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Getting the Most out of the Summit

 Hello to everyone joining us this year at the Summit.  I know there are a lot of newbies to the Summit, so I thought I would throw out a few ideas to help you make the most of your time (and not a bad reminder for veterans either).  Our hope is that each session really messes with you - that the ideas and concepts that are presented challenge the way you currently lead.  We want your brain to hurt.  We take great pride making sure that you vacate your comfort zone and explore the idea that people you might not expect to learn from just might deliver a brilliant insight.  Ok, so here are a few thoughts:            
  •   Spend a few moments after each session asking God what in the world he wants to say to you.  Just give him a chance to get a word in edgewise.           
  •   If you feel yourself disagreeing with something during a session, try journaling it.  Get to the heart of why you disagree. What was presented that challenged your thinking? Is there anything in your thinking that you would reconsider?          
  •   If you feel prompted to take action about something, send a reminder e-mail to yourself, or perhaps e-mail an assistant or friend who will bother you until you make it happen.           
  •   And last but not least, take advantage of the wisdom of the leaders around you, both those on the stage and those sitting around you.  The collection of wisdom at this event is mind-blowing.So how about you, veterans?  What is your advice to those attending for the first time?  And newbies, what are you most excited about coming to the Summit for the first time?

Comments

# Charlie Dean said on 09 August, 2007 09:11 AM
Shout-outs from Peoria, IL!! Video feed is clear...we have about 600 people here at Northwoods Community Church! Looking forward to the discussion!
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# Rod Kaya said on 09 August, 2007 09:42 AM
Kristen your insights on how to approach this Leadership Summit is right on. This is my 10th Summit and this is a highlight for me every year. I always leave challenged, inspired and refueled with great leadership learnings and ideas.
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# Brent Smith said on 09 August, 2007 10:37 AM
I would like to get a copy of the History of the Church sketch that was presented at the start of the conference. How can I access this? b
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# Sarah Trommer said on 09 August, 2007 11:12 AM
The sketch is called "Fast Forward" will be available on the 2007 Summit Team Edition available to pre-order as bonus footage.
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# Mark Kemink said on 09 August, 2007 11:16 AM
Hey...My name is Mark and I'm on staff here at the WCA. I know there are a lot of questions about the "Fast. Forward." video that was shown at the beginning of the conference today. That video is on the 2007 Summit Team Edition DVDs. So...when you order the Team Edition you automatically get the "Fast. Foward." DVD.
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# Anthony Leonor said on 09 August, 2007 11:28 AM
I loving it!!
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# Jason Ament said on 09 August, 2007 11:29 AM
Wow, that homeless kareoke video was great. I know that alot of us in wayne, PA are inspired. Great element.
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# Adam Roades said on 09 August, 2007 11:34 AM
I describe the Summit as a firehose of leadership energy. It's intense. It's life-changing...if you let it be. This is only my second Summit, and already I know I want to attend next year. My advice is to take personal notes - don't just write down what the speakers say, transform it into how it applies to you. I really dig that Willow Creek is offering live blogging to facilitate conversation between everyone attending the Summit, regardless of geography!
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# Kris Burns said on 09 August, 2007 11:42 AM
Wow . . . I loved Bll's "big picture" approach to the influence we can have as leaders. But in this session Nancy made it amazingly personal through the film, song, video & her comments. I (for one) am inspired by both perspectives. THANK YOU.
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# stan c said on 09 August, 2007 02:54 PM
we have made the leadership summit part of our leadership development program. this year i am my associate have invested in 15 other leaders and potential leaders to attend the summit. it has always been a catalytic event - our folk always get juiced/jazzed and charged up. (3rd year) we pass about three other summit locations so that we can get away from home turf, get in a hotel so that each evening we can debrief without trying to beat the rush hour traffic home i've grown tired of going to a great conference, getting charged up and then going home, trying to translate my experience. it always loses something in translation i've decided to "bring mohammed to the mountain." it is well worth the price to bring your volunteers to this event
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# Dan Loichinger said on 10 August, 2007 07:39 AM
Year two for me at the Summit...once again I am challenged, inspired and have my breath taken away. Marcus' presentation was unbelievable! Carly was strong, committed and touching. Finally, the artistic expression and it's blend wrap all these concepts around my heart in a way that I can't even describe. Kudo's to the team. I can't wait for today. My prayer is to understand how God wants me to channel this summit experience to the mainstream business and corporate world which I serve most often.
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# Michael Hofer said on 10 August, 2007 09:24 AM
The "Fast Forward" was A-MAZING! The interview with Carly was full of good info and her story is both sad and amazing, but I did not see a lot about practical leadership in it. She is a very strong and amazing women though!
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# Adam Roades said on 10 August, 2007 09:37 AM
I love the Summit so far. I have a couple of suggestions to be able to reach a wider audience. I would love to see WCA release video podcasts shortly after the Summit - for free (see http://www.ted.com/index.php for an example). Waiting two months for the DVD release is not necessary anymore! Also, and this is minor, the "archive" page for the blogs is unreadable because of the color settings (at least in Firefox). Please use the white background used in the main blog area. Thanks!
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# Bill Johnson said on 10 August, 2007 09:48 AM
Congratulations to Greg Hawkins, Cally, and Eric. Your hard work for the last few years is going to bring about great spiritual fruit! Thanks for insisting that facts/truth really is our friend. It might hurt to find that some of what we are doing is not particularly fruitful, but how else will we become better leaders? And what a great model for leadership to learn to really listen well in a way that does not just to confirm our biases. Maybe next year's Summit can have a session to teach leaders to listen well through qualitative research practices. I sense that listening well may become as great a leadership necessity as communicating well. In Him, Bill Johnson
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# Tim Howey said on 10 August, 2007 08:39 PM
This is the 4th year for me with the Summit. This has become a non-negotiable event on my yearly calender. We have 13 from our church and are debriefing together during our lunch times. I am even blogging a summary of each event at my site.
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# Jawna Bidwell said on 10 August, 2007 09:58 PM
I am a mother of 3 school aged children and belong to Trinity Presbyterian Church (WCA member) in The Colony, TX. Yearly attendance at The Summit is mandatory for all Elders and staff. Our pastor, James Kim attends in person in Chicago every year. I have sat for two days now, listening intently to the speakers this year from 1st Baptist in Lewisville, TX, and am in awe of their leadership skills. As a "stay at home" mom and Youth Elder at our church. it humbles me to be called a leader as that's not who I see in the mirror, but I was moved by both the film maker of Bella(I'm sorry, I missed his name-help?) who pointed out the seat he was sitting in when Bill Hybels encouraged him to hear "that soft, gentle whisper", and then acted on it after the Holy Discontent session, as well as comments from the wonderful Richard Curtis. They are the ones who encouraged me to contribute to this first blog of mine (my teen would be so proud) and ask you for help w/o feeling uncomfortable, for I feel it is in the name of God that I am asking. Although Trinity is rather small (200-300), we are very active in the global mission field . We have sent at least one team to Uganda almost every year for the past 20 years (as well as teams to Russia and several other countries). Indeed, Pastor James helped to start one of the children centers in Uganda called New Hope Children's Center, which is still thriving and pastored by Rev. Jonnes Bakimi in Leweero, Uganda. We are now also focusing on another orphanage in Africa called Jireh Children's Center located in Masaka, Uganda. There are 300 or so orphans at the Jireh Children's Center in Masaka, and quite literally, they are in need of more help than we are able to provide with the small support base we have with others around the country. They are in need of more food and payment for teachers who have been working for months without pay. Currently, each child receives 1 cup of porridge in the morning and then 1 meal a day. Being there and living with these wonderful children for 6 weeks was such a blessing to me but my heart has been breaking ever since. That's just not enough food for these precious children. Until a water system was donated recently, each child had to carry their own jugs down the hill to swampy water to be filled each day. Working with Pastor Benjamin Grace Kintu in Uganda and his wife, a Not For Profit was set up by supporters in California so we now have accountability and internal control for all dollars donated. That was a very important aspect to me in setting up a long term plan. A child sponsorship program similar to that of World Vision is currently being set up and we have pictures of most of our kids that can be sponsored. While our team was there collecting this information, the were also able to de-worm the children with funds from our VBS program and a fundraiser dinner. But now that we have the sponsorship program set up, if several churches would sponsor just one child for $28/month, it literally would only take your spare change to buy wood for cooking, feed the kids and pay the teachers. If you have been reading all this time, perhaps Christ has sent you a soft, gentle whisper too. I'm not a salesperson or a CEO, just a mom with too many words. All I know how to do is ask you to help these children . Most importantly, the children need your constant and specific prayers. Then, if your church would agree to just sponsor one child at $28/month, they could eat more food. It's that simple. What is that, maybe a quarter per month for each member? Maybe a dime? Please take the time to Google the Jireh Children's Foundation or use this link: http://www.hewillprovide.org/jireh_ministries/jireh_childrens_center.htm . My email is jgbidwell@tx.rr.com. I would be honored to answer your questions or send them on to the accountant so you can trust that every dollar is accounted for. I value the time it took for you to read this and thank you for it. IHS, Jawna Bidwell
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# Jason said on 10 August, 2007 10:31 PM
I like the idea of the videos being posted online and the discussion posted involving the sessions. However, I am unable to access any of the video's that are on the site. I tried watching session 1 last night and session 7 tonight and after clicking the play button it only displays a symbol moving around in a clockwise motion acting as if its loading the video and it never does. I'm sure the site and servers are being hit hard. Is anyone else experiencing this issue? Any workaround?
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# Connie Masson said on 11 August, 2007 09:25 AM
Wow! this has been such a fantastic conference. What 21st century churches and leaders. I have loved every minute of it. As an educator that provides instructional technology services and support to our teachers and students, this has been so empowering to see you guys doing it! I have learned new things about leadership and refreshed and realigned my thinking so that I am excited to go back to the school district and implement within myself and share with my team as well as our team of managers the concepts that have been presented during the conference. Thank you! Next year I'd love to see an option of a home satellite feed or webex. My husband works out of the house and this year had a broken arm and with writing as his trade, he wasn't able to come as he needed to struggle through staying on top of his high tech marketing white papers. He would have loved and benefited by being here. We could even do a small group type of setting in homes as well. Any thoughts on that type of access? Blessings!!
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# Kristen Aikman said on 11 August, 2007 09:58 AM
Hi Jason! Hmm! I've had the video issue once or twice myself. Let me try to get an answer from our smart technical people!
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# Rod Craig said on 11 August, 2007 10:12 AM
Greg Hawkins' Reveal video was awesome. I saw the short one live, then watched the long version last night from my hotel room. He's been at Willow for ten years??? MORE GREG HAWKINS! Was that made by the same group that does the NOOMA films? It looks like it.
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# Larry Henderson said on 11 August, 2007 11:28 AM
Awesome. As an 18 year creeker, make that proud Creeker, I have never been more proud of our Church (God's Church). For years, I prayed that Kirk Franklin would grace and electrify our stage (heaven on earth- Country/Hybel , Gospel with Rhythm/Franklin and a strong woman like Nancy Beach) and racial reconcilation would be our goal and example. Thank you WCA for making my dream come true and YEAH GOD for this blessing. You have made the Mission Impossible (Crossing the Racial Divide) possble. As my Promiseland daughter would say, "all things are possbile..." This American revolution could include all Christians.
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# Kristen Aikman said on 11 August, 2007 11:29 AM
Jason! Ok...the videos should all be up and working now! It was a mistake on our side...thanks for pointing it out and letting us get it fixed! Talk to you later. Enjoy!
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# jodi eppler said on 14 August, 2007 09:46 AM
wowwie wow-wow- 1st timer here! my one question to myself- why didnt i get my self to one of these sooner???? my mind has been blown, my brain is growing - now its time to break it all down and implement all the great leadings and learnings thanks to all speakers, techies, artists, volunteers, host churches......
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# Stuart said on 15 August, 2007 06:37 AM
I was greatly impacted by many of the sessions as well as Kirk's ministry through music! Has Willow come up with an arrangement with Kirk to make his live songs available to summit attendees? If not, did anyone capture the songs/put them online (youtube) etc?
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# Kristen Aikman said on 16 August, 2007 04:30 PM
Hello Stuart. Right now...we don't have permission to post his songs online but here is a list of the songs he played. I know you can get them on iTunes. Session 9 Songs: Looking for You, Brighter Day, Imagine Me, Lean on Me. Session 10 Songs: Hosanna, My Life is in Your Hands, He Reigns. I think there are clips of him on You Tube but not from the Summit at http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kirk+franklin Hope that helps!
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# adams said on 26 January, 2008 09:09 PM
thaks
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