ACSD National-DAY ONE

Monday marked the first official day of my journey inside the Association for Christians in Student Development's 2006 National Conference at my alma mater, Indiana Wesleyan University. As you might expect, I have been flooded with all sorts of different emotions regarding my return to this campus, as I have both worked here & been shown the door here with a pink slip in hand, as well as having been a student here for 4 and a half years. I also have added to the mix that I spent 2 and a half years working just 20 min's up the road-So I have spent a considerable time of my late 20's and early 30's involving this little patch of corn in rural Indiana and it has actually been fun to relive some of those memories and share bear hugs with some of the great friends that I still have here. I am sure that there will be future blogs regarding some of my memories and reflections on my time here in Indiana but for today, I want to reflect on the first day of the conference and some of the things that I took away from the opening night keynote speach by Dr. John Maxwell.
I ended up taking two legal-sized pages of notes so I will not overwhelm anyone with all of those thoughts but I will try to break it down. Now, it needs to be said that I generally do not care for some of Maxwell's stuff. He has some great ideas but I just feel that he really could have stopped at one book instead of how ever many he has put out because they all feel like regurgitated ideas from the first book. That is just my opinion-This is my blog and I am entitled to it!

Anyway, he did have some good things to say that inspired me to reflect on my ministry at McMurry and it was fun to be sitting with the folks from Abilene Christian University during the speech. Here are some snipits of what I came away with:

"Leaders make the position-A leadership position doesn't make a person a leader."

Leadership equals Servanthood=How can I lead through service in my current
position?


[ ] How can I better serve my RA's? Have I changed enough to be ready/credible to make a difference & be an Agent for Change at McMurry?

[ ] Can my vision/Passion allow me to stay in Abilene long term?

[ ] Can I stay in Abilene and still be involved in the ministry of Student Development?

[ ] What new opportunities can I explore this Fall? This Spring?!?

"We teach what we know, but reproduce what we ARE....."

[ ] Do what have managers or leaders at McMurry?

Managers=Manage the Status Quo
Leaders=Prepare Way For Change
Pursue Excellence

Climbing Ladders OR Building Bridges

Self/Competition --- Relationships
Steal from Others --- Add Value

POSITION=If you're not enough without it-You'll never be enough with it.

These are just some of the things from DAY ONE which was only a HALF day-just think about how much more I am going to be learning now that we are into the seminar portion!!!