Leadership | WithoutWax.tv by Pete Wilson
Archive - Leadership RSS Feed

Best Advice A Mentor Has Ever Given Me

July 11, 2011 in Family, Leadership with 31 Comments

Right after our second child was born a mentor of mine gave me some incredible advice. He said, “Pete, no matter what you think about how best to express love your small children will always spell it T-I-M-E.  I’ve found that advice to be spot on. Like most of you I go through seasons where my kids kind of get my leftovers. I can begin to see it in how they act out in an attempt to get my attention.

Regardless of where we go on vacation or what we do on vacation I make my primary goal to spend as much quality time with them as I possibly can. I posted the pic above on twitter last night right before I taught them how to eat their new favorite meal: Crab Legs. 2 out of 3 of them are sporting their favorite new discovery. Flat bill hats. :)

What’s the best advice a mentor has given you?

Come Camp Out With Me

July 1, 2011 in Leadership, Preaching with 1 Comment

I’m so thrilled to have the opportunity in August to speak alongside Rick Warren for the first annual RADICALIS event specially geared toward reaching young adults and college students. It’s going to be an unforgettable experience at an unbeatable price so mark your calendars now for this can’t miss weekend. The early bird price of $25 actually ended yesterday but as a special gift to WithoutWax readers only, you can still register at the early bird price for one more week now through July 7th.  So I encourage you to share this info with your church’s young adult and/or college ministry as well as every young adult you know who desires to make a difference and have an impact for Christ in their life and ministry. LET’S MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

Radicalls 2011 Church Intro from Crave on Vimeo.

::RADICALIS:: An Annual Gathering of College Students and Young Adults

::WHY:: Join us as local college ministries from churches all over Southern California unite for a unique three-day outdoor festival experience.  Camp at our beautiful Rancho Capistrano campus and experience the heart of God through the arts, music, workshops, serving, and prayer experiences.  As one body, our desire for this weekend is to see a generation of hearts be mobilized by God’s power to do something about the millions in our country and around the world that suffer because of spiritual emptiness, extreme poverty, pandemic diseases, corrupt leaders and a lack of education.

::WHO:: Join Pastor Rick Warren, Pastor Pete Wilson, worship artists Phil Wickham and Josh Fox as our generation rises up to take their place and respond to God’s call to love those whom the world has forgotten.
::DATE & LOCATION:: August 11-13th (Thursday Night to Saturday at Noon)
Saddleback Church Rancho Capistrano Campus—29251 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675
::ACCOMMODATIONS:: Tent camping is the primary means of housing for this event.  Each church will be assigned a group of camp sites on arrival. RV parking will also be available (dry sites only).  Showers and bathrooms will be provided on-site.

::FOOD:: Venders will be on site to provide options for snacks and meals.  Note that food and beverages are not covered in the cost of registration.

::TICKETS AND PRICING::
Early bird Price (July 1st) UNLESS YOU MENTION WITHOUTWAX.TV! $25 per person
Regular Price    (after July 1st)  $35 per person
At the Door (Can not confirm availability of camping sites at the door) $45 per person

::TO REGISTER::
Go to Radicalis.com, contact your college pastor about registering your group, call 949-609-8661 or email Stephanie Barker at Stephanieb@saddleback.com

If At First You Don’t Succeed Try, Try Again

June 30, 2011 in Leadership with 21 Comments

You’ve probably never heard of George Weiss. However, he served as a real source of inspiration for me today.

Mr. Weiss is an inventor. In fact, over the last 50 years his creativity has produced more than 80 inventions, many of which are piled up in the basement of the Brooklyn, NY, home in which he’s lived for the last 45 years.

According to MSNBC…

His inventions have won rave reviews from his friends and family, yet he was unable to get companies to invest in them. “Everywhere I’d go I’d get rejected,” he told TODAY.com. “They have form letters at all the companies. I just couldn’t get a foot in the door.”

But all that changed when a small company named Ideas Never Implemented agreed to invest in a word game Weiss came up with. Fittingly, its name is a synonym for “tinker”: “Dabble.”

Dabble is now sold in 50 stores nationwide. And recently it won the 2011 Game of the Year Award from Creative Child Magazine.

This article reminded me  to never give up. I think so many creatives give up because they don’t have quick success.

Keep dreaming.

Keep writing.

Keep creating.

Keep persisting.

Keep brainstorming.

Weiss had a little advice for other creatives with big dreams. “Don’t create a product just because you think it will make you rich. Work on something that’s meaningful to you,” Weiss advised. “If you do that, you’re more likely to find success.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Blocked vs Empty

June 16, 2011 in Leadership with 29 Comments

One of the most exhilarating and yet at the same time frightening challenges of my job is waking up every Monday morning to a blinking cursor on an empty page. If you write a blog or speak publicly on a regular basis you know the scenario I’m describing. It’s hard to communicate fresh, challenging material on a daily or weekly basis.

I don’t have the luxury of writing messages, books, or blog posts when I feel inspired or excited to write. I’m always on a deadline. And I don’t know if you’ve noticed this or not but Sunday comes around with amazing regularity.

That said, I’ve recently had a bit of a breakthrough of sorts. When in a creative communication slump I’ve often thought of it as a “block.”  If you camped outside my office long enough you would probably hear me yell in desperation, “I’ve got message block!!!”

But that’s not really true.

Anne Lamott  said, “The word block suggests that you are constipated or stuck, when the truth is that you’re empty.”

“Stuck” suggests that you need to try harder.

“Empty” prompts you to fill up.

Understanding my communication slump as the result of being empty gives me the permission to engage in the activities that fill me up.

Watch a movie.

Take a walk.

Play with the kids.

Call a friend.

Pray.

Read.

Nap.

Laugh.

And this is working a lot better than “trying harder.”

What do you do when you hit a slump?

What fills you up?

This is part of a blog carnival on different types of creative blocks. Below are the rest of the participating bloggers. (Some of my fave peeps) Click on their links if you want to gain some awesome insight into their creative process.

Bryan Allain- Creative Blocks In Blogging

Rachel Held Evans-Writers Block

Keith Jennings-Suffering Creative Block?

Matthew Paul Turner-A Letter To Christianity From Creativity

Mandy Steward-The Block Pays You A Visit

Stephen Brewster-Creative Block In Church Creativity

Sarah Cunningham-Dreaming Blocks

Jeff Goins-Why Creative Blocks Aren’t Always Bad

Kyle Reed-Creative Block For 20 Somethings

Carlos Whittaker-Creative Block In Music

The Love Of The Telling

June 10, 2011 in Leadership, Spiritual Growth with 39 Comments

C.S. Lewis nails the greatest fear I have for my ministry in the following quote.

Every poet and musician, but for Grace, is drawn away from love of the thing he tells, to love of the telling till, down in Deep Hell, they cannot be interested in God at all but only in what they say about Him. For it doesn’t stop… you know. They sink lower – become interested in their own personalities and then in nothing but their own reputations.

How scary is that? And it’s not that far fetched if you’re honest with yourself.

It’s very easy when you sing to fall in love with your music.

It’s very easy when you preach to fall in love with your presentation.

It’s very easy when you write to fall in love with your words.

Oh, how I pray I’ll never fall more in love with what I say about God than God himself.

Glimpse: Exploring Heaven, Hell & What Might Be Next

June 9, 2011 in Cross Point Church with 26 Comments

 

I can’t tell you how excited I am about our next series at Cross Point. Whatever you do don’t come alone!  You can CLICK HERE if you want to send someone an Evite. You can also join us HERE for our online campus if you’re out of town.

As I told you, in Week One we’ll be talking with Todd Burpo and his son, Colton. Todd wrote the widely talked about book Heaven Is For Real . The book has been number one on the New York Times Best Seller List for 20 weeks now! Here’s a quick preview of the interview.

Burpo Interview // Trailer from Cross Point Church on Vimeo.

Billy Graham on “If You Could Go Back?”

June 6, 2011 in Church Leadership, Leadership with 31 Comments

I’ve been blessed to be surrounded in life by people who have a lot more experience in marriage, ministry and just life in general.

One of the things I’ve learned to do is listen closely when older pastors are talking. They’ve been there and done it. Their life and ministry experience is so invaluable to me and their words will stay with me for a lifetime.

So, when I recently stumbled on an article entitled “Q & A With Billy Graham on Aging, Regrets, and Evangelicals” I was all ears. I was keenly interested in this particular question they asked Dr. Graham.

“If you could would you go back and do anything differently?”

He’s stinkin’ Billy Graham. What’s he going to say?

I would have run for President?

I would have started a mega church?

I would have squeezed one more large arena event in before getting sick?

Nope.

His answer,

“Yes, of course. I’d spent more time at home with my family and I’d study more and preach less.”

Really? Did you read that? Go back and read it one more time. Let that sink in. This is a man who quite possible has had the largest impact on the Kingdom we’ll ever witness.

We’ve talked about the principle of cheating HERE and HERE before. You’re going to cheat someone or something.

Choose to cheat.

I could be wrong, but I bet not a single one of you are going to near the end of your life wishing you would have preached more, written more, worked more, sold more, or traveled more.

Do you have a favorite nugget of wisdom, guidance, or inspiration from someone that has gone before you?

 

Page 10 of 76« First...«89101112»203040...Last »