If I may start this blog entry with a confession. Donna and I are working hard to stay within our budget and, as such, we have been trying to be as thrifty as possible on our date nights. And, I can truthfully say, I enjoy being with her so much that the experience wouldn’t be any better if we spent lots of money anyway, but I digress. My confession is that last night we went to see the movie “Spy” at the cheap theater ($3/each). Spy is R rated. And that’s why I am confessing.

The unfortunate thing is, Spy is a really funny movie. The premise is somewhat predictable, I suppose, but there are pratfalls aplenty and the characters are engaging. The dialogue is witty and there are a few plot twists to keep you guessing along the way. Had they kept it clean, and gone for the PG rating, it would have been no less entertaining and no less humorous but, unfortunately, the movie’s makers sank to the use of four-letter words and a couple brief shots of naked body parts. Frankly, I am not sure why entertainers see the need to use vulgarity – but my opinion is that the minute a comedian sinks to coarse language and sexual innuendo, it’s because he or she lacks the confidence to be funny without it.

This past week I attended the Willow Creek Association’s Global Leadership Summit (GLS 15). Among the amazing content of this year’s summit, comedian Michael Junior was a highlight. He was amazingly hilarious without ever resorting to such low-brow sexual innuendo. I’ll return to a few comments about the leadership summit in a moment, but let me finish a few thoughts on clean comedy first, if I may. Two of my favorite comedians are Brad Stine and Ken Davis. A quick search on Google will yield a few clips of each and you will discover just how gut-bustingly funny clean comedy can be.

And if you are married, you simply must watch Mark Gungor’s Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage. Donna and I laughed so hard at this material we had that teary-eyed, side-splitting, barely-can-breathe thing going on. I’ve included clickable links below because I want you to easily be able to find for yourself that comedy doesn’t have to be course or crude to be funny. In fact, when it resorts to such things it actually is less funny.

Now….with that out of my system, let me just recap the Global Leadership Summit if I may. While I have been aware of the summit for many years this was the first year I attended myself. As such I was a bit apprehensive, as I tend to be when trying new things, but my trepidation was completely unnecessary. The Global Leadership Summit turned out to be far more engaging and motivating than I could ever have imagined. There was content for every aspect of my life including my career, my ministry, my church life, and my marriage. The worship music on day two brought tears to my eyes as I felt God’s hand upon me, lifting away my fears and comforting my soul. It was an experience only God can bring.

I am certain that I return to work this week a better manager than I was when I was last in the office prior to GLS. A strong theme in this year’s GLS was love and caring. Both for my fellow team members and my customers and suppliers. When I show genuine concern for the well-being and growth of those with whom I interact, they experience excellence and are allowed to grow and develop to the best of their ability as well. And I also learned that as a leader, I have given up the right to make excuses. Rather, it is my job to lead my team over, thru, and around whatever obstacles stand in our way. And God is with me every step of the way, providing all the strength I need!

The Global Leadership Summit is held at locations all over the world, there surely is a location near you so mark your calendars for August 11th and 12, 2016 and get signed up to experience GLS for yourself!

Finally, here are the links I promised:

Michael Jr
Brad Stine
Ken Davis
Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage
Global Leadership Summit

As always, if there are any questions we can answer to help you in your faith journey, feel free to email us at ReignDropsBlog@gmail.com.

God bless.

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