Here are my highlights from Len Schlesinger, President of Babson College:

• “Entrepreneurs actually have a low appetite for risk.”
• “Entrepreneurs actually start without a sharply defined vision.”
• “Entrepreneurs distrust reports that predict the future.”
• “Entrepreneurship is a lot more than technology-based start-ups.”
• “Large companies really don’t want entrepreneurs.”
• “None of you can ride one business model for the lifetime of your career.”
• “If you can’t predict the future, create it.”
• “Creation” = Creative-oriented action
• “What’s the point of sitting and thinking in the face of unknowability?”
• “Entrepreneurs start with the things they care about…. What do you really care about?”
• “It’s not what you’re going to do — it’s what you’re going to do next.”

Bill Hybels opened the 2011 Global Leadership Summit. He talked about five challenging questions. Here are the highlights I grabbed from his talk:

1. What is your current challenge level at work?

• (Are you under challenged, appropriately challenged or dangerously overly challenged?)
• “Research shows you do your best work above the ‘appropriately challenged’ level.”
• “If you are under challenged, step it up… If you don’t challenge yourself, your leadership gifts will atrophy.”
• “Leaders have to take responsibility for replenishing their leadership bucket.”
• “People who are under-challenged will leave.”
• “I think it’s possible to over-rev an organization. And, I think it’s possible to under-challenge an organization.”

2. What is your plan for dealing with challenging people in your organization?

• “Willow’s future is totally tied to the people we can attract and develop.”
• “Our future is also tied to the people who are no longer fantastic.”
• “How long are we going to let ‘Fantastic Fred’ spread his poison in our organization?”
• “C’est la vie…which in in English means, ‘It sucks to be a leader in France.’”
• Willow gives people 30 days to clean up their bad attitudes.
• “How long do you live with someone who is no longer carrying their weight.” (“No longer worth their hire.”)
• Willow gives people 3 months to turn around performance.
• “No one questions a leader when you fire someone for a clear values violation.”
• Willow gives 6 to 12 months when the organization outgrows the capacity of the leader.

3. Are you naming, facing and resolving the problems that exist in your organization?

• “Why can’t we call problems ‘problems’ and turn over Heaven and Earth to resolve them?”
• “Nothing ‘rocks’ or ‘booms’ forever. Everything has a season.”
• Bill talked about a recent consulting process that helped them identify “problems” at Willow. They have built teams around facing and resolving those problems.
• “Part of your job as leaders is to look problems straight in the eye.”

Every year, the elders of West Ridge Church head to Chicago for a few days to participate in The Global Leadership Summit at Willow Creek Community Church and to spend some time together as a team. It’s always a good time for learning and renewal.

This year, I’m also serving the Summit team by contributing to what will be happening at The Summit Backstage. With a free login, you’ll be able to engage some bonus content and conversations.

Whether your participating in the Summit in Chicago or one of the simulcast locations throughout the world, I look forward to processing the sessions with you. I’ll share the highlights that grab my attention beginning with the opening session tomorrow morning. Even if you aren’t able to see the teaching, I hope the dialogue here and at The Summit Backstage adds value to you and your team.

Just out of curiosity, who else will be participating in the Summit over the next couple of days? If so, where will you be attending? Join the conversation by leaving your comment.

You may be interested in checking out some of the ministry resources that are available. Here are the folks that are making things happen at TonyMorganLive.com in August:

only144.com – like Groupon for churches with up to 90% off of ministry resources

faithHighway – provides total marketing solutions to attract visitors to churches

Connected Church Conference – inspiring a generation of connected churches with speakers including Will Mancini, Jim Tomberlin and Ron Edmonson

dc – design and communication solutions that create raving fans, inspire people, and honor Christ

Church Community Builder – a web-based church management software with multi-site capabilities

Clover – provides websites for growing churches and ministries

Church Leader Insights – join Nelson Searcy for a free, 75-minute webinar where you’ll discover the eight systems of a healthy church

Leaders Book Summaries – summaries of the best books on leadership, management and church life to help you become a better leader

Standard Theme – the best-coded WordPress theme ever (My site is built on this theme.)

StreamingChurch.tv – provides everything you need to broadcast your services live

TheCommon.org – offers a simple way for people to get and give help to their community

I only have one advertising spot open. If you are interested, email me for more details. I’d love to have you join our team!

We are now on the school schedule at the Morgan household, so mornings come very early these days and they come in shifts.

First, we feed, confirm teeth-brushing and pony-tail the elementary schooler. Then we rally the two middle-schoolers. Breakfast. (Check.) Cleveland Indians update. (Check.) Backpacks. (Check.)

By the end of the morning, our high-schooler gets the leftovers of our food and our energy. Don’t worry. It’s part of our strategy. We’re intentionally doing less and less for her to prepare her for the real world. It’s building character. It’s helping her become more independent. (At least that’s what we’re telling ourselves as we watch her warm up her own breakfast.)

This morning we were going through the shifts, and I had a brief interaction with my son:

Dad: “What do you think I should write about today?”

Son: “Jesus.”

Dad: “This is breakfast. We’re not in Sunday School. ‘Jesus’ isn’t the answer to every question.”

Son: “The Indians lost last night.”

He was obviously no help. I’ve effectively trained my son to become a model lawn-mower and trash-taker-outer, but his blogging acumen still leaves a little bit to be desired.

Later in the morning, our oldest daughter was warming up her breakfast in the kitchen and I asked her the same question:

Dad: “What do you think I should write about today?”

Daughter: “Me.” (As only a first-born would respond.)

Dad: “You know your brother said I should write about Jesus.”

Daughter: “Daddy, this isn’t Sunday School.”

Dad: “Just in case you were wondering, those sausage links tasted a lot better an hour ago.”

She was no help either. Now, regrettably, you are indirectly facing the consequences. I’m left with a sample of the clever repartee from the Morgan breakfast table that has little to no value as it relates to helping you take your next steps in ministry or life.

And, on top of that, both my kids got their way — I’ve written about Jesus and my first-born daughter…whom shall remain nameless.

Pray for me and my kids. Maybe they can redeem themselves at dinner.

Last week, I mentioned that we changed the name of our campus in Cartersville. It’s now called “West Ridge Church” along with the campuses in our other two locations. In last week’s services, we took some time to celebrate the first five years of our church. Then, I took about 20 minutes to talk through the name change.

Here’s the video of that talk. It’s a message about identity. At the end, I share part of my story. I hope you’re encouraged and challenged by this.

I had coffee with a friend this morning. In our conversation, I admitted (again) my control issues. I want to fix things. When people, especially those I really love, are going through challenging circumstances, every part of me just wants to jump in a try to fix it. However, most times, the circumstances are completely beyond my control and there’s nothing I can do but continue to pray and trust God.

I hate that.

This isn’t a new learning for me. I’ve shared it with you before. There are many times when I’m praying for God to reveal the end results or the final destination, but that rarely happens. Many times he just offers us the next step. We have to trust him and be obedient to take that step. As we continue to do that, he continues to reveal additional steps. But that takes faith. And it means…

I have to give up control.

I recently connected with Dave Ferguson, Lead Pastor and Spiritual Entrepreneur with Community Christian Church and the NewThing Network, to talk with him about his new book. Dave co-authored On the Verge with Alan Hirsch. Here’s my interview with Dave:

TONY: What prompted you to write On the Verge?

DAVE: On The Verge was written in response to an urgency that both Alan and I felt that the church in North America is at a tipping point of moving in one of two very different directions: either towards extinction in this generation or a missional movement. While these are two distinctly different directions there are indicators of both possibilities. The shrinking percentage (18%) of the population that regularly attends church that would lead us to think that the North American church will go the way of Australia (10%) and Europe (2%-5%).

On the other hand there are also signs of movement. We are now starting more new churches than we are closing in United States. In addition, Alan and I were working with a dozen mega multi-site churches who are among the most influential and “successful” churches in the U.S (in the book we refer to them as Future Travelers) that were all making shifts from being primarily attractional to also being missional and sending churches. These indicators gave us great hope that that North American church is on the verge of an apostolic movement.

TONY: Though I highly respect both you and Alan, I wouldn’t expect the two of you to write a book together. How did that partnership come together?

DAVE: I read Alan’s Forgotten Ways when it first came out and thought it was one of the best books on the church that I had read in several years. So, when we invited him to speak at the Exponential Conference I took advantage of it and met him for breakfast. Despite the fact that Alan was a huge advocate of the missional-incarnational approach to church and a critic of the attractional mega church, I think he could see that what we were doing through Community and NewThing was not building a kingdom of our own, but catalyzing a movement. We hit it off immediately. Who I represent (mega, multi-site, church planting) and whom Alan’s represents (missional-incarnational) create the “both/and” thinking that we advocate in the On The Verge. We believe the best church of the future will be extraordinarily attractive because it is sent into the world to serve the world and love the world back to God. It really is our love for the church and the mission of Jesus that has brought us together.

(more…)

What if church isn’t all about me? What if Christianity isn’t about my comfort? What if faith “my way” leads to unhealthiness? Check out this video trailer for our next series at West Ridge Church.

The new series starts next Sunday at all locations.