Things I Don’t Want to Regret

Today, I caught bits and pieces of the free online leadership event from Leadership Network called, Sage. The event involved a number of brief videos from seasoned leaders, each dealing with the question of what they’d do differently if given a do-over. I tweeted some of my favorite quotes.

Since I only caught bits and pieces, these reflections are preliminary, but there were still some areas that particularly challenged me.

Michael Duduit talked about preaching. He said …

Clear is better than clever.

This certainly agrees with the one-point preaching approach.

Duduit also said …

Effective messages send people out not praising the speaker but the Savior.

I appreciate Walt Kallestad. We had the opportunity to hear him teach as part of our Asbury program a few years ago. Walt made several important memorable statements, including …

Keep it simple, like teaching people to love the Lord with all your heart, and that relationships are central to building community.

Walt hit on the importance of prayer and said now …

I pray more and work less.

One of the major themes was caring for yourself and your soul, including spending time with God. Joel Hunter challenged listeners to get into God’s Word. He said …

Read the word of God every day. I can‘t believe I get to learn and help others understand it.

But from what I could tell, by far the most common theme from these seasoned leaders, which many learned the hard way, was FAMILY.

I didn’t write down a lot of the statements, but a couple include Joel Hunter’s comment …

Enjoy your family.

I was more impacted by Hunter’s heart and authenticity than the actual words. (By the way, Hunter is one of the members of President Obama’s so-called “spiritual cabinet.”)

Gene Getz also highlighted the importance of family. Speaking of his regrets, he said …

You can’t make up for what you didn’t do!

I will need go back and watch the videos again, especially the ones I missed when they are posted on Leadership Network.

Finally, I really enjoyed Chip Ingram’s presentation, which unfortunately was cut short due to technical difficulties. But before the lights went out for several minutes, I loved what Ingram, who talked about lifelong learning, said …

God’s number one agenda is to work in you before he works through you.

Interestingly, I think this will shape my message this Sunday. I’ve been in a series on “Life in the Wilderness” (i.e., those times that are unplanned and unexpected and difficult!). This week, I’m talking about preparation and after today, may do so in the context of forgetting the past and preparing for the rest of our lives. What do we want to do differently? What do we need to do to make the most of the rest of our lives?

6 thoughts on “Things I Don’t Want to Regret”

  1. Thanks, Dave.

    Love the online events series by Leadership Network and I look forward to the videos being posted online … as well as the next event, The Nines, on September 9, 2010.

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  2. Interesting points. “God’s number one agenda is to work in you before he works through you.”

    I would add that God can work through you even if you are not a Christian. God can work through you even if you are not willing. God can work through you even if you are not finished yet.

    Yes, God wants to work in us to transform us, but sometimes He just works in interesting ways. The Bible is full of examples when God works through ungodly people, so I would say it’s not a complete sentence.

    And God sometimes works in you while He works through you. He is God and He is not looking for perfect people, He’s able to work through imperfect people who are willing. Sometimes even if they are not willing. Because God is God and He is Able and He can.

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  3. Sure.

    Interestingly enough, the statement in Chip Ingram’s notes was a little different: “God wants to work in you before he works through you” (if I remember correctly).

    So I think that God definitely *wants* to work in us so that his working through will be more effective.

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