Leadership

Zach does a really good job in this chapter of presenting leadership in a way that everyone can participate in. A lot of times when we think of leaders, we think you have to be talkative and enjoy being up front and the center of attention, but really you can lead no matter what your personality it. It's just how you lead that might be different. Check out the Helen Keller quote at the beginning of the chapter...it's pretty cool!

One way to learn how to be a good leader is to look at people you like to follow. Think about someone you admire as a good leader. What makes them such a good leader? How can you reflect their leadership in your life?

Don't forget to read & answer Zach's questions at the end of the chapter. He's got some great ones!

World Expansion Experience...

Thanks to everyone who joined us this weekend...I really enjoyed getting to spend time with all of you & getting to know you better. The stuff we were talking about really matters a lot to me...I hope that you were able to learn and grow and maybe even think a little differently as a result. Even though I've learned a lot about poverty and how people live in different countries, I'm always reminded about how much I still have to learn. Things like I never realized until we were looking at the map today about how many people live in Nigeria. Or about what it must be like for someone who is homeless...even though I've had that "experience" before, every time it makes me think what it must be like for someone that it's not an "experience" for, but actually their life. Wow. And I'm also always challenged to think about how I'm going to live my life differently as a result of what I know. Even though we all appreciated my many sweatshirts/hoodies last night, it made me realize I have way more than I need and that there's other people that could use them more than me. (more than me...hey...that's our slogan : ) And I know I want to continue to look for opportunities to serve others...here where I live and also in other countries.

So what did you learn? What made you think differently? How will it affect how you live? Take a couple minutes and share a comment here. I'll post a new chapter to blog about soon...

Courage

"By liberating yourself from fear, you open the door of your mind, allwing the room once occupied by fear to be filled with creativity and passion. And when creativity and passion come in and clean things out, you are able to care about more than yourself and your own fears. And that is a good thing."

I love this thought. I used to be extremely afraid of heights. Totally freaked out. One day I got to thinking "why am I afraid of heights...this is dumb!" So I forced myself to face my fears...at first just a little and then more and more. Now I have a healthy respect of heights (I don't attempt to do stupid things), and I'm able to really enjoy things that would have freaked me out before, like rock climbing. Or help others when they're scared of heights.

Who do you think is courageous? If you know them, ask them how they faced their fears and tell us about it.

You don't need to answer this question here, but what is something you are afraid of? What do you think are the steps you need to take to face that fear?