what separates captains from vice-captains

Loosely paraphrased from an article by Andy Stanley

There’s a vice-captain who thought he was ready to be the captain of the submarine. But his captain felt otherwise. So he went up to the captain and said, “I can do everything that needs to be done in the submarine. I know all the tactics. I know all the procedures. I have the respect of our men. I can do it. I’m willing to lay my life down for my men.”

The captain replied, “I don’t question your bravery and dedication. You may be willing to lay your life down for your men; but are you willing to lay their lives down as well?”

The vice-captain hesitated.

At this the captain continued, “You hesitated. But that’s the job of the captain; you can’t hesitate. You have to act. If you don’t, all the lives of the men who choose to follow you could be lost. You have to be prepared to make hard decisions with limited information. And if they’re wrong, you must be prepared to face the consequences. If you’re not prepared to make those decisions, you’ve got no business in wanting to be a submarine captain.”

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Awesome point.

youngest headmaster

Around the world millions of children are not getting a proper education because their families are too poor to afford to send them to school. In India, one schoolboy is trying to change that. In the first report in the BBC’s Hunger to Learn series, Damian Grammaticas meets Babar Ali, whose remarkable education project is transforming the lives of hundreds of poor children.

READ MORE HERE

Since I read this story two days ago, I’ve been mulling over some thoughts:

- What the heck was I doing at 16?

- There is no required minimum age to start changing the world.

- The hunger to learn is what all – and I mean ALL – successful people have in common.

- The best way to learn is to teach others.

- If you can’t teach 800 people, then just teach one.

- How I can be an opener of doors for more people who’d come after me?

- The richest are not those who keep most but those who give most.

- A lack of compassion and a great deal of pettiness stem from our inability to see what’s happening outside our little bubble ME-world.

- If these kids were to hear us complaining about our studies, would they throw chicken poop at us?

- Give this young man a Nobel Prize!

What are your thoughts on it? Cmon, the best comment may win a free trip with me to West Bengal, haha! I think they deserve some classrooms, hey.

10 lessons from lead summit

Sorry for the lack of updates. Just couldn’t muster enough motivation to type more than 140 characters at one go. But recently I managed to attend LEAD Summit 2009 – and there’s stuff that’s just too good not to be shared.

So here are 10 lessons that struck me (not in order of importance) in nutshells:

1. Have an adequate replenishment strategy. What adds up to my life? What drains away? Work it out.

2. During crisis, the best thing a leader can bring to the table is a faith-filled heart.

3. Classes don’t make leaders. But they make you aware of leadership principles and role models.

4. The challenge is not how to teach leadership but how to create a culture of leadership.

5. Briefly distance yourself from a decision in order to find reflective space and gain clarity. Look at the situation from a different reference point.

6. Review leadership decisions after they’re implemented: What went well? What went wrong?

7. Big change starts with a small idea.

8. More opportunities = higher chance to divert from original mission

9. Failure is useful for it’s a valley of insights.

10. Leaders don’t just do ministry. Leaders equip people to do ministry.

(I hope to elaborate on them when I have more time. Maybe we can do it in our next Care Leaders Meeting. Hopefully.)

what’s next

Now that the big stuffs are over, we’re getting ready for the next level. My team and I have been planning for THE planning we’re going to do in August and September. Words can’t describe the amount of anticipation I have for how God is going to ‘renovate’ our entire youth ministry.

One homework that we’ve been doing for this month (besides going mad over Rendition) is to read, read and read. We’re studying many models of thriving churches and youth ministries. We have also started throwing in questions that we’ve always pondered but never had the time to answer.

So, I’m going to catch up on some reading (no kindle, please! i prefer old-fashioned books, thank you very much) and journaling (on my first moleskine journal, no less) for the rest of the week. Now, where’s my koorong box…

Steph: “Shirls! Are you going to buy all those books?!?”
Shirls: -gives a mix of conflicted and sheepish look-
Rach: “Okays, let’s at least take a photo of them first!”

By the way, have I ever mentioned that my first language wasn’t English? When I first read my English Bible at the age of 15, I had to read it with a dictionary on my lap. What I’m saying is, no one is too stupid to read. Whereas not reading and learning, that is just crying shame.

“Not every reader is a leader, but every leader must be a reader.” – Harry Truman

making criticism my friend

When’s the last time someone criticised you? If it’s quite long ago, most prob you haven’t been heading somewhere in life. But if you strive to break into new growth points, you will undoubtedly face criticism.

I used to think that criticism was such a rude, uninvited guest. There I was, feeling good about the meeting/event/lesson I just did, when someone would come up to me and say, “It just didn’t take off, did it? That was too unfocused/cliché/boring/etc.”

Talk about getting deflated faster than I could say ouch.

As a normal human being, I prefer to be praised than to be criticised, to be given affirmation rather than improvement points. (If you don’t identify with this, you should stop reading and get a shrink).

But I’ve also realised one truth: Commendation might tell me how I’ve grown from yesterday to today, but it tells me nothing about how I can grow from today to tomorrow. For the latter, I need criticism.

So how do I make this bad-mannered fellow my best buddy in the world?

Few steps that have helped me so far:

* See beyond the person’s negative facial expression, choice of words or tone. (At times, I feel slightly better if I prop up Clooney’s face over the critic’s in my mind. Or imagine John Mayer singing his feedback to me.)

* Find the kernel of truth, even if it’s real tiny. Then take it like how you’d eat a fish – swallow the good stuff; throw away the bones. Be objective, even if the other party is not fully so.

* Get them to reconstruct, not just deconstruct. E.g. “So, what would you have done specifically instead?” (If they can’t answer, I’d smile and walk away before I say something nasty.)

* Ask them back, “Since you have many ideas, are you keen to help us make the next meeting/event/lesson successful?” If they say yes, you’ve just roped in passionate free labour!

* If you’re not in the right frame of mind (e.g. too tired/discouraged/raw), thank the person then shelve it first. Go home, have a good sleep and reconsider the criticism the next day when you are refreshed.

* Proactively ask for criticism – from a group of trusted and capable people. There are only a few phone numbers I remember by heart; these are the people I’d call and ask, “How does this sound…” Better be stupid in front of few than many.

* Last but not least, laugh at yourself. A lot. You’re bound to make a gazillion mistakes in your life anyways. Yet the Kingdom will keep moving forward. And so should you.

So far, these are the steps I’ve taken to keep my life sane and my ministry fruitful. If you disagree, feel free to criticise this post. If you have other steps to add, do share your wisdom by clicking here.