For those waiting for permission to start that ______ that you are passionate about, then quit waiting and go for it!

The world desparately needs your innovation, passion, gifts and skills.

The church needs  your heart, sweat, and tears.

Your community needs your ministry, church or non-profit.

You need to go for it. Not tomorrow. Today!

When we start out on a new adventure, most of the time our expectations are operating at their highest capacities.

If it’s a business, we expect to be making huge profits the first year.

If it’s a church, we expect to go to 3 services in the first 12 months.

If it’s a non-profit, we expect to be surpassing the planned budget of donations with in months.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to see great results. But what do you do if the results don’t hit your expectations?

Last spring, I planted four blackberry bushes in my back yard. I love blackberries and though that $32 on bushes would payoff in the long run as blackberries are expensive. As the spring turned to summer, the bushes were growing larger every week. The problem was, there was no fruit on the vines. The vines would get longer and greener, but still no fruit.

I had fully expected to be picking gallons of berries come July. I was sorely disappointed. It was then that I read the little label that came with the plants. It read, “Does not produce fruit first year. Fruit comes in year two and after.”

I was frustrated, but there was nothing left to do except to wait for next summer. What a difference a year makes. This year we picked tons of berries!

So, whatever you are pouring into. If it doesn’t produce the results you are looking for in the first year, don’t give up. Maybe the fruit only comes in the second year and after.

I love Backstage Leadership. If you’ve read any post here, you know that. I love the impact we’re making and our new 10 year vision is blowing my mind. But, I thought it would be good for you to hear what others are saying about it. These are leaders like yourself that have been through Backstage. Why don’t you join us for the fall? Apply Here.

Backstage Leadership offers a unique opportunity to interact with top-notch leaders and glean from their wisdom and experience. Through question-and-answer sessions as well as peer coaching, my own leadership has grown tremendously through my participation in Backstage.

As a leader, I am always looking for ways to improve.  I read all of leadership books, but those are “big picture” type of ideas, which are great – but the openness of the participants in Backstage was amazing, and I was able to use the very specific day to day best practices that many of them talked about.

Backstage Leadership definitely has been profitable and beneficial for me. The more I grow as a leader, the more I can help the leaders under me to grow. As I lead a large multi-cultural staff team, I know that Backstage’s input into my life and leadership will have far-reaching effects for a long time to come.

For me I came into Backstage Leadership as a workaholic.  I have put boundaries in place because of Backstage.  I went from being home 2 times a week to being out 2 times a week.  I have delegated a tremendous amount.

Backstage leadership is just not about consumer leadership but it’s about walking through life with other men and woman.  It’s about passing on life experiences and in turn its putting leadership into practice while you are learning.  Tremendous program.  Hugely recommend it to anyone.

I would say looking back to a year ago I am a completely different leader.  Through Backstage Leadership I learned that the men and woman that I look up don’t have it all together either.  I can afford to be transparent and real, in fact the people that I lead need to see that rather than a false perception of perfect.

I just had a crazy phone call with a friend that I haven’t talked to in over a decade. It was so good to catch up and to see what’s changed since 1999! It got me thinking about a few random things that I thought I’d share.

1. Don’t under estimate the value of real friendships. The older I get the more I realize that true friendships are to be valued as they don’t happen over night or come very easy.
2. It’s about the journey. Try catching someone up on the last 10 years of your life and you realize that you’ve come a long way, you have much longer to go and that the journey really does matter.
3. Whatever you do, make sure it’s about impacting people. My friend said this phrase that I really like and have officially stolen and added to my repertoire. As he was commenting on where God has me now and where I’m headed, he through out a bunch of ideas and thoughts. He said, “I’m not sure if that all makes sense, but I just hope it muddies the water. I want to make you think and reflect.” I like that.

Have you muddied the water for anyone lately? Anyone done that for you?

I am very excited to have Scott be one of our featured speakers this year for Backstage Leadership. Scott’s work is helping thousands of creatives around the world. You will not want to miss the opportunity to learn with Scott. To get backstage with Scott and other great leaders this year, sign up today.

For many of us, life is broken up into seasons. There are school seasons, work seasons, single seasons, fun seasons, and bad seasons. There are seasons of good health and bad. There are seasons of diapers and proms.

The thing about seasons is that they come and go. Everyone in Atlanta remembers the first Braves worst to first season. Those in Miami remember the Dolphins perfect season. Seasons never stay around for ever.

For me, I’ve been in an overwhelmed, heavy stress season of late. I have so much going on in every area of my life that a few days ago I realized how tired I am–emotionally, physically, and spiritually.  The sermon this past week was a perfect timed word from the Lord. Guest speaker, Pete Wilson, talked about the story of Joseph. Joseph’s story is filled with ups and downs, goods and bads. His life is a perfect illustration of a the various seasons we go through. He’s the favorite son, then he’s robbed and sold into slavery. He’s promoted and then framed for rape. He’s jailed then put in charge. He serves others then they forget him. His seasons were frequent and were unpredictable.

The constant theme that runs through the Genesis story of Joseph, even through the seemingly bad seasons, is that the Lord is with Joseph. When he was in the bottom of the well, in slavery or in prison, God was with him.

Last night I was at a worship service where good friend and mentor, Clayton King was speaking. Through the night, I admitted to God how tired I was and that this season of life has taken it’s toll on me.  Then we sang the words of this song…

All of my life, in every season, you are still God, I have a reason to sing. I have a reason to worship.

My prayer is that I remember that God’s character determines my fate, not my circumstances. God was with Joseph in the dungeon. He is with me during this season. And he is with you too.