Pete Bishop

Leading A Horse To Water.

I am lucky. I get to serve alongside amazing people. My job is to help them get their "job" done.( which is another post) Someone last week asked me how I get that done. I told them " I don't", ..."seriously, they said how do you manage all those people?" I responded by saying " I can't".  I can't manage the people, I can't motivate them, (I can inspire them) I can only teach them to manage and motivate themselves.  How do you do that? With agreements and expectations. You can't manage behavior, in the end people are going to do what they want to do, you may influence them to do what you want them to but in the end the choice is really theirs. So instead of trying to manage people... help them by:

• setting up common agreements and expectations (what you expect of them, what they can expect from you)
• put the agreements down in a way they understand, (making sure you both understand :)) and have them make a commitment to them in some way.
• give them the resources they need to live that out.
• manage those agreements and expectations.

(the biggest mistakes I have made with people have been when I tried to manage them and not what we agreed on, never works)

The Commision or Omission of Information

My blog has been dead for a while. Mainly because I was tired of listening to myself wax poetic and I felt like I was just adding noise to peoples lives. The information I had people could draw from a myriad of places. In the last few weeks something has been dawning on me. I have realized that there are certain people that I specifically look to for influence, inspiration and information. And on the same hand I have realized that God has put people in my life that look to me for that same influence, inspiration and information. Regardless of where else it exists I search out certain people for validation or whatever reason, and there appears to be people who do the same with me.  So I'm going to start blogging again, but from an entirely different perspective.

So the question becomes.. who do you look to? And who looks at you?

White Board

So the White Board Sessions were cool. There were a couple things I'd change (there always is) but I think they hit it out of the park, in terms of speakers and content. I pretty much got a whoopin by God. In a good way but I got to get some things in terms of priority straightened around in my life.  Got to meet and put hands to hands with a lot of people. Ben Arment ( the man behind the curtain)  was very cool, (what a great heart and humbleness he has!). Got to meet the Ragamuffin Soul, Carlos and got to have a very cool time talking life and church at lunch with Transition Pete, and about 50 other bloggers. And it was at Uno's, my fave! It was a really great experience.

Session 3_ Tim Stevens

• When people are in Crisis they don't think of Church for answer's.
• Two Realities

1. Most churches are not making an impact
2. Spiritual interest is growing in our Culture.

• Church isn't neutral it is the problem. Churches are getting in the way of the Gospel.
• We are hypocritical, to focused on getting converts, homophobic, shelterd, too political, judgmental
• Churched.Un-churched-De-Churched.
• We are only reaching the churched, not the Un-churched or De-churched.
• Spiritual interest is growing in our Culture.
• How do you get the answeres if you don't ask the questions?
• Christ became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood
• Christ met everyone one of us where we are.
• Where would Jesus be if he came today? (bars, movies?, surfing the internet)
• How can we mix ourselves with the world? and not pollute the Gospel? (Acts 17) vs 15
• Paul quoted the John Lennon of his day ( as some of your own poets...).. do we do that?
• The philosophers of our day are the musicians and poets, and movie makers.
• We have to figure out how to Leverage our Culture or risk losing your impact.
• People are on a journey but they don't connect that Journey to Jesus.

White Board Session One_ Mark Batterson

• The farther away from home the more of an expert you are.
• We are all a work in Progress.
• The favor of God is the ability to do something you can't do yourself.
• God's thoughts are not ours.
• Your best thought on your best day is about 13 billion lights years away from what God is thinking at any time?
• The moment we have God figured out... its over.
• Our best theories will be amended. do you have God all figured out?
• We should all just get on our knees.
• we underestimate God by 13.2 billion llight years.
• Your dreams are to small.
• when was the last time you confessed your dreams.
• we live in a way and act like God isn't a part of our lives.
• the office is where I go to get nothing done.
• Find a watchtower. get with God, seek him.
• danger: Over the course of time their is a cognitive shift. right to left.and.
• we stop dreaming.
• memory will overtake imagination.
• We fight over meaningless instead of following our dreams.
• One God Idea. Not 1000 people ideas.
• Confess your dreams to God.
• God wants to tell his story through us.
• The Great Dream. The Great Commission. Jesus.
• God is able to 13.2 billion light years more than you can.

On the Road Again

On the way to WIBO. Eventful day.

• 8.5 hours in a van, watched Sweeny Todd ( great movie, but creepy)
• Found a new water named Fred
• Saw this guy walking with this guy and got to shake the first guys hand and say hi.
• Saw this guy.
• Met a new friend named Flip at a gas station in Pennsylvania. Never knew anyone named flip.
• Had Starbucks
• Hung out in Downtown Reston
• Got to eat at Caraba's
• Stood in a fountain and it went off :)
• Lots of talking and laughing
• Watched a lady hang off the side of a building and hang up a sign for the new Indiana Jones Movie
• Found a staff drinking fountain. One for Scott, Shari and Milan
• Found a Restroom sign for men and women and people who are confused.

I Could not see the forest for the trees

Ok so last night I was watching "The War" on PBS. Its a Ken Burns documentary. Being out of it or asleep through most of high school I was aware of the more major battles but unaware of one in particular. The Huertgen Forest. It was a pretty brutal, bloody campaign. Thousands of men lost their lives. There was one point in the documentary that really stood out to me. And I'll preface this by saying in no way is this a judgment of Dwight Eisenhower or any other leader at that time or of the way the army operates or anything......This is a personal realization on my part. So it was Thanksgiving 1944 and morale among the American soldiers  in Europe was low. So Eisenhower ordered a real Turkey dinner be given to every soldier. Seems like a good thought.. nice gesture..would be helpful to the men..... At Huertgen a man by the name of, Paul Boesch pleaded with his battalion commander to postpone the meal, fearing that if all the men were in one place it would give the Germans an easy target. Division headquarters insisted  the meal go on. An order is an order and it will  be good for the men.....Unfortunately Mr Boesch was right once the Germans figured out the Americans were clumped together eating, a huge number of American Men were slaughtered by artillery shells that rained down on them. So what is the point? It makes me wonder how many times  I have been in  a leadership position where I have made a decisions that I thought was a benefit to the people I am serving but in reality it was only to make me feel good because I thought I was doing something good for them...... and it makes me continue to search out ways to give power to the people in the trenches to make decisions based on what we value as a community and is in the best interest of who they are serving in that moment VS following a preset construction of  cerebral rules and...... I know rules are important. But sometimes I think  a commitment to value and the passionate pursuit of living that value out is more important. Time to ponder.

Words may show a man's wit, but actions his meaning”

I'm not one to just copy other blog posts...but.....Dave Furgeson has a killer interview with Rich Devos today....

This question will cause me to think today about the words I use.

You are writing a new book titled Powerful Phrases of Positive People what are some of those phrases?
Here are some of those powerful phrases:

• I’m wrong,
• I’m sorry.
• I trust you.
• I’m proud of you.
• I luv ya!

Listen

This post. (which is hilarious) reminded of a leadership lesson a good friend of mine brought back into my view last week. And that it the single greatest skill a person in a position of  leadership has to acquire is to shut up and listen. Don't interrupt...don't fix everything before the person is done talking...don't assume...Just listen. Hear people first. Its more important to hear people than it is to be heard.I have to constantly remind myself on that one.

Get back up one more time

When I was a kid I wanted to play Hockey. So I talked my mom into signing me up at a young age. First day we went to the rink I forgot one important detail. I couldn't skate. One Step. BAM!! Kissed the ice with my not so better side. I looked at mom in disbelief. She told me to "fail forward" so as  not break my butt or my spirit and to make the mistake of never giving up. She said if you always get back up one more time than some day whatever that thing is won't make you fall again.

So mistakes...the person who is afraid to risk failing or falling never has to face success. A good mistake is when you are doing what should be done but you don't get the results you want. A bad mistake is when you are not doing something you should be. Kind of like sins of omission or commission. I love it when people are doing. Now I'm not talking foolishness or running head on into stupidity. ....The greatest mistake ever is not acting. The second greatest one is blaming inactivity on something some one else has done or your circumstances. Most of the teams that I have been on that have been winning teams are the ones that made the most mistakes. You can make a million mistakes and not be a failure if your giving it your full effort evaluating,learning and putting that learning into practice... And getting up one more time. Your going to make mistakes today. Make the right ones.