Into the 2nd Half

The locker room at halftime is a time to assess, encourage, challenge, refine the orginial plans and figure out how to make the second half better than the first. The opponent brought some new plays, tried some different things than were seen on the game film. Halftime is a time for shifting.

I feel like I've come out of the locker room and begun my second half. This past week back has been filled with re-connecting, sharing stories, listening to plans that have been made and some difficulties that have been encountered.

My personal focus has been on resisting old routines. In this unique, once in a lifetime opportunity, I don't want to simply go back to the first half when not everything in the first half worked.

Now is the time to apply some lessons from the summer. So I made a choice to concentrate on my calendar, applying three lessons I learned this summer as I create something new.


I have a quote on my desk, sitting next to a compass:

It's the compass that matters more than the calendar. It's the direction you're going that matters more than the speed with which you are getting there.

Lesson 1 - mornings are my best time for study and writing. Over the next few weeks I'm going to discuss with staff some changes to what has been our "normal" schedule.

I have found that if I push off my study and writing time to the afternoon, it becomes sporadic and frankly just not that good.

Lesson 2 - I need to read. I've known it and I've read about it but over the last few years reading got lost in my calendar. Leaders are learners and one of the best ways to learn is to read. I've established a goal of reading books to grow my mind, my heart and my health. Theology, spiritual life, physical health and the Colonial era are the kinds of books I either enjoy or I need. But there is another piece - reading out of my discipline. Innovative leaders want to know how others think and operate in other fields.

Lesson 3 - White space is important.

In his book, The Next Level, Scott Eblin writes about white space on your calendar. Eblin says that research shows those who have white space have a greater ability to think creatively and strategically. Prior to reaching the executive level your calendar might have been filled with meetings, lots of meetings. But if meetings fill the executives life there will be no room for first thinking, second creating and third making those decisions that come to you.

As I create this 2nd half calendar, I'm leaving white space.

Where are you going? What is filling your calendar? Is yoru calendar taking you where you want to go?

I love being back at Cornerstone. I said it in May and I still believe it - Cornerstone is the best church I know. We're not perfect. We've got our issues. But God's Spirit is at work in and through us. I'm excited about what is next.