together to be the men our Father is calling us to be. I'm thanking my Father that He gives me what I need to battle well for the sake of His Name.