Now on to Session two.  This session if by Gary Haugen, head of International Justice Mission.

Here are my notes and thoughts from his talk.  (As with my first set of notes, I will go through and clean this up.)

Gary started off by asking us to make sure our leadership matters.  To do that, we need to be leading people towards the things that matter to God.  To him, there are two things that God is passionate about.  They are,

1.  The World – Hunger, medicine, etc. as well as those who do not know God.

2.  Justice - The intentional oppression of people to take away the good that God wants to give them.

Given that Gary is here from IJM, he obviously camped out there.  He then went on to challenge us that leadership that matters is not easy.  Great leadership, in things that matter, works where it seems helpless, scary, and hard.

He then went on to share how to lead in each of those dynamics…helpless, scary, and hard.

When it comes to leadership when we feel helpless, he shared how that brings us to a point of dependance on God.  It brings us to a point where we share all that we have to offer and trust that God will do the work he is passionate about.  (In this case, justice.)

With respect to leadership when things are scary, Gary challenged us that Jesus did not come to make us safe and happy, but brave.  He used a great illustration about a trip to Mount Rainer as a child.  Out of that illustration came a phrase, “we can go on a trip but miss the adventure.”  He challenged us to go past the place where we are in control and trust our Father to be good.  He challenged us to use the strengths we have to go further than we think we can.

Finally when it comes to leading when it is hard, he suggested three activities.  First, spiritual health.  Praying because we have to and not because we feel guilty if we do not.  Second, he talked about doing ministry with excellence.  This would be applying the best thought and quality solutions to big problems.  Finally he challenged us to lead with joy.  Joy is necessary when the mission is hard.  The joy of the Lord will be our strength.

With respect to joy, I thought he put some profound language to that issue.  He talked about how Jesus was accused of being a glutton and a drunk ,but we view it as a sign of virtue when we are never accused of such a thing.

Finally he challenged us to pray to God, asking to be released from a life of petty concerns but rather leading on things that matter.

On a personal note, I found this to be very moving.  Honestly, I could go home now and be satisfied with this Summit.  This, like Bono a few years ago and Richard Curtis last year, resonates with my heart more than big building programs or Easter services with tens of thousands of people.

Your thoughts?