A great day

You know how you have one of those conversations that gives you a lot of insight into your own life through the story of another...well whether or not you do i had one of those days today.

It started with a conversation at 6:15 am at Starbucks. I met with Bill Blair. He is a man in our church that i have wanted to sit and talk with about life for a while. He is the CEO of the Kern County Fair, one of the top 50 Fairs in the country. He manages a 5 million dollar budget and rides a Harley.

Bill shared with me his story of going from learning how to put up the tents fairs use in Oregon to running and managing one of the largest California Fairs. It was a great personal & leadership learning conversation. He has served at 5 different fairs on the west coast until he got this current job. From going through the phase in life of not knowing what he wanted to do, to now managing more many than most people will see their entire life. A quote from part of the conversation, "I always thought i could do what i do, but i just need the chance to see if i could really do it."

A few other insights i learned were as follows:
- never burn your bridges.
- communication is a key in any personal managing job
- Changing people does not always happen, but changing culture can. They both take time

As a youth pastor i sat there and listened to a man who taught me a lot about my role. As a youth pastor i spend more time developing other leaders to pour into students than i spend just impacting students. My effectiveness as a youth pastor is not defined just by the students i reach or mentor, but by the leaders i build up to go reach and mentor students. I was reminded that if you think you can do something go try.

I wonder how many of my students that walk into my home, sit in my office or share their life with me are really being poured into. This one conversation has really helped me think through some of our new communication to our new leaders & veteran leaders that we have around.

A great point the Bill made was about changing culture. Sometimes our church (my personal one and the church as a whole) culture stinks of inclusiveness and christian religiosity. I look at that & wonder how long before it is changed so we think on a broader level than what we are now. I also look at my own life and wonder what "culture or ethos" is given off to my neighbors or those i talk to at my local Starbucks?

I can't wait for our next conversation...