A brief update on the plans to plant One Life campuses on the west and east side of Evansville, IN.

I just returned from a vacation.
During that time I had the chance to be a church visitor for a change.

I can’t help myself, I try to reflect on the experience and see how One Life can better fulfill its mission. We say we want to help people far from God experience Jesus. Many of those people begin the experience at One Life by just walking in the door on a Sunday morning. How intentional are we being about “helping” that person experience Jesus? How much are we following Jesus’ command to “do to other what you would have them do to you”?

I noticed as I walked into the place, questions were going on in my mind; simple questions, but questions that needed to be anticipated and answered intentionally to help me.
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Emily Luttrull
Senior at Taylor University
Major: Media Communication, Media Writing
Internship Responsibilities: Find & create content for, edit, update, promote, be in charge of DiscoveryCheese.com.
Cool/Interesting fact: Last year I climbed a dormant volcano in New Zealand, and I can touch my tongue to my nose.

Sara Carron
Senior at USI – class of 2011
Major: Pr and Advertising
Internship Responsibilities: All things OEM for the Global leadership Summit. Anything marketing/communications related that OL needs help with.
Cool/Interesting fact: I grew up in Baltimore, Maryland and have moved like 20 times.

As a leader, have you ever felt guilty for resting?

Ok, I know I’m thinking this way because I’m getting ready to leave for vacation. I’m sure, somewhere in my psychology, I’m feeling some distorted reason to “justify” my upcoming vacation. That makes me one sick puppy at times. But, besides my distorted psychological issues, a few years ago I learned a very helpful and important lesson that, for me, was revolutionary on the question of rest. And, I will also treat it as a shameless plug for the Global Leadership Summit.

I used to think rest was a sign of weakness. I know I never came out and said it that way, but it was lurking in the back of my mind. Like so many, I have this sense of inner fire that drives me to always want to DO. I think it’s a good thing but, like all things, it has its tainted side. To even want to “go on vacation” or just not do anything –on purpose, led to a mixture of guilt and frustration. I mean, let’s be honest, it’s not like you have a story of Jesus scheduling out time to go to the Bahamas.

Three simple ideas set me free:
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Make no mistakes, at One Life we are going to full court press promotion of the Global Leadership Summit over the next several weeks. Why? Because we know if people will go, they are going to love it and, even better, it will serve as a the launch place for amazing things God wants to do through people.

As I have listened to people, I think there are a few misunderstandings keeping them from jumping in. Here’s a few I’ve heard: Continue Reading…

One of the earliest and best lessons to learn about leadership is that leadership is not about position.  Just because you are called the CEO, President, Chief, Head Honcho, Chancellor or Grand Puba of any given organization, that doesn’t mean you are the leader.  So, what does it mean to have a position of leadership?
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It’s become a great tradition for my family. Each Memorial Day weekend now for 27 years running we have had a Saturday Golf Tournament and a Sunday BBQ Rib feast. My golf skills, which I tried consciously to develop many years ago, are now frozen in time making the family tournament the only time I play now.

But, I wouldn’t miss it. I still enjoy it. And, I’ve heard it said somewhere everything you need to know about life, you can learn on the golf course. Not sure that’s true, but here’s some observations:
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Leadership is, by definition: knowing where you’re going and having the ability to get others to go with you. Both of these ideas assume you are GOING somewhere. And, in order to be going somewhere. . . anywhere, your mind has to have a future bias.

And, how do you get that?
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As leaders, the blog is a way to get you in on the conversations that I’m having with staff and other leaders as we grapple with issues of direction and focus. The latest on the priority list is a response to a mistake I made since our launch on 10/10/10:
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Act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God. (taken from Micah 6:8)

In dealing with “messy” people at One Life, we will be people of MERCY first. “Judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment”. – James 2:13

Just this week I’ve had two great conversations with people in our church who messed up and took very hard falls. From the moment I saw these people in all in all their brokenness, shame and regret, all I could think of was how much I LOVE mercy. When it is needed and desired and you can be the agent of it. . . few things are sweeter. So, at One Life we are going to think “mercy first” when it comes to dealing with “messy” people.

Why?
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