Gleanings from the Global Leadership Summit Day 2+

Now what? So what?

Any conference I've attended, no matter how profoundly impactful it feels at the time, tends to acquiesce to patterns that existed beforehand. In other words, when walking away from powerful speakers who challenged my pre-existing notions and invited me to walk a new path, application remains elusive. What does one do in the afterglow to stoke new fires for genuine change?

Grand Avenue for the Main Street of Life

Day 2 of the summit built on the themes of the previous day. There were big ideas shared by some influential leaders. Bill Hybels touched on the idea of a grand vision as major driver for individuals to excel:

There is a grander vision on planet earth with your name on it. When you find it…you’ll say I was born to do this. You’ll feel the hand of God integrated into your daily activities, and say you were born to do it. - Bill Hybels

Bill referenced the Bible again for this theme:

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10, ESV)

As a Christian, this verse does speak profoundly to my own personal concept of a grand vision. Below is a diagram I have created to annotate a few observations about that text, particularly highlighting the Greek word ποίημα poíēma rendered as "workmanship/creation/masterpiece" in its common English glosses in various Bible translations:

Thus, the idea of being God's masterpiece/workmanship/creation is absolutely tied to the grace imparted to the believer via faith in Christ. The result is "good works", which is the Bible's short-hand for doing those things that directly glorify God. Bringing the grand vision to everyday life is fundamentally built on the outcome resulting from salvation in Christ. Sin becomes increasingly a past-tense blight, and righteousness and hope more frequently mark the milestones of the person walking by faith and not by sight.

Power Paradox as a Foil to Self-Serving Leadership Philosophy

Ivan Satyavrata spoke of the paradox of power that exists in effective leadership, particularly when founded on Christ. It is one where, as he defined it, "a leader must be able to wield power, real power, in order to lead effectively" whilst simultaneously (herein lies the paradox) that same leader must "be genuinely vulnerable, subservient and seemingly powerless". 

God's grace is the only means by which real strength is wielded in leadership

In contrast to various worldviews that reject biblical Christianity as the overarching meta-narrative of our existence, the paradoxical principle of grace is the grandest of visions. In a song wrongly attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, the counterpoint of Christian paradox is beautifully expressed:

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace;

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is discord, harmony;

Where there is error, truth;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek

To be consoled as to console;

To be understood as to understand;

To be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Final Take-away
I offer no apology for my Christian faith, which is rooted in the revelation of God in the Bible. The Global Leadership Summit was a useful reminder of what is most important to me: bringing glory to God in my life as a response to all that Christ has done for me. I embrace the paradox of strength in weakness. As the coming weeks and months unfold, I will ponder the implications of grace applied and use my blog as a way to explore specific applications.

Perhaps God has answered my prayer on trying to finish my Personal Syllabus series that I began at the start of summer. It has been difficult in reflecting on a personal growth strategy, but perhaps I should work on developing those areas which underscore my dependence on God's grace in every aspect of my life. With the fall season approaching, what better time to final hit the books and study:

“Make every effort to present yourself approved to God, a worker having no need to be ashamed, guiding the word of truth along a straight path.” (2 Timothy 2:15, LEB)

Bible Bridges: Part 17 "Upon further reflection..."

In the previous installment of Bible Bridges I cautioned that a verse-by-verse approach (particularly sermons) may unwittingly miss the larger context and lead to an improper focus on a micro-sized portion of Scripture. By following the flow of thought of the author and studying the natural discourse units of Scripture, we have a better chance of being faithful to the biblical text. I cannot overemphasize the importance of such a goal. Fidelity to the Holy Writ is an essential mark of a disciple of Christ.

Nevertheless, there is also a need to ponder the implications of certain words and phrases within the larger unit. Often the biblical authors would tightly pack important words one on top of another. This should alert us to pay attention not only to the larger discourse, but also to the nuanced phrases and words that pack significant theological themes.

It would seem in our modern writing style that we are used to reading and writing shorter sentences. Moreover, today's writing is generally far less complex than ancient writing. Even literature from as recently as the early 20th century hallmarked more elaborate phrases (e.g. independent and subordinate clauses, such as often punctuates my own writing).

Likewise, the vocabulary of our ancestors appear to be far more developed than is ours. I suppose in our hurry to speed through the information bombarding us, fewer people have the patience to wade through the deeper waters of inspired writings—particularly the divinely inspired Word of God. In embarking on this series, my hope has been to influence Christians in many stages in their journey to invest more of their time effectively searching the biblical treasure chest, the rewards from which are eternal. It should be a clear call to think more and more of the things above (Colossians 3:2).

In returning to 1 Peter 1, let us pick up at verse 17. I have copied the text from the Lexham English Bible below. Again, using Logos Bible Software's visual filtering, verbs are underlined and shaded based on voice (active or passive). The words in boxes are nouns in the accusative case. That filter helps me see the nouns typically acting as a direct object of a transitive verb. These two grammatical forms help pinpoint where the action is, and shows even further how verb priority can play out in stimulating study (see part 15 of this Bible Bridges series).

Now the discourse begins even before verse 17. Yet one can see there is so much being said here. Just look at all the theologically significant words: redeemed, blood of Christ, foreknown, revealed, last times, raise him from the dead, faith, hope, God, souls, truth, love, born again, living and enduring word of God, flesh, forever, word...proclaimed. Every one of these have profound significance.

This is where the practice of using cross referencing can be enlightening. Using a standard concordance, one can look up many of these words and see how they are used in other contexts. For instance, hope is a significant biblical theme. Using Logos, searching Scripture is a snap! The Greek word ἐλπίς elpis rendered as hope occurs 53 times in the New Testament.

Logos does a nice job of graphing the results. By displaying the number of hits per book, one can see the word is prominent in Paul's writings and the other epistles. However, it is not found in the Gospels:

What is cool is that in dwelling on a single, prominent word we are then drawn into seeing key biblical themes and how they weave together a tapestry of God's redemptive plan. Thus, upon further reflection, I contend it is a vital task to examine closely key words and phrases. For as we discern their use in their respective contexts, we can more accurately picture the overall destination that the Bible provides us. This blessed hope should compel us to know more about that heavenly calling, and lead us to live today as if that reality were here and now. I cannot help but see that vital truth in the word hope, for it grabs my heart and raises my daily life from self-obsession, selfish ambition, and the sin that so easily entangles:

“Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, putting aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us, let us run with patient endurance the race that has been set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the originator and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1–2, LEB)

Think long on this. Even though the word hope isn't used in this passage, it permeates throughout (and in its place is the word joy, itself a wonderful theological word). Earnestly pray to God for a greater understanding. Seek the Lord's strength to apply this practically in your life. Invest more and more of your time on this, for eternity is not so far off!