Global Leadership Summit - Day 2

Last night while my husband and I were talking over who would watch Sully today, he turned to me and said that he was going to stay home with Sully.  He looked me in the eye and said that he can see my calling taking shape, and he felt like I needed to be at the Summit more than he did.  I almost melted, I am backed by such an amazing man, he is my biggest fan.  Blood of my blood and bone of my bone, I love you!

That being said, I woke up energized and excited to hear more!  I dropped off Jax at school and arrived with enough time to push a muffin down my throat.  Bill Hybels kicked us off again and said we were about to hear three stories of three leaders...


First Story was told by Wess Stafford about a Pastor in Ethiopia (current day).  He was beaten, stoned and thrown in jail during the 17 year communist reign.  After escaping death by electrocution, TWICE (both times the breaker blew when they pulled the switch - ya think God was involved in this?), he ran into Stafford on the road.  Stafford told him that many Americans knew of their hardships as Christians and that they were all praying for them.  The Pastor looked at Stafford and said that he has been praying for Americans too.  Stafford asked why he felt compelled to pray for us when they were living in a time of such unrest?  The Pastor said that we have more Bibles than we know what to do with, and we do not even make the time read them.  The Ethiopian Christian Church had ONE Bible and they tore it up and distributed it among them so collectively they would have it memorized (they were not allowed to own, have or carry a Bible).  He also said that we had big churches that we were free to worship in, but we seemed to have better things to do.  They were not allowed to meet at all, let alone in a church, so they met in the cover of darkness.  High in the mountains in the middle of the darkest nights of the month.  It now starts to make sense... we do need prayer!  After the communist reign was over, on their first Sunday back in the church building, the church walls could not contain the number of people that came to worship Jesus Christ.  In the 17 year communist reign, the Ethiopian Christian Church grew five times in size!!!  He ended with the question; Are we worthy to stand among Christians like this? (I am not)

Second leader was Maggie Gobran, aka. Mama Maggie.  Mama Maggie runs Stephen's Children, a ministry for the poor in Cairo, Egypt.  Mama Maggie challenged us to recognise the call on our lives, then do what ever you need to do to follow the call, and have a pure heart in order to get closer to God the Almighty.  Mama Maggie spoke to me about silence, that it is the key to growth, the first step, a taste of eternity... then she gave us the secrets to silence:

"Silence your body to listen to your words.

Silence your tongue to listen to your thoughts.

Silence your thoughts to hear your heart.

Silence your heart to hear your spirit.

Silence your spirit to listen to HIS spirit."

Then she closed with: "In silence you leave many to be with THE ONE."  This was the most impactful speaker of the day!!  Please look her up, add her to your prayer lists, and watch God move in what she does, it will change you.

The third leader was Jeremiah from the Bible, Bill Hybels recounted his life to us.  Hybels spoke about how Jeremiah was called to preach the message of God, but that it was never successful.  He got angry about it, fought with God over it.  But at the end of the day he did what he was called to do and said he would have done it all over again if he was asked.  Answering a call that will make you successful is easy, answering the tough call that will never lead to success or notoriety is what hard.  Working your butt off day-in and day-out simply because God asks you to, when you know you will never gain worldly success.  Hybels spoke to my heart when he said that in times like this, these are the kind of leaders God is looking for.  "We need to get over the narcotic addiction we all have to success", and follow our call.

And this was just the morning session (whew!), I will let all the lions process this, take it in and spend time with God if you feel moved by anything in particular.  And I will write on one more speaker tomorrow, regarding humility.

I am always told that I am to hard on myself, but I feel like a lot is expected of me, and I take that seriously.  I want to be useful in God's kingdom, go where I am called and reach as far as can. There is nothing standing in my way if my desires are God given.  Love to all the Lions!!!! ROARRRR!!!!