Global Leadership Summit 2008

I had the real priviledge of attending the 2008 Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit at the Kardinia Christian Church this past Friday and Saturday, what a wonderful opportunity this was to listen to some of the worlds top speakers. It was a DVD cast ( so in other words we were watching the conference that was recorded at Willow Creek weeks before, shown in Geelong with a live Worship Band and a facilitator) this took a little bit of getting used to, but after a while you found yourself so focussed on the speakers you forgot about the fact it was prerecorded.

All the speakers were very good and impacted you in many different ways, but the two that really impacted me from a personal perspective were Craig Groeschel and the final session by Bill Hybels. Craig Groeschel spoke about IT and how we find IT and keep IT, now I can hear you asking what is IT.... in Craigs words DONT KNOW.... well how do you get IT.... DONT KNOW ..... how do you keep IT.... DONT KNOW. You see IT is that feeling, warmth, that thing you just sense some places have. IT makes you want to come back and find out more. IT makes you a person in society that people want to be around and want to know what IT is that is different about you. Craig has written a book by the title of "IT" and if you are interested I would recommend you read it. But the thing that stood out to me about what he had to say was when he stated that he had got to the stage where he was so busy doing everything expected of him that he had become a full time minister and a part time follower of God. He had lost IT by doing good , honorable things, by getting so busy that he didnt spend as much time with God and seeking Gods continual direction for his life.
The final session by Bill Hybels was about Mother Teresa and how she had received a very clear calling from God for her life, yet other people still stood in the way of her following that call. But Mother Teresa never lost sight of that call and kept pushing her superiors to allow her to follow it, and eventually they relented and allowed her to go where God had been calling her to. But things still werent easy for her and we can learn a lot from her level of faith and commitment. In her personal journal she wrote about not being able to feel Gods presence with her at that time and feeling alone and yet then wrote "I want to love you Lord more than anyone has ever loved you before". Even at a time when she couldnt feel the presence of God with her she was expressing a desire to love God more !
I pray that I will have that same strength of faith to stay true to the calling God has placed on my life and when times are hard and I am not as close to God as I could be that I would seek to love Him more than I ever have before. One final quote from the conference " Do you have the courage to pray Bring It On Lord ? " I hope that we all have that courage today and then have the courage to follow when God answers.