ILI: History Makers Leadership Podcast
Explore the transformative journey that is leadership. In each episode, we will dive deep into strategies, stories, insights, and the core values that shape and inspire effective Christian leaders who make an impact - all around the globe. Get ready to unlock your leadership potential.
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ILI: History Makers Leadership Podcast
Ep. 37 | Rethinking Your Strategic Planning - Part 1
Dr. Joel Wood joins us on the History Makers Leadership Podcast to share his insightful journey through ministry. Discover how Joel's passion for strategic planning evolved during his doctorate in ministry and how he now sees himself as a visionary 'architect' helping to craft ministry pathways for success.
Drawing from his learnings at Lighthouse Church, Joel shares the process of redefining vision and the pivotal role it plays in shaping decision-making and strategies. He employs architecture as a metaphor to emphasize how a well-defined vision can transform an organization into a thriving community, embodying its core values and aspirations.
This episode highlights the necessity of a compelling vision to guide leaders and ensure their organizations remain true to their identity and goals. We tackle leadership challenges, such as overcoming fear and fostering innovation. By examining biblical and contemporary examples, we encourage leaders to remain flexible and innovative, challenging the status quo to stay relevant.
Our episode concludes with a call to action for Christian leaders to engage globally, armed with a biblical framework for leadership provided by the International Leadership Institute, and contribute to spreading the gospel to those who have yet to hear it.
Resources:
Joel's New Book - Whiteboard Leadership
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Hi and welcome back to the HistoryMakers Leadership Podcast. My name is Daniel and it's my incredible honor and privilege to introduce us today to a dear friend, longtime co-worker in the faith, joel Wood, dr. Joel Wood, joel, good to have you, man.
Speaker 2:Thanks, thanks, buddy. Thanks for inviting me on, thanks for giving me the opportunity. I'm excited. Yeah, it's always great to talk to you. You said the coworker in the faith, but we have been actual coworkers, employed by the same church, at one point too, that's right man.
Speaker 1:I love how God has not only connected us but honestly just kind of kept us walking alongside each other and navigating the different things in life. Joel, I want to specifically have a conversation with you, but I think it would be helpful if everybody kind of understood a little bit of your background. I know that that doctor is kind of a newer thing for you, so congrats on that man for you. So congrats on that man. But tell us a little bit about your professional experience in Christian leadership, but also some of those things that you've studied particularly. That would be germane to this discussion.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure. So one of the things that it's important to know about me with my doctorate is that I in the middle of studying to get my doctorate in ministry and I'm a pastor. It's my main, primary role is I'm a lead pastor of Lighthouse Church, parker, colorado, and so I went to school to get my doctorate of ministry and most of my experience has been through pastoral ministry. I was a student pastor for a decade in Texas. I was a small groups and adult ministries pastor out in Georgia, where I met Daniel and his family.
Speaker 2:And then now I'm a lead pastor, but when I went to school, one of the things I was looking for is hey, what's going to make me practically better at ministry? And in the process, I discovered something about myself that I did not anticipate, and that is I have this unbelievable love for strategic planning and it sounds so boring, but it's so not. It's so exciting and um and and. So, even so, my dissertation right, I wrote it on strategic planning, and here's what I discovered is that I have been doing this my entire ministry. I just didn't realize that it's what I was doing, and I described myself as an architect. So my favorite thing in the world is to sit with a whiteboard in a room with people who have a hunger or desire to see something new or see something change or see a pathway forward, and just start writing out a plan and creating and architecting and designing this thing. That's going to take someone from point A through a vision process to point B or whatever letter we want to end with in the alphabet, and I love doing it. I love doing it for my church, I love doing it for other people, and I've realized, though, that throughout my ministry career, I've always done this. I've always created plans. I've always created plans, I've always architect. Now, sometimes I will struggle with being the guy that crosses the finish line. I'm ready to move on to the next plan, I'm ready to think about the next great thing that we should be doing. But when I studied that, it really solidified this idea that I think, if we plan better in ministry, that we can have desired outcomes. And planning doesn't mean not flexible. In fact, one of the things that I talk often about with strategic planning is flexibility. But I think there's this idea of we have this box that we have to fit in and we don't leave room for the Holy Spirit, we don't leave room to change, and that's not it at all. And so, yeah, I came through this through ministry, but since then I've been able to help other churches, other pastors, other ministries lead and create pathways of success for their churches or their ministries, or, uh, help others along the way.
Speaker 2:In, in, in. Not just uh, not just other churches, but uh. I mean I've even had an opportunity to go on trips with ILI, like I went to Guatemala this past year. Um, in fact, there's a, there's a guy I met while on that trip who has become like one of my best friends. He he was calling me on Saturday, asking me what's going on with church on sunday. Uh, great guy, uh, his name is osman. Osman, if you watch, if you're watching this, what's up?
Speaker 2:man, it's good to see you, um and but there's part of that and part of what what resonates with me, with history makers and in, is these ideas of strategic leadership, that that is designed in a certain way that leads to a desired outcome, and I think, think that that's really cool and I think that some really amazing kingdom work can happen through that. So that's a weird way to introduce myself. I just feel like I did the whole podcast like my introduction.
Speaker 1:No, it's good man, because really, really, what I want us to kind of look at today, you know this is going to release as leaders are stepping into that new year, right, and every year around the world, that kind of calendar change moment really becomes for many leaders that opportunity to step into a new vision, clarified vision, you know, specific focus, a purpose for a given year or timeframe, and so I'd love to just kind of walk through with you just a general overview of some of that strategic process, some of that strategic thinking process that you've talked about, to say, okay, if we imagine Joel, there was a third seat at this table where you and I are having a conversation, right, we're just sharing a cup of coffee, we're trying to navigate this with a brother or sister in Christ, and they say I have the following vision. What are some of the steps that we would want to walk through with them to help them move that vision from just an idea of a preferred future into a practical kind of architected strategy or paradigm or pathway, so that they can begin to see some of that traction? Because I think too many times God gives clear vision, but because leaders lack some of that equipping or some of that strengthening or some of that resourcing. They don't know how to move it from a clear vision into something that they're going to actually be able to implement, scale, deploy whatever word you want to use and so that leaves the whole body of Christ just a little weaker, just a little less impactful in the kingdom, not advancing at the pace and rate and breadth that I think God desires. Right, we want to see his kingdom come, his will be done. We want to see that shalom peace extend across all peoples.
Speaker 1:So how do we go about that? Well, we got to accomplish the vision and mission God's given us. So if we imagine we're sitting at a table right, we got this person and they have just shared with us that vision. God, you know, this is the preferred future that I see God calling me to help bring about. What's that first step in that strategic thinking process that you want to walk them?
Speaker 2:through. Okay. So first of all, you kind of skipped into the second step, cause the first step is. I'm looking for clarity on that.
Speaker 2:Vision is I think often we confuse vision and mission or we use them interchangeably. Some people, when they say mission, they're referring to vision. Some people, when they're referring to vision, refer to mission, and sometimes we have these visions or missions that are passive. I think it was Microsoft or IBM I'm pretty sure it was Microsoft that their initial vision was a computer on every desk and what an incredible. It's short, it's memorable, it's punchy, it is, but there's something really important about it. It is where you're going, and so how I like to look at vision is. Vision is where you're going, mission is going to be how you get there.
Speaker 2:When I came to my current church, our vision was, or our mission was, to see lives transformed through Jesus, and on the surface it sounds okay, but it's passive, like you're not doing anything. You can come and sit in a church and you don't see lives. I mean, you could see lives transformed, but I want you to be part of that process for someone as well as that doesn't tell me where we as an organization are going. So at the beginning of the year, if you're looking at vision and God is just downloading as you've been praying and going. God, we want to make a difference for the kingdom. What do we feel like? That is One of the questions I think it's important to ask is where are we going, or where is God leading us to go? So for my current church, we did a massive process. We spent a whole year praying through the idea of vision what is the vision for Lighthouse Church? And at the end we came up with and we asked two questions and actually got this from Jeff Henderson's book, which is an excellent book.
Speaker 2:And the first question is what are we known for, what does the community know us for and what must we be known for? And we started asking those questions to different people in the community and to different leaders. We surveyed our people, we surveyed our leaders and we interviewed members of our community about our church, and the answers we heard is we are known as the church next to dominoes. That's how people knew us. They drove by dominoes, they saw our sign. Now, hear me, that's not nothing, but that's not my desire for the vision of our church. And so then we started saying, okay, what must we be known for?
Speaker 2:And we really worked through this process of well, we must be known as a home for our community to glorify God and enjoy his presence, and that's what we latched on to with where we're going. We've got to go to a place where our community views us as a home, where they can worship God or they can experience the presence of God. And for us, that was us. And at some level, many different churches or Christian organizations or even Christian businesses are going to have something similar in terms of vision. But the question is how has God downloaded that for you? What's the specific city?
Speaker 1:Yeah, joel, I love that and I think that's such a good framing, particularly if we're stepping into leadership in an already established entity. Right, because it is good to ask what are we known for and what do we want to be known for? Right, like, what is that? You know? And again, I know your heart and you're sitting there going well, it's nice that we're known next to dominoes, but that's not what we want to be known for, right, we want to be known as someplace that you know God is causing change and transformation, and we want to be home to this community where they can see and experience God. You know, I lie.
Speaker 1:One of the sessions we teach, right, you know, this is the power of vision, and we talk about discovering that vision right as seeing a need, feeling a need, right, recognizing that that's where sometimes, often, god births that vision process, and so sometimes we're called to step into leadership and a thing, and sometimes we're called to be the founder and navigator and initiator of that thing, and so I think kind of living in and out of that space is essential, and I think it's such a good reminder to any leader. So, if you're listening to this, what Joel just did was so critical. He said, hey, before we even step into the next step, we've got to make sure we've got that vision not just stated, but clearly stated, clearly affirmed, kind of worked into a cohesive, coherent sentence or concept, because it'll be the driving energy and effort for everything that follows. So you know, it's kind of one of those. This is how I picture it, jolie. I mean, tell me what you think.
Speaker 1:I picture it as one of those things, you know measure twice, cut once, right, like go through this process twice as long as you probably think you need, because in really solidifying that you actually end up giving yourself a good foundation and some good nourishment for that future decision-making process. And as you kind of start, you know, designing the future of the vision that God's given you. I think about it this way If I'm designing a house, the way I lay out to use an architect example if I'm designing a house, the way I lay out the rooms in the space is vastly different. If I'm designing a school, I just need the space to be able to function very differently. In the same way, clarifying that vision really defines those next steps.
Speaker 2:So it's interesting you say that, because when we were going through this process as a church, we felt very called that we were supposed to spend a year praying for this, and about halfway through the year I'm going hey, I'm ready to have the vision and design the process, like I'm ready to go. Like I don't, like, like I'm an architect, I want to architect something else, like right, right, god. I know you said a year, but maybe like four months, maybe just six months, can we, can we go? So go back to your original question, though After, after you have that vision, then it's really time to start putting into play a strategic plan. So if vision's where we're going, mission's how we get there, and then even under mission, you've got values and you can really create a whole inverted pyramid, that is, everything flows under your vision. If you can't justify why you're doing something and how it fulfills your vision, then you shouldn't be doing it. But how we put that into practice is that we build out a plan or a strategic plan that's going to help us accomplish that. And so let's say that we've got a great vision. Let's say we have an organizational vision. It's great, we know where we're going as an organization and this year we feel called to this, we feel called to make this impact.
Speaker 2:One of the things that I had the opportunity to do when I went to Guatemala was I got to teach the session on goal setting. And, if I'm honest, you look through the list of fun ones to teach and the Holy Spirit's always fun. Vision's fantastic Servant leadership's just the best Goal setting. I was like smart goals I mean mean, yeah, I use them, but like that's not that fun to teach. And I remember I'm in guatemala, I'm teaching with interpreter, we're talking about smart goals and at the beginning somebody you know raises their hand and they they said you know, this one's hard for us because in guatemala we don't, we don't really set goals, we just kind of, we just kind of go. And so it was a little deflating at first, going, hey, I've got to teach all of this. And how do I instill the value of this and the value of this process to people who, as a culture, just what they told me was that they don't value goal setting as much as maybe, like people in the United States, would. And so I remember at the end of it, I mean, we're graduating, everyone's holding up their diplomas. We're all smiling.
Speaker 2:Multiple people said that their favorite thing that they heard from me was goal setting and um, and, and I think that that's telling, because I think I don't think that was me. I don't think it was. I mean, I think it's excellent content, or else I wouldn't have, I wouldn't care about ILI as much as I do, but I think that there's something in the Holy Spirit that that that God works through us and works through plans to achieve his purpose. And so when we're talking about a year, we feel like, hey, god's given us this big vision. We have these goals for this year. The next step, after you feel like you have these goals, is to start planning, to start something. I give this illustration and hopefully that what I'm talking about will eventually. I'm working on a book. We'll see how that turns out Okay.
Speaker 2:But in my book I give the analogy of a whiteboard. In fact, my dissertation I called it whiteboard leadership and it's this idea. When I plan, I always plan on a whiteboard and the first step is just to start. I think it's daunting at the beginning of the year to go, hey, I want to accomplish all this, I don't know how. And the first step is action bias. It's to do something, it's to start something.
Speaker 2:Start writing out that plan and you may hate it, you may not use anything on it, but start it. And as you go you're going to have to be flexible, you're going to have to change things, you're going to have to receive input from other people on hey, what did we think? I give the analogy. Sometimes you have to trust people with a marker that they can add to the plan. So surround yourself with people who, when you write out a plan, they can add to it to make it better. But then there's other times you have to trust someone with the eraser and that's a lot harder level of trust, because they have to take away something that you may love. And but if it strengthens you and it strengthens your organization or strengthens the process of you achieving your vision and achieving your goals and walking through a step that, at the end of the year, you're going to look back in December of 2025 and go hey, we did some incredible things this year. Yeah, and it wasn't an accident, it was intentional.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, joel, I think there's something that's so poignant there. I hope every one of us as leaders really take that to heart. There are moments to give the marker to somebody and there are moments to give the eraser to somebody. We've got to be willing to let them contribute to the vision and I think we often experience that in different ways.
Speaker 1:We might have heard it as delegation or something like that or something like that, but I think giving somebody the marker in that architecting phase, that strategic planning phase, is just so vital because it not only benefits the vision, allowing more diverse voices into that planning process, hearing from some different perspectives, gaining from that experience, but it actually, I think, helps solidify a unified heart behind that vision. It helps to solidify a buy-in from the person who's got the marker in their hand, right to extend the metaphor. But I love how you said it wasn't just the marker, it's also the eraser. It's somebody who's got the freedom, the privilege, responsibility to come alongside and say no, this is mission.
Speaker 1:Drift no, this isn't what we're doing right now, that's a future thing. No. Drift no, this isn't what we're doing right now, that's a future thing. No, we dreamed a little off base on this piece, and I think for some leaders, joel, we can be in this visionary state where we never want to give somebody an eraser. It's always an and right, it's always an and it's never the or it's never a recognition that sometimes I got to say no to really good things, because this vision is better.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I talk about this idea of we have to co-sign our vision or we have to co-sign our strategic plan. If you co-sign alone, you're co-owners with someone. But when we start something, too often we view it as ours. We don't want to give it up, we don't want to let it go, and sometimes we need to have co-signers, we need to invite someone into that ownership process. So it's not just what I can dream up, it's not just what I can plan strategically.
Speaker 2:I mean, you know this. I mean you're the head of an organization and sometimes there are people within your organization that think you should do things differently than you think you should do, and sometimes you've got to go. Yeah, we got, we really need to achieve, we got to do it this way. But a lot of times we have to go. Okay, what? Okay, let me listen. What do you have to say? There is value in this. Is this the right time for it? Do I need to do? I need to let go of something as a leader so that I can be a better leader? Do I need to to to share ownership instead of just having the thing that I have that I love? The other thing that I would tell you, sorry, go ahead.
Speaker 1:No, I was just going to say and I think it's a really good point there, because there is that tension, right, it doesn't mean that they're always right, but if you never listen to your team, then you must have the wrong team, right, right, if you're unwilling to listen to them, right, you can't have it both ways. You, right, if you're unwilling to listen to them, right, you can't have it both ways. You can't say that they're the right team. I trust them, they're valued, I believe in their input, I believe in their, their thoughts, and ignore them every single time, like say no, you're wrong. Every single time. You can't hold those two things at the same time. Now, there might be moments where they're wrong or you're wrong, but you gotta, you gotta have the balance on those two.
Speaker 2:For sure you gotta give yourself a little grace with this, because this is harder than it sounds. A few weeks ago my worship pastor came to me and said, hey, I think we should do this idea on Sunday Because what it was? He goes. I think we should do an acoustic set on Sunday. And I said why? And he goes well, we can't get a drummer and we can't get this musician, this musician and I'm going. You know, I think acoustic sets are fine for worship, but you know I don't have we really, like, exhausted all the resources I don't give you the vision there.
Speaker 1:I just hear the obstacles that are keeping you from doing it Exactly.
Speaker 2:And so I told him I was like no, we can't, no, and like no, we're not doing that, we need to do it. I have a leader who works for me as my worship pastor. I didn't just hire someone to do what I told him to do. I hired a leader and it's his job to make decisions, to make sure worship happens on Sunday morning. So I told him no, but then I had to go back. I had to give myself grace to go. Hey, okay, I understand. You know how I feel about. I think acoustic sets are fine.
Speaker 2:I didn't want to do it this Sunday because it feels like that's the excuse. But here's the thing You're the worship pastor. If this is what worship is going to look like on Sunday, I will let you make that decision. I'm sorry if I just shut you down. That's not my job. My job is to help you be a better leader. Here's the thing. I have way more conversations like that than I want. I would love to say I let leaders lead all the time and I just let them go and let and you know we have, you know we all do it together. But I have to go back and I have to give myself grace and I have to tell them that I'm going to have to give me grace so that they can lead better.
Speaker 1:Joel, are you telling me that leaders aren't perfect? Are you saying that we have to learn and grow? I mean, you are, look, I could tell you right now absolutely not. God is always teaching and growing us, but I think that's just such a good reminder.
Speaker 1:Is, you know, you mentioned this action bias and I was really? I was really kind of just holding that in the back of my mind. As you mentioned, in this process we have to be, we have to have a bias to action. I thought why don't people have a bias to action? And I think sometimes it's exactly what you just said it's a fear of failure. Yes, absolutely. It's this idea that I'm not allowed to not be perfect at it. Therefore, I get so worked up, trying to figure out every possible decision prior to ever making them, making them Right, and so I get stuck in that phase rather than going. Okay, I understand a certain amount of energy, effort, time is going to be taken or needed, but after that I just got to, I just got to start, because I'm not going to have every answer every part of the way.
Speaker 2:So I tell the story in the book that I am 38. Two years ago and I'm not a small man Two years ago I made the decision that I was going to learn how to snowboard. I live in Colorado. My kids get free passes to ski and snowboard in the mountains. My kids wanted to learn, they wanted to snowboard, and I was like I'm going to learn too, so I can go snowboarding with them.
Speaker 2:So I took lessons and I remember they took me up to the top of the tallest double black diamond. They called it like a bunny hill, but I'm pretty sure like it was. It was no, but the truth. I'm standing at the top of this training hill and it's steeper than I would think a training hill would be, and I'm terrified. And I remember I finally stand up on my snowboard and all I have to do is turn the nose of my snowboard down to start. And I was afraid because in my mind it wasn't the starting, it was the crashing and falling off a mountain that I was terrified of. Here's the thing it doesn't stop You're afraid of, yes, yes. But I remember standing there, going, and my instructor's like you just gotta turn, you just gotta start, you just gotta lean, put, put, push down on your big toe and and lean and the snowboard's gonna go and you'll be fine. And I could hear her, but the fear kept me from making the decision. Eventually I did it and I snowboarded and I fell a few times and that's what I failed. And then I got up and I failed again and I got up and and what I also learned for me and this isn't something that's, I think, important to many of us Some of us aren't afraid of failing.
Speaker 2:We're afraid of other people seeing us. That point, our fear is not failure. Our fear is what other people will think of us. And the truth is, if we fail forward, if we have this big vision, if we just need to start putting steps in place, and we make a misstep, then we stand up and we dust ourselves off and we keep going. And who cares what other people think? I mean, at some level you've got stock investors and stuff and people do care. But we've got to cultivate a place where we've got to risk failure and we've got to be willing to risk being seen as failure to start something. And then the other thing is Sorry, go ahead.
Speaker 1:I just want to speak on that for a second, because I think it's important to note probably two things, joel. First, I think sometimes that fear of failing publicly is really pride from another angle right, and when we live in that space we're feeding that part of our heart that's going to keep us from the kind of walk with Christ that he desires and intends for us, and so I think we've got to remember that when we feel that way, there's a measure of pride there. But also, I was recently confronted somebody said David was from the scriptures, was called a man after God's own heart. But we see a ton of failures in David's life, a ton of failures. Why was he still considered a man after God's own heart? Because he was constantly falling forward into repentance, into trying to look, trying to go back after the heart of the father, even though so many of those failures were just that, they were failures. But he was pursuing, pursuing Christ every, or, you know, pursuing the father after every turn.
Speaker 2:If you look at what Saul does before David is king. Saul also has failures, but Saul responds to his failures differently than David. Saul looks for excuses and Saul doesn't take responsibility. David Nathan comes to him you're the man, you are the one who sinned, and David immediately breaks and weeps and repents of his sin. Right, and in leadership, that's such a great leadership principle. You're not going to succeed every time. You own your failures, you correct your mistakes, you correct your sins, you repent from those and you move forward. You correct your mistakes, you correct your sins, you repent from those and you move forward.
Speaker 2:The other thing I think it's important to kind of recognize in this, though, isn't just that we've got to move past failure, but we've got to. With the idea of action, bias and starting, sometimes I think we start and go okay, big goal, this year, let's start, and we immediately put into action the exact same things we did last year, and because we're used to it, we're comfortable. We do the same things kind of month over month. We have seasons, we know that our fiscal years last this long and we need to do this and that and when. In actuality, we've got to learn to be flexible, and we also have to learn to innovate within our own plans and visions. So flexibility is so important, right? It's this idea that we've got to be willing to change a little bit and then innovate is we've got to be willing to change a lot of it.
Speaker 2:I love the example of Netflix and Blockbuster, and so many different people have written about this. So many different people have written about this. But this idea that Netflix started in the late 90s I think it was 98 or 99, and they started this DVD mail service, and they have constantly innovated and flexed along the way. They went from a mail-based service to a subscription mail-based service. They went from that to offering things digitally online, and they then shifted again into original content, um, and then they shifted again, uh, into they have offer games. Now you can download games from netflix on you, I mean, and there's this constant flexibility, there's this constant, constant shift, and I believe that their vision is to entertain the world and they're looking for different ways to do that. Where, then, you have blockbuster. Blockbuster goes well. We're a, a movie rental business, and their big flex was that they incorporated dvds at one point, but then, when netflix became popular, blockbuster didn't lean into any of the models that they did until it was too late. They started their streaming service too late and and now there's one blockbuster left in, like, I think, somewhere in Oregon or something. And because there wasn't that willing, that ability, flex. And you cannot flex in hindsight, you cannot innovate in hindsight.
Speaker 2:Too often we don't change because, again, of that fear of failure, but instead one of the things I talk about is that we need to go to our whiteboards and we need to, kind of, we have our plan here. Then we need to come over here and write a question on the side and the question we write is what has never been done? And then we start okay, if this is our goal, how do we accomplish it in ways that have never been done? Okay, if this is our goal, how do we accomplish it in ways that have never been done? How do we innovate in ways that maybe haven't been done by us to achieve something better and greater? And what you find is, when you start asking these questions and you start introducing flexibility, you start going from this kind of rigid thing that we do year over year to these little changes that take you to new places and help you accomplish greater things.
Speaker 1:Man. Joel, I love having this conversation with you and I think we've done an incredible job of trying to lay out just a couple of steps in the process. Right, this idea of really investing heavily on clarifying the vision, beginning that archetypal process, you know, thinking through goal setting, giving people the eraser, giving people the pen right to help write some of those pieces and elements and help remove some of those elements and pieces, having that action bias, really seeking to drive forward. Joel, I'd love to kind of continue this conversation in a kind of a second episode and to talk through some of that innovation curve and those kinds of things. Would you be up for something like that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'd love that, I'd love that opportunity.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Okay, well, let's continue that conversation on the next episode. For now, I just wanna say thank you for being a part of this. Joel, thanks for helping to navigate this with leaders To the leaders of the world. Thank you so much for participating in this, but, most of all, thank you for seeking to faithfully fulfill the calling and purpose God's given you. There's a leadership crisis in the church and you are a part of bringing that solution to bear. Thank you for investing in your own leadership and helping to mobilize the body of Christ.
Speaker 1:There are still 3 billion people who have never heard the gospel and there are 2 billion Christians waiting to go into that harvest field. Remember what Jesus said it wasn't that the harvest field was lacking. No, no, no. The harvest field is plentiful, but the laborers are few, so let's be a part of sending those workers into that harvest field to accomplish his work, his will. The International Leadership Institute exists to help leaders discover biblical framework for leadership, for living out their calling and fulfilling the vision that God's given them. You can go to iliteamorg. There you can discover the eight core values of the most faithful Christian leaders and connect into a community, a movement that is seeking to advance and accelerate the spread of the gospel. We look forward to seeing you there. Thanks so much for joining us.