You Have a Choice Today | Spark Talks Week 4

You have a choice every day—even when things feel like a hopeless train wreck. (In other words, standard 2020.) You choose how you handle the circumstances around you, how you lead the people around you, and how you respond to the chaos of our culture. Today, we hear stories of how everyday choices to follow God can lead to life-changing results.

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    A life with God doesn't have to be boring.
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    You were made for adventure.
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    It can be a pulse pumping, heart pounding life of purpose.
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    Join us every weekend for 30 minutes
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    of challenge, hope and encouragement
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    to guide you on your spiritual adventure.
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    - We've all been forced to pause, reset
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    and reclaim our futures in light of the chaos of 2020.
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    There's always darkness and adventure
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    when you're not sure where you're going.
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    Join us for Crossroads Weekend Spark Talks
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    and hear from people who will challenge you
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    with new ideas to ignite your life.
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    - Welcome to Crossroads Church, everyone.
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    My name is Alli Patterson,
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    and we have something really special for you today.
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    It's a series called Spark Talks
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    and the folks you're going to hear from today
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    have been inspired to live their life differently
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    because of this crazy year called 2020
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    that we're all living through together.
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    There's an author and historian
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    who has some fascinating things to say today
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    about how leaders react differently in crisis if they have faith.
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    I'm all ears for that one.
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    And I hope you go away inspired and encouraged yourself.
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    - I want you to think of something you've always wanted to try
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    but haven't because of fear.
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    No, I'm not talking about all of you making bread during quarantine.
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    And I see you.
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    I'm talking about something way outside your comfort zone
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    that you've always postponed but continually think of.
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    I'm Megs Gelfgot and I teach women to skateboard.
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    They find empowerment on a board with four wheels.
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    But my story started before that
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    and before the empowerment it was one of pushing through
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    isolation, depression, overcoming tragedy and crisis.
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    I was living the suburbia success story.
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    I was a new mom and while I loved my role,
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    I felt like I had lost some of my identity along the way.
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    I wasn't was from Cincinnati,
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    didn't particularly fit in with the mom crowd.
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    So I had this crisis of depression and isolation.
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    And I knew that I needed something drastic
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    to cut through the status quo of my life.
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    I had just accepted that this is what it was, it was fine.
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    If life was lackluster, I was the only one responsible
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    for the quality of my experiences.
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    Don't like something, grow from it.
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    So I reached for the first regret I could think of:
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    learning to skateboard.
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    Let me tell you the fears that held me back
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    20 years ago from learning, those are amplified as an adult.
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    I'm going to break just everything, all of it.
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    But skateboarding would be my bridge to reconnect
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    with that wildness within myself,
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    lost trying to fit into a suburbia,
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    tamed using somebody else's definition of success for my life.
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    So my rebellion commenced in a parking lot with a skateboard.
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    And while I was awful at first, no surprise,
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    I laughed and it was awesome and I felt alive.
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    #Live laugh love; huh?
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    It was great and I felt this acute sensitivity
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    that this is what God created me to be.
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    Not fearless, just courageous enough to go for it.
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    See when we're kids and trying something new,
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    we're more concerned with getting hurt.
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    As adults, stepping out means we have to deal
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    with people's judgments, possibly rejection.
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    My rejection came in the form of friends and family.
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    "Megs, can you just cool it with this phase?
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    Just take up tennis. You're going to hurt yourself."
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    I felt empowered because it wasn't conventional.
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    I was a mom who was skateboarding around your neighborhoods.
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    What's up, Maderia? I see you.
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    And it was in this moment that I would not let critics
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    marginalize my growing passion
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    because they didn't understand it.
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    It took me eight visits to a skate park
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    before I was physically brave enough to get out of the car.
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    And really, what is my worst case scenario?
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    Some kid named Spencer tackles me for being a beginner.
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    I birthed a child, I can handle Spencer.
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    And the day that I smacked my face open
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    I remember thinking, "OK, this is -- this is done.
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    We're finished with this now."
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    There were real consequences.
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    But I had a moment to see what I was made of
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    cutely, right?
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    And bravery was going back out on that ledge,
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    complete with a bleeding face
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    and a heckling audience of teenage boys.
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    I happened to be wearing a shirt that said pray on it.
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    And I dropped in on my first bowl that day.
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    Of you don't know what it is, Google it later. Check it out.
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    Skateboarding had me showing up better in all aspects of my life
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    because of the confidence I was building.
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    I had grit, I had capacity.
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    I was uncovering strength within myself
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    that was tied directly to pushing through the struggle
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    and sometimes there's some pain.
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    My relationship with God found a new level of intimacy.
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    I grew up in church.
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    God is good.
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    I thought of Him as being buttoned up, wearing khakis,
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    probably liked smooth jazz.
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    Relax, I go hard on some Careless Whisper,
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    but I was experiencing a God
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    who was meeting the desires of my heart
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    I didn't even know that I had.
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    He was bringing opportunities, community,
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    and adventure squarely in my path.
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    And the price of admission was I needed to level up.
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    I had to demand more for myself, from my relationships,
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    for my attitude, for my work ethic.
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    I had progress and momentum.
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    I was feeling pretty good, so I did what everybody does:
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    start an Instagram account.
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    And a funny thing happened, this, you know,
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    crazy Amazon ginger from the suburbs,
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    my story resonated with people.
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    I was getting messages from all over the world
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    of people who wanted to escape
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    but were never brave enough to take a first step.
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    So I began to believe in the larger vision
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    of using skateboarding to empower
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    as this makeshift community grew.
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    Now, things were great, they were going well.
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    But life is never all green lights for us.
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    It's a Saturday morning passed out at home.
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    I'm rushed to the hospital.
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    From the time that I walked through the doors to Christ Hospital
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    to when they had me on a table putting straps on my heart,
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    getting ready to shock it, about 10 minutes.
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    They found that day that I had a heart condition,
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    Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome
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    and I would undergo heart surgery later that week.
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    So as I'm grappling with the implications of this diagnosis
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    and thinking about how it would limit my life,
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    one of my older sister, Susanna in Arizona,
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    she was in a minor car accident on a Friday.
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    Sunday they had to call an ambulance,
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    take her to the hospital, she was unconscious.
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    She would die in the hospital three days later,
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    never regaining consciousness.
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    Complications from a car accident.
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    She would leave behind a four year old daughter
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    and a family that was just devastated by her loss.
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    I was faced with the fragility of life.
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    I was in survival mode.
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    You don't have big dreams for yourself when you're just surviving.
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    There was a renewed urgency of the now.
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    What are you doing now?
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    I was not promised tomorrow.
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    What are you doing that matters now?
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    Fear told me that I was not equipped to lead anything,
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    let alone something that had to do with skateboarding.
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    But God didn't need me to be the expert in skateboarding
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    in order to use me.
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    No, He needed my courage to get up in spite of difficulty.
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    And I wouldn't let fear make me passive
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    because I was not the likely candidate to lead.
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    I didn't intend to start a movement,
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    but I was willing to see where it went
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    because I wasn't in it alone.
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    So when we founded Keep Her Wild here in Cincinnati,
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    I expected two women to sign up for our Meetup group.
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    50 women signed up in the first two days
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    with an average age of 35.
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    Yeah, the very women I previously felt out of place with,
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    it turns out they're pretty awesome.
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    Now Keep Her Wild has communities in seven countries
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    with retreats designed to get women living
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    outside of their comfort zone,
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    and more importantly, connected in community.
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    It was taking us to places we never could have imagined.
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    Things like losing 100 and climbing a mountain,
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    skateboarding despite having MS,
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    going back to school at 65 years old
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    because you want to see what you can do.
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    You've still got time.
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    Skateboarding was not a phase. It was a lifeline.
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    It was the spark that set my life on fire
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    and it was having that transformative effect within our community.
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    What a way and what a journey from that empty parking lot
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    to filming a TED Talk to recording a docu-series on strong women.
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    Because if I could learn to kickflip,
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    certainly I could handle a couple of people telling me no.
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    What? I just need to knock on a few other doors
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    and not get bloody in my face? Perfect. I'm on my way.
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    What is your skateboard? Because we all need one.
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    Hard times are coming. What is your skateboard?
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    What have you always wanted to do, but postponed?
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    Do it later, do it tomorrow, do it when I lose weight.
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    You know what? You're too old, you're not fit enough.
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    What would your friends say? Eww.
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    So we keep it tucked away,
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    a legacy of regret allowing life to manage you.
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    Or two, become immune to the fear of someone laughing at you,
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    tune out the self-doubt that paralyzes
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    and believe completely that you have reservoirs of strength
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    to weather any crisis that crosses your door
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    and thrive and grow in it because God is going to be with you
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    and moving you through the process.
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    We don't have to burn in the fires of crisis.
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    We can be forged and refined
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    and God never abandons us to the flames
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    if we're willing to step out of our comfort zone.
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    So, your skateboard is out there,
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    but it's up to you to find it and go for it.
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    You might just find a life transformed
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    and a community to call home.
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    So be brave, stay wild, and live rad. Thank you.
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    Ephesians 2:8 tells us:
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    In the middle of a stressful time it can be easy
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    to forget these words and instead live like
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    maybe we just need to do some work to save ourselves.
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    Let's worship today as a reminder
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    that God's grace for us is unending.
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    - Hi, my name is Stephen Mansfield,
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    and I want to talk to you about faith
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    and leading in times of crisis.
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    There are roles in this world
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    that aren't that affected directly by faith.
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    A computer programmer might be a better person
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    of character, a more patient person if they have faith.
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    But how they program a computer
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    is not directly affected by their faith.
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    However, leadership is not in that category.
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    Let me give you a definition of leadership
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    and then we can talk about what exactly faith does
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    to that role of leadership.
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    Leadership is elevating people.
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    Leadership is in some form elevating people,
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    lifting them out of their circumstances,
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    inspiring them to accomplish more.
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    And every aspect of that is transformed by faith.
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    I'm certainly not saying that
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    a person who doesn't have faith can't lead,
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    but there's no question that the main characteristics,
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    the main traits that lead to leadership greatness
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    are faith inspired.
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    And this is even more the case during times of crisis
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    when most great leadership is measured.
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    So let's talk about seven factors, seven features
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    of a kind of a faith-based leadership in a time of crisis.
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    And I going to tell you right now that
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    I'm going to invoke Winston Churchill a great deal.
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    He's a hero of mine.
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    He tops almost every list of great leaders from the last century.
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    And he's a great person to use as a model.
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    So what's one of the things, let's say the first thing
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    that faith allows us to do in times of crisis?
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    Well, the first thing it does is allow us to invoke destiny.
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    I'm reminded that when Winston Churchill was appointed
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    as the prime minister right before World War II,
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    he later wrote, he said, "I felt like I was walking with destiny
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    and that all my prior trials
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    had been but preparation for this moment."
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    That's how we have to think as believers,
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    as Christians, as people connected to God,
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    because God is a God who sets destinies.
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    So a person who is a person of faith in this case
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    can do something that a person who's not of faith can't do,
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    unfortunately, and that's invoke destiny.
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    Most great leaders invoked destiny,
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    not only in their own lives, their own souls,
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    but also invoke destiny before the people.
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    Winston Churchill would stand up before the British people
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    during World War II and he would say,
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    "We are destined for this fight."
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    He believe the British people were destined to fight that
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    and he called that out of them.
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    So it's not just a technique,
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    it's not just a political technique.
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    But when you're a person of faith
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    leading through a time of crisis, whether it's Coronavirus
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    or season of racial upheaval or whatever
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    we're dealing with in our generation at a given moment,
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    you believe that if you're going through it,
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    you're destined for it.
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    There's another one and that -- and this is something
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    that many leaders don't do.
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    I strongly urge you to do it, and that is define victory.
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    People battle, people improve for a vision.
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    We overcome a pandemic out of vision.
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    We do great things.
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    We sacrifice great things because somebody
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    has painted a vision of victory.
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    Winston Churchill used to say to the British people,
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    "They will say, this was our finest hour.
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    A thousand years from now, they will say
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    this was our finest hour
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    because this is what victory looks like.
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    Victory looks like a free people,
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    victory looks like children free to choose their own path.
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    Victory looks like this."
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    He constantly painted in brilliant verbal colors
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    what the future looks like.
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    I remember even in my own life when I had a health crisis
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    early in my life and someone said,
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    "You know, if you overcome this,
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    if you'll fight to overcome this,
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    you will be so much better off down the road."
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    And I stopped giving myself to self-pity
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    and rose up against it, believing that the future was great.
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    Why? Because someone defined victory.
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    The next thing is a leader has to redefine hardship.
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    Many people believe that what's hard is evil.
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    If it's difficult, it's bad.
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    If it's difficult, it's automatically evil
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    and should somehow be avoided.
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    But that's not the way life works.
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    What a great leader's got to do,
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    you have to redefine what hardship is.
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    You've got to change that sense of suffering.
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    It's what every football coach does.
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    It's what every trainer does in every sport,
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    rather than you thinking, "Oh, if it gets painful
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    or hard when I'm lifting weights, I should stop immediately."
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    No, what do coaches say?
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    "It's the pain that creates the gain."
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    The hardship we're going through is the price we pay
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    for the victory we're going to have.
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    That's nothing more than what is said
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    constantly throughout Scripture:
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    though all who live godly in Christ Jesus
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    shall suffer persecution and hardship.
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    You must go through many hardships to enter the Kingdom.
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    It's a core principle of life.
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    There's a fourth thing that is absolutely essential,
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    and that is to determine reality.
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    I do a lot of advising of leaders.
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    I do a lot of advising of companies.
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    One of the hardest things is
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    to get people to arrive at situational reality.
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    What's the truth? What are the facts?
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    I'll go in and consult with a leader or a company
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    or a cause, and I'll just ask simple questions.
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    Give me the big fat crayon number of how much money you have.
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    "Oh, we got plenty of money. No problem. No sweat."
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    When you actually get down to it, you find out
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    they're in financial crisis and nobody has faced it.
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    For a Christian or for a person who's connected to God
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    in leadership, all truth is God's truth.
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    Sometimes people think that if you're a person of faith,
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    well, then you smear over reality
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    with kind of a smear of faith.
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    No. A person of faith who is connected to God,
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    the God who created the world, the God of facts,
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    the God of reality says, "No, this is reality.
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    And we're going to know it and we're going to proceed from here."
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    Whatever the situation is, tell me what it is
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    so that we with God can begin there.
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    So always attempt to determine situational reality.
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    It's absolutely critical.
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    One of my favorite is the use of humor.
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    Now, I'm fully aware that people without faith can use humor
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    and some of them use it very, very well.
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    But a great student of humor, a scholar of humor
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    once said that humor explores the gap between
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    what is and what ought to be.
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    And the reason a person of faith can use humor in a great way
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    is that they are connected to what ought to be.
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    And as I've just said about situational reality,
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    they have a strong connection to where things actually are.
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    So they live in that gap between the way things are,
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    but the way things they ought to be.
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    And they know that they're meant to lead people that way.
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    Quick story from Winston Churchill.
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    Winston Churchill, beginning of World War II,
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    is visiting the White House.
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    He's been accused by a lot of people in Congress
  • 00:22:27
    of inflating what he needed from the United States:
  • 00:22:29
    material, ships, supplies and so on.
  • 00:22:32
    So he's been accused of hiding things.
  • 00:22:34
    President Roosevelt is his advocate,
  • 00:22:36
    but he's being besieged by Congress who doesn't quite trust him.
  • 00:22:40
    Churchill used to take baths in the middle of the day.
  • 00:22:43
    So one day he's emerging from the bath.
  • 00:22:46
    You have to picture Churchill, pink and bulbous,
  • 00:22:49
    and with a towel wrapped around him, still dripping wet.
  • 00:22:52
    And Roosevelt is asked to be wheeled in to meet with him.
  • 00:22:55
    Roosevelt comes into his room,
  • 00:22:57
    sees that he's emerging from the bath.
  • 00:22:59
    Roosevelt is kind of an aristocratic New Englander.
  • 00:23:01
    He said, "Oh, gosh, wheel me out, wheel me out."
  • 00:23:03
    Churchill goes, "Mr. President," and he pulls the towel away.
  • 00:23:09
    He says, "I have nothing to hide
  • 00:23:11
    from the president of the United States."
  • 00:23:13
    Churchill knew that that would get repeated.
  • 00:23:14
    He knew that Roosevelt himself would tell that story.
  • 00:23:18
    He knew that would circulate all through Congress
  • 00:23:21
    and make the point he was trying to make.
  • 00:23:24
    And those who are humorless often don't have
  • 00:23:27
    the impact they could have because
  • 00:23:29
    they're not helping a people with a smile
  • 00:23:31
    explore the difference between what is and what ought to be.
  • 00:23:35
    The sixth one in my in my little list of seven
  • 00:23:38
    is embody the change.
  • 00:23:40
    Because faith-based leadership in a time of crisis
  • 00:23:46
    is not a matter of urging others
  • 00:23:48
    to do what the leader won't do.
  • 00:23:50
    The leader ought to be the greatest example of those things.
  • 00:23:54
    So if we're asking people at a given time of crisis
  • 00:23:57
    to sacrifice, the leader is the one who has to embody the change.
  • 00:24:02
    Again, Winston Churchill, my favorite illustration,
  • 00:24:04
    he was an exemplar.
  • 00:24:06
    He sacrificed food.
  • 00:24:07
    He taught, he made he made humorous comments and speeches
  • 00:24:10
    about, "I sure will be glad when this war is over,
  • 00:24:12
    I can get back to smoking the good cigars,"
  • 00:24:14
    or whatever kind of castoff comments.
  • 00:24:16
    And everybody was dealing with it.
  • 00:24:18
    Everybody was dealing with a lesser beer,
  • 00:24:19
    lesser quality of food, you know, no rubber, no other things,
  • 00:24:22
    you know, things that we had to go to the war effort.
  • 00:24:25
    But Churchill had fun with that, but he showed the people,
  • 00:24:28
    he allow the people to see that
  • 00:24:29
    he was going through the same deprivation that they were.
  • 00:24:32
    So you embody the change. You live out the values.
  • 00:24:36
    And then finally, for a faith-based leader going through crisis,
  • 00:24:40
    there's this very important principle
  • 00:24:42
    that I call remember the poetry.
  • 00:24:44
    People are spirits. People are alive.
  • 00:24:48
    People need to be inspired.
  • 00:24:51
    People need to have poetry living in their souls.
  • 00:24:55
    So a faith leader, a leader of faith going through time of crisis
  • 00:25:00
    understands that people are living off of inner resources
  • 00:25:05
    as they go through the crisis.
  • 00:25:07
    They need to be inspired. They need to be encouraged.
  • 00:25:10
    They need to be shown the higher vision.
  • 00:25:14
    They need to be reminded of who they are and be able
  • 00:25:17
    to live out powerfully certain visions and certain values.
  • 00:25:21
    When we no longer are feeling the poetry, the life,
  • 00:25:25
    the sacrifice, the devotion.
  • 00:25:28
    If we're disconnected from the poetry of it,
  • 00:25:30
    then we're not going to be inspirational leaders.
  • 00:25:32
    And so we have to remember the poetry.
  • 00:25:35
    You are going to be living through crisis.
  • 00:25:37
    It comes to every generation.
  • 00:25:39
    We're in it now, we'll be in it again.
  • 00:25:42
    Our generation is crying out for this kind of leadership:
  • 00:25:46
    people of faith who aren't narrow,
  • 00:25:49
    but who are passionate and alive and aware,
  • 00:25:52
    one hand on God and the other devoted to elevating people.
  • 00:25:56
    So be an elevating leader in a time of crisis
  • 00:26:02
    and fulfill what you're made to fulfill.
  • 00:26:06
    - I hope something in you is sparked today
  • 00:26:09
    and God start something new in your life.
  • 00:26:11
    I know for me one new thing that I started a long time ago
  • 00:26:15
    was giving my money as a way to honor God.
  • 00:26:18
    These Spark Talks and everything else we do at Crossroads
  • 00:26:21
    is really only made possible because normal people
  • 00:26:23
    like you and I choose to give our money here
  • 00:26:25
    to what we see God doing in and through this community.
  • 00:26:28
    I feel great about that.
  • 00:26:29
    And if you're with me, well done.
  • 00:26:32
    If you want to join our team of givers,
  • 00:26:35
    all you have to do is visit Crossroads.net/give
  • 00:26:38
    or pick up the phone that I know is right beside you
  • 00:26:41
    and text the word Crossroads to 313131.
  • 00:26:45
    And another place that God might just spark something new
  • 00:26:49
    is our podcast.
  • 00:26:50
    We don't just do weekends. We do podcasts, too.
  • 00:26:52
    I actually co-host one with a friend of mine named Latasha
  • 00:26:55
    and it's all for women.
  • 00:26:57
    So check out the podcast called IKR
  • 00:26:59
    and the other great ones that we do too.
  • 00:27:03
    - Life is crazier than ever these days.
  • 00:27:05
    You could use some hope, some encouragement, fresh ideas,
  • 00:27:08
    faith driven perspective and maybe even a little bit of laughter.
  • 00:27:12
    We've got you covered.
  • 00:27:14
    Parents, you are not alone.
  • 00:27:16
    Ladies, it's time for some real talk.
  • 00:27:18
    No matter who you are, stop settling.
  • 00:27:21
    No matter what stage of life you're in,
  • 00:27:23
    Crossroads podcasts have something to offer you.
  • 00:27:26
    Find them today on all major podcast platforms.
  • 00:27:43
    - Did you know that snakes could fly?
  • 00:27:46
    Apparently they can and well, they glide more than they fly,
  • 00:27:51
    but what's the difference? They're in the air now.
  • 00:27:54
    You would think this news would surprise me, but it's 2020, right?
  • 00:27:57
    Hi, my name is Jessica Brown and I'm a morning news anchor.
  • 00:28:01
    I tell stories.
  • 00:28:02
    Stories that might surprise you,
  • 00:28:04
    stories that might inspire you, stories that might
  • 00:28:07
    just give you resources that you need to know
  • 00:28:09
    and stories that you may not even want to hear.
  • 00:28:12
    It's a job that I really love
  • 00:28:13
    and it really is a responsibility that I take seriously.
  • 00:28:17
    I work mornings, so if you're wondering what that means for me,
  • 00:28:21
    I'm up while you're probably in your second dream,
  • 00:28:23
    2:30 in the morning, I'm awake.
  • 00:28:27
    I'm up getting ready for work and I'm on air at 4:30
  • 00:28:30
    for six and a half hours of nonstop news.
  • 00:28:34
    It's a long day. It's a lot to take in.
  • 00:28:38
    But the mornings are fun because you get to have a little fun.
  • 00:28:41
    That's why I like those hours.
  • 00:28:43
    You get to have some interaction,
  • 00:28:45
    you get to hang out with your coworkers,
  • 00:28:47
    and you get to have some moments to smile.
  • 00:28:51
    Lately, though, there hasn't been a lot of fun happening.
  • 00:28:55
    There's been nothing but, it seems like, doom and gloom.
  • 00:29:00
    It feels like the world's ending; doesn't it?
  • 00:29:02
    You've got the pandemic.
  • 00:29:04
    You've got crisis after crisis, it feels.
  • 00:29:07
    And we're in the middle of an election time.
  • 00:29:09
    It's a lot to take. I get it.
  • 00:29:11
    And I'm someone who likes order.
  • 00:29:12
    And I'm not talking about order like
  • 00:29:14
    organized shoes in your closet order or color coded order.
  • 00:29:18
    I'm talking methodical order.
  • 00:29:20
    2020 has been the opposite. It's been messy.
  • 00:29:24
    Just when we're starting to kind of navigate this,
  • 00:29:27
    trying to figure things out.
  • 00:29:29
    We're kind of getting an idea of how
  • 00:29:31
    things are going to look with this pandemic,
  • 00:29:34
    boom, George Floyd happens.
  • 00:29:38
    That one hit me in the gut.
  • 00:29:39
    That one was heavy for me in an already heavy time.
  • 00:29:44
    The weekend of the protests,
  • 00:29:46
    the first round of protests that happened in the city,
  • 00:29:48
    I remember being at home and being emotionally depleted.
  • 00:29:58
    It was the worst.
  • 00:29:59
    I made up my mind right then and there.
  • 00:30:00
    I said, "You know what? I got to turn it off.
  • 00:30:02
    I need a break, too.
  • 00:30:05
    I'm not going to work on Monday.
  • 00:30:06
    No one's going to make me feel bad about it.
  • 00:30:08
    I'm not going into work on Monday.
  • 00:30:10
    I can't go into work on Monday."
  • 00:30:12
    I felt just so spent Sunday night.
  • 00:30:16
    I was on the verge of calling my boss to be like,
  • 00:30:19
    "I'm not coming in."
  • 00:30:20
    And I felt this nudge that I needed to show up.
  • 00:30:26
    I just felt like I needed to make sure I was there.
  • 00:30:29
    I'm the only black person on air
  • 00:30:32
    in the mornings on my show, my small team.
  • 00:30:35
    I needed to be there.
  • 00:30:37
    I needed to be there to ask questions.
  • 00:30:40
    I needed to be there to give context.
  • 00:30:41
    I needed to be there to give, you know, background
  • 00:30:44
    that maybe might have been missed. Don't know.
  • 00:30:46
    But I know for me, I felt like I needed to show up.
  • 00:30:51
    So I walked into work on that Monday
  • 00:30:52
    and I'm not going to lie, I didn't have a great day.
  • 00:30:54
    I sometimes couldn't even get the words out
  • 00:30:58
    because how many times can I see
  • 00:31:00
    that video of that officer's knee in George Floyds' neck?
  • 00:31:04
    How many times am I going to see that video
  • 00:31:05
    for six and a half hours?
  • 00:31:07
    It was difficult, but I'm, to be honest,
  • 00:31:12
    I'm super grateful I was there.
  • 00:31:14
    There were so many moments where I had to give context,
  • 00:31:18
    that I gave context and I gave history.
  • 00:31:21
    And I've gotten even some responses from so many viewers
  • 00:31:23
    that were grateful to hear that point of view
  • 00:31:26
    that they never heard before.
  • 00:31:27
    I was grateful to be there, even though I don't want to be there.
  • 00:31:32
    I needed to be a voice in that room and I'm glad I was.
  • 00:31:35
    Did I take Tuesday off?
  • 00:31:36
    "Jess, did you take Tuesday off? You must have."
  • 00:31:38
    No, Tuesday I went to work. Wednesday I went to work.
  • 00:31:40
    Thursday I went to work. Friday. I went to work.
  • 00:31:43
    I felt like I needed to be there.
  • 00:31:44
    One thing I will say I did on Friday,
  • 00:31:46
    I started to unplug social media.
  • 00:31:50
    You know, if there's something that's triggering you,
  • 00:31:52
    something that's making you feel panicky, edgy,
  • 00:31:56
    that's something you have to turn off.
  • 00:31:57
    That is the sign to unplug.
  • 00:32:01
    And I know it might be weird for a news anchor
  • 00:32:03
    to tell you to unplug receiving information,
  • 00:32:06
    but do it if you're at your limit.
  • 00:32:09
    I'm big on getting information.
  • 00:32:11
    I'm big on seeking out information.
  • 00:32:13
    I do not believe in living in a bubble
  • 00:32:14
    that nothing's happening in this world.
  • 00:32:16
    You've got to know what's going on in this world.
  • 00:32:18
    But you also need to be equipped to handle
  • 00:32:20
    when it's being thrown at you from 17 different directions.
  • 00:32:23
    I remember when I mentioned that
  • 00:32:25
    I did not want to go to work that day and went anyway.
  • 00:32:29
    If it was up to me, you know, I would be --
  • 00:32:31
    I'd be in bed and having my moment.
  • 00:32:33
    But I felt like I needed to show up because
  • 00:32:36
    I really feel like it was bigger than me
  • 00:32:38
    why I was feeling that nudge to be there.
  • 00:32:41
    And if you are having a day where you're like,
  • 00:32:44
    I just can't go to work or I can't show up for this
  • 00:32:47
    or I can't do this, and you're feeling that nudge to be there,
  • 00:32:53
    there could be a bigger reason than you can imagine
  • 00:32:56
    that God has for you in that moment.
  • 00:32:58
    And you don't know why, you know, these things happen.
  • 00:33:02
    Why do I have to be uncomfortable in this moment
  • 00:33:04
    or why am I being pushed to do that?
  • 00:33:06
    Sometimes you've got to fight through it
  • 00:33:07
    for a bigger purpose beyond you.
  • 00:33:09
    And I'm here for the purpose.
  • 00:33:11
    or what impact that may have had.
  • 00:33:14
    I mean, I know some.
  • 00:33:15
    I've gotten some responses from some folks
  • 00:33:17
    who learned some things they didn't know
  • 00:33:20
    just from their own experience just because I showed up that day.
  • 00:33:23
    So, I mean, I'm glad I was there.
  • 00:33:26
    And maybe you'll be glad you push through too.
  • 00:33:32
    - Sometimes the world just feels like
  • 00:33:33
    it's spinning all around us.
  • 00:33:35
    I felt that way myself a lot this year.
  • 00:33:38
    That's exactly why we wrote the next song
  • 00:33:40
    that we're going to sing together, to say out loud,
  • 00:33:43
    to remind ourselves and to tell God,
  • 00:33:45
    "We trust You to do things that we are not capable
  • 00:33:48
    of doing and we know that You are able."
  • 00:37:22
    I don't know about you, but I'm actually really grateful
  • 00:37:24
    for some of the stories I've heard and some of the people
  • 00:37:27
    that have spoken during our Spark Talks this year,
  • 00:37:30
    but it doesn't have to end here.
  • 00:37:32
    If you missed one or you heard one that you love
  • 00:37:34
    and you want to share it with friends,
  • 00:37:35
    you can go to Sparktalks.net
  • 00:37:38
    and find every talk you've heard during the series.
  • 00:37:41
    Share away.
  • 00:37:43
    The best way to engage with Crossroads on a regular basis
  • 00:37:47
    is actually to download the Crossroads app.
  • 00:37:49
    I'm in there every day.
  • 00:37:50
    You can read the Bible with our community.
  • 00:37:52
    You can pray for one another.
  • 00:37:54
    It's just a great way to have a part
  • 00:37:56
    of your spiritual journey happening right in your phone,
  • 00:37:59
    right in your hand all the time.
  • 00:38:02
    If you want to engage with a real person in our community,
  • 00:38:05
    you can go to Sparktalks.net and actually find
  • 00:38:08
    a real guide to walk you into the next part of your adventure.
  • 00:38:13
    And I don't know what that's going to be.
  • 00:38:14
    I don't know what 2020 holds, but I feel better prepared
  • 00:38:18
    as a result of the Spark Talks series.
  • 00:38:20
    So join us next week for whatever is coming next.
  • 00:38:26
    - Thanks for watching.
  • 00:38:27
    and I want to help you go on your spiritual adventure.
  • 00:38:31
    We have a community of people that gathers online
  • 00:38:33
    to go on an adventure together through processing
  • 00:38:36
    the weekend message and applying it week in and week out.
  • 00:38:40
    We call this weekend follow up groups
  • 00:38:42
    and you can join one today from anywhere you are
  • 00:38:44
    by heading to Crossroads.net/onlinecommunity.
  • 00:38:48
    It might just be the thing that takes you
  • 00:38:49
    to the next place on your adventure with God.
  • 00:38:52
    We'll see you next week.

Aug 22, 2020

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