Getting Pumped Up for the Summit?

Five Oaks has it's largest group ever going to the Leadership Summit this year. Registrations stand now at 115! Here are some excerpts from a recent Fast Company article on the Leadership Summit that will surely get you pumped up (you can link to it here):

"Willow Creek offers a deep set of lessons about organizational life that I have not been able to learn anywhere else," says Babson College president and former Limited Brands COO Len Schlesinger, who has studied the church for nearly two decades, though he himself is Jewish. This year, he took several of his Babson colleagues to the summit, which has also attracted delegations from Best Buy, Chick-fil-A, and Toms Shoes. "The quality of the teaching is extraordinary," Schlesinger says. "The fact that Willow Creek is a church and the fact that it is evangelical mean that some people may have a great deal of difficulty with it, but they skip it at their loss."

"I have my four Es," [Jack] Welch says, referring to the four leadership qualities he looks for in executives: Someone who has energy; who energizes others; who has edge ("someone who can say yes or no decisively"); and who can execute. "Bill has them all, along with a strong P: passion. He's a winner. He could be running a company -- or a country."

For Toms Shoes founder Blake Mycoskie, who spoke this year about his company's "conscious capitalism," the summit was also a learning experience. The highlight for him was Hybels's interview with Welch. "Welch talked about the dangers of the 'meeting after the meeting.' That was happening at Toms, and it's not anymore," Mycoskie says, citing a new daily senior-leadership meeting implemented in direct response to Welch's summit message."Bill Hybels talked about recruiting fantastic people and being bummed when they quit," Mycoskie continues. "That has affected our hiring process. Before, we were hiring as fast as possible. I've since told my HR director to take the extra month to make sure we're getting the right people."

The two-day summit schedule is carefully choreographed to balance secular voices with those of pastors. "If we filled all our sessions with the Jim Collinses and Jack Welches and did not have the faith leaders, the summit would go away in a year or two," Hybels says. "What has made this thing last is the mix: It's the blend of high-impact, God-honoring messages with savvy, street-smart, don't-spiritualize-everything lessons from business."

Kids in the Weekend Service

Our parenting conference speaker made his case for for families worshiping together a few weeks ago and I've been meaning to add my two cents. Our boys attended adult worship services most of their lives, and it didn't make them hate going to church. I'm not sure it helped them either. I think a lot depends on your kids and on your parenting style or skills.

So I think it's a great idea for many (but not all) families, but only if...

• Your kids are also attending their weekend small group (i.e., Sunday School) so that they can learn, grow and fellowship at their own level. You can go to the service together and then you (the parents) can serve the other hour while your kids are in their small group.
• Your kids are not constantly distracting you. If you are the primary spiritual director in your child's life (and you are), it's not a good idea for you to put your spiritual growth on hold until your slightly to very hyperactive child grows up. 
• Your kids are not distracting the people around you. Sorry, but constant movement and even cute noise is distracting.

I just read an article by a pastor from a church that doesn't ever allow kids in their services. He gives five reasons that I think can be remedied in other ways. But here are his reasons for your consideration:

1. Children learn at their level - Appropriate topics are given at appropriate ages and presented in appropriate methods for their particular stage of development.
2. Children like church - How many people do you meet that say they hate church because their parents forced them and it was boring? Why do that to your kids? Don't you want them to learn about Jesus AND enjoy it?
3. It allows parents to worship/learn undistracted - Our conviction is that the parent is more responsible for the spiritual development of a child than the church, so we need to make sure parents are being edified and encouraged in God's Word. This is much easier when they're not trying to keep their children pacified or entertained during service.
4. It allows people throughout the service, both seekers and disciples alike, to focus on the experience rather than being distracted by crying, fussing, or bored kids.
5. It frees the pastor to discuss "adult" topics without having to filter things for young ears. I don't mean this allows me to cuss, but it does allow me to discuss serious things like sex without having kids hear things they are not ready for yet. [We try to warn parents when the topic is PG or PG-13, but it's not easy to always remember.]