I honestly felt like some of the guest speakers had been studying my life for the last 8 months. (Ha.) They hit me right between the eyes. God knew what I needed to learn and he delivered it on a silver platter.

This year just might be the best Summit I have attended. Every session I walked away with gold nuggets of information. To have so many from this church (spanning all ages) attend was incredible. I sense that many of us are on the same page and understand what it means to move forward and see how the Local Church is the Hope of the World.

Some things can only be described as WOW. And this year’s Leadership Summit can best be described by me as WOW.

Pastor Donald Calder

Commodus says... fail!

If you’re anything like me, you don’t like to fail.

Somewhere along this journey of growing and maturing into adults, we’ve learned that failure is unacceptable. But what happens when you find yourself in leadership? Many get paralyzed because they have this fear of failure. Fear is one of the enemy’s greatest tools. When we are afraid to fail, we fail to dream. If you are going to dream and follow through on some of those dreams, failure is not an option – it is a must.

Leo Buscaglia said it well: “We seem to gain wisdom more readily throughout our failures than through our successes. We always think of failure as the antitheses of success, but it isn’t. Success often lies just the other side of failure.”

Craig Groeschel said, “If you are not failing, you have stopped dreaming. You‘ll eventually stop learning. And you will stop growing. Those who have ‘it’, fail often.”

Let me be honest… I have failed many times, and in doing so I am learning how to fail gracefully, and am learning some principles along the way. Thankfully God isn’t finished with me yet.

Join us this year as we learn about failure AND success during the 2010 Global Leadership Summit on August 5-6.

Pastor Donald Calder

1. First, I turn to people who have spiritual depth. The leader who thinks he can always do it on his own without input from wise counsel is in Big Trouble. I am truly grateful for the men and women in my life that I can turn to for counsel who have more life experience or different life experience than I do, and have journeyed with God longer than me or differently than me. They are a priceless treasure of resource.
2. Secondly, it is very easy to get jaded and bitter in leadership, so I must choose to seize joy in the midst of a mess.  Don’t let your emotions overtake your mission. With so many “joy-robbers” around, I must seize the joy, or I could go a long time without any.

I hope you will join us this year for the Global Leadership Summit on August 5-6.

Pastor Donald Calder

So to my surprise, I heard last year at the Leadership Summit that leadership can get messy. UGH!!  I have been avoiding getting dirty my whole life and now I am told the position I hold can get messy. I don’t think I fully understood what that really meant until 2010. I should have known last year that God would be up to something in my life if I am hearing that leadership is messy. Why did I need to know that? Was that trivial information or pertinent information?

When one gets covered in manure (which is not only dirty, but smelly), one quickly begins to wonder why he doesn’t get out of the way and go on an extended cruise where cow manure is not plentiful. However, when leadership gets messy, that is not the time to run and become passive – it’s definitely the time to become pro-active. Therefore, 2010 has been the year that I need to be more pro-active. (Even though cruising the Caribbean would have been more to my liking, it wasn’t what I was called to do.)

I want to encourage you to consider joining us this year for the Global Leadership Summit 2010. The dates are August 5&6. I really believe these two days will encourage, energize and equip you for where God has placed you at this time.

Pastor Donald Calder

I encourage you to do your best to participate in this year’s Summit. Like always, the speakers are top notch and will stretch us to think beyond what we have considered in the past. The theme is “Lead Where You Are,” and whether that be in the home, workplace, community, or church, we all have a circle of influence. I really believe StoneRidge has good leaders, but together let’s go from being good leaders to great leaders.

I guarantee these two days together will sharpen our leadership skills and take us to the next level as we all influence people on a daily basis. As the host church for this event, our church is given a significantly discounted rate of $105 +tax. This rate is half the price most attendees will pay, but it expires on June 22nd. I am encouraging you to register for the Summit this week at the Welcome Centre.

Looking forward to seeing you this year at the Summit!

Pastor Donald Calder

PS.  I was reminded of something David Gergen said at the 2009 Summit: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, then go together.” I believe we want to go far, so let’s do it together.