Ordained Opportunities
God's timing is impeccable. Last week I told a story about Bill Hybels, the pastor of Willowcreek Community Church. I just got a phone call and I'll be having dinner at his house in August. Let me explain.
Willowcreek does an annual Leadership Summit that is a world-class leadership summit. More than 50,000 leaders will attend. The day before the summit, Willowcreek is going to host a Multisite Conference. Jim Tomberlin, who oversees Willow's multisite efforts invited me to be part of a panel. The crazy thing is that the panel consists of all the churches on our "reconaissance list." I'm absolutely blown away by the caliber of churches that will be part of it. We'll be way out of our league, but I'm excited about the opportunity to be part of it. I'm such a big believer in the multisite model. I cherish the opportunity to encourage other churches to do "ministry in the middle of the marketplace."
I just find it interesting that I mentioned the Willowcreek Association last Sunday. And just yesterday I blogged about doing conferences. And I get invited to me a part (a very small part) of the greatest leadership conference in Christendom. How crazy is that? Only God.
Earlier this week I read something that impacted me. I can't remember where I read it so I've got to paraphrase. There are factors that lead to our success that we can't control. In other words, not all opportunities can be orchestrated. Some of them can only be ordained. And there is a difference. I think this falls into the category of "ordained opporutnity." I think one factor that none of us can completely control is networking. Greg Ligon, who works with the leadership network, recommended NCC to Jim Tomberlin. It was word of mouth. It was relationship. It was networking. You can't orchestrate that kind of thing. The last six weeks I've been asking God to do something unplanned and uncontainable in me. I think this is part of that. There is no way I could have planned dinner with Bill Hybels! It's one of those unplanned blessings.
In my prayer time this morning, I specifically thanked God for the way He orders our footsteps. I think He also orders our phone calls. By the way, when I saw the (312) area code I almost didn't answer because I didn't know who it was!
Willowcreek does an annual Leadership Summit that is a world-class leadership summit. More than 50,000 leaders will attend. The day before the summit, Willowcreek is going to host a Multisite Conference. Jim Tomberlin, who oversees Willow's multisite efforts invited me to be part of a panel. The crazy thing is that the panel consists of all the churches on our "reconaissance list." I'm absolutely blown away by the caliber of churches that will be part of it. We'll be way out of our league, but I'm excited about the opportunity to be part of it. I'm such a big believer in the multisite model. I cherish the opportunity to encourage other churches to do "ministry in the middle of the marketplace."
I just find it interesting that I mentioned the Willowcreek Association last Sunday. And just yesterday I blogged about doing conferences. And I get invited to me a part (a very small part) of the greatest leadership conference in Christendom. How crazy is that? Only God.
Earlier this week I read something that impacted me. I can't remember where I read it so I've got to paraphrase. There are factors that lead to our success that we can't control. In other words, not all opportunities can be orchestrated. Some of them can only be ordained. And there is a difference. I think this falls into the category of "ordained opporutnity." I think one factor that none of us can completely control is networking. Greg Ligon, who works with the leadership network, recommended NCC to Jim Tomberlin. It was word of mouth. It was relationship. It was networking. You can't orchestrate that kind of thing. The last six weeks I've been asking God to do something unplanned and uncontainable in me. I think this is part of that. There is no way I could have planned dinner with Bill Hybels! It's one of those unplanned blessings.
In my prayer time this morning, I specifically thanked God for the way He orders our footsteps. I think He also orders our phone calls. By the way, when I saw the (312) area code I almost didn't answer because I didn't know who it was!
1 Comments:
dude, you're blogging so much these days i wonder if you have carpal tunnel!
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