Limited Scope. Unlimited Resources

I talked to Dakota Pippin about life as an InterVarsity director and about life as a father.
There were two highlights for me among the treasure of knowledge and wisdom he gave me.  He advised me to know the weight of my words as a leader and be prepared to face challenges in leadership style as you encounter people different than you.  He also told me to make sure that communication between me and my wife transitions and matures as life does.
It was great advice and he gave me a new confidence in the leadership shifts in my life as an InterVarsity staff.  Additionally I felt that I could be myself.  While a change in position requires a change in skill set and thinking, it does not mean a change in personality.  In fact, your character and attitude is probably a big factor in your leadership position and transitions.
The greatest gift that Dakota gave me was a wake up call.  Speaking to him made me realize that had misused a network that was always available to me.  There are fathers, mothers, directors, teachers, mentors, learners, brothers, sisters, wives and husbands who have gone before me and some who are in similar stages in life as me.  This InterVarsity network is a gift to every staff worker.  There is a unique creativity I possess that God will use but there is a collective creativity and wisdom from others that would be borderline neglectful if it wasn't used in humility.
As a maturing InterVarsity staff I am encouraged to know that there is a cloud of witnesses who have battled and bled and kept going and who have creativity, knowledge and a way of delivering it that is a gift to my limited knowledge and scope.  I am excited to be called further into this network.  My hope is that I might be able to share in the collective wisdom and follow Jesus in a way that reflects inspirational leaders like Dakota.  Thanks, Dakota.  Your encouragement will go further than you know.

BCMSC13 Response::Great Writing and Black Thought

In his book Great Leadership, Antony Bell stresses the fact that great leaders are great writers. Whether this is an absolut fact is of no concern but what makes this statement of significant importance is the fact that every leader I've admired has been a great writer.  This considered, I use the term "great writer" to refer to the act of using the tool of writing in a great way.  For instance, as a group of staff engaged in a discussion with someone who has served as a prophet and teacher for the BCM movement, in rushes a staff with a paper and pen who quickly sits down and begins taking notes.  That is great writing.  Great writing is writing down moments, ideas, stories, memorable quotes, reminders, and notes that will lead to transformation.  Novelists, poets, article writers and the like are artistically and technically great writers and there are a certain few who fit in this group.  But "great writing"?  Anyone can do this.  All of us can write moments.
While on a mission trip in the Dominican Republic, where we played basketball with locals and presented the gospel, the team I played on was invited to play against a university team.  The game was intense and went to the last seconds.  Amazingly we won.  After all the celebration was over I ran to my journal and wrote a 3 line description of what had just transpired.  As I finished, I wiped some sweat from my forehead and smeared a few of the the words I had just wrote with it.  This was not a ploy to be weird or off putting, it was rather a way to put the moment on paper.  Now, every time I look at that journal entry I remember the excitement and energy of the moment and it reminds me of the personal transformation that resulted in that trip.  
After BCMSC13 I am excited to contribute to the black thinking of BCM.  I want to cultivate and develop black thought and ideas through great writing.  There are many ideas that are brewing in my mind and I am excited to write.  This blog will serve as a logging of thoughts, ideas, concepts and learning experiences from my perspective as a black staff as I journey to establish a strong InterVarsity presence in Pinellas County of Florida.