So today we started our second semester of LAUNCH, and this semester we're doing Leader Treks. So today for our first lesson we had to come up with a definition of leadership as a group. We also had a few quotes about leadership to help us along in the defining process. So our assignment for today was to ask three people outside of class read and tell us what they thought about our definition of leadership, pick one of the quotes that we didn't like and one that we did like, and thirdly, we had to choose a leader and tell why you like them.
First our definition of leadership is having influence over followers.
So I asked Judy, Steve, and Michelle in the office at camp. Judy thought that we might have wanted to include how you influence because people will be more likely to follow someone who leads through caring and compassion rather than through intimidation. Steve talked about whether you are having a positive or negative influence on someone, and Michelle really really liked our definition. She did say that we may have wanted to phrase it some other way than "followers" just to try and make people sound more like people.
I think that my favorite quote tht we read today was, "In order to be a leader a man must have followers. And to have followers, a man must have their confidence. Hence the supreme quality for a leader is unquestionably integrity." -Dwight D. Eisenhower. Now I couldn't really find one that I disliked or disagreed with, so I just went with " Trust is the essence of leadership" -Colin Powell.
As for the leader I admire, I chose Col. Robert Gould Shaw, commending officer of the 54th Massachusets Volunteer Regiment in the American Civil war. Shaw was the commanding officer of the 54th Massachusetts, an entirely colored regiment. It's incredible to think that he agreed to lead these men when the President of the Confederacy had promised the death sentence to any captured white officers of a colored regiment. The volunteers signed up under the impression that they would be paid the same as the white soldiers. But when the colored volunteers were paid nearly half as much, Shaw led a boycott of payment until the government agreed to pay them the same as the white soldiers. Col. Shaw never saw the day that his men were paid equally because he was killed leading his regiment into battle at Fort Wagner on July 18, 1863. It was reported that Col. Shaw was killed leading the charge when his regiment hesistated in the face of heavy fire. His body was stripped and robbed before being thrown into a mass grave along with the rest of the soldiers killed at Fort Wagner. Usually an officer's body would be sent back for a proper burial, but because he was the CO of a colored unit, the Confederates buried him like a common soldier. This man possessed great courage and the willingness to face death to lead his men. If you like Civil war stuff and found this interesting then I would recommend that you watch the movie "Glory". It depicts the journey of Col. Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts regiment.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Twin Lakes Christian Center
Today we (LAUNCH) went to Twin Lakes Christian Center (TLCC) in northwest Iowa to visit their camp.
TLCC was started back in the 1950's when the Covenant churches decided they wanted their own camp.
They have 65 acres near Manson, Iowa of quite flat, windy land. They are situated on a lake (with another smaller one close by, hence the name), and can hold up to 200 people at once. The biggest draw to Twin Lakes is the lake that they are connected to. They utilize the lake very well all year long with sking, tubing, and wakeboarding in the summer along with a couple slides. In the winter they use the lake for toboganning, skating, and probably coolest of all, kiting. Now, kiting is way cooler than it sounds. It's not just a regular kite but one of the ones that will pull you along when you're on a board or skis. Actually it can pull you a little bit even if you're just standing on the ice; I know. It happened to me today!
The atmosphere of Twin Lakes is much different than that of Hidden Acres, and one of the things that lends to the difference is the fact that there are many different vacation homes placed around the lake. Most of the homes are not occupied during the year, but when they weekends in the summer hit, they are packed along with the lake. They really don't crowd the lake that much during the week when camps are going on, but TLCC does run a wakeboarding camp on the weekends, and that can get a little interesting. But the vacationers are also helpful because some of them choose to send their kids or grandkids to day camp at TLCC, or some of the older gentlemen who don't have all that much to do will volunteer to mow the grass just to have something to do! And sometimes TLCC will drum up some more business from the community when they open their espresso machine to the vacationers.
A couple ideas we could plagiarize from them are perhaps putting an indoor climbing wall in somewhere in our facilities or coming up with some decorations to match the theme for the summer or having a set decor or ambience for our facilities like at Twin Lakes everything is very rustic and barnish.........yeah, it's cool! Overall I really enjoyed TLCC, and I would love to go back some day!
TLCC was started back in the 1950's when the Covenant churches decided they wanted their own camp.
They have 65 acres near Manson, Iowa of quite flat, windy land. They are situated on a lake (with another smaller one close by, hence the name), and can hold up to 200 people at once. The biggest draw to Twin Lakes is the lake that they are connected to. They utilize the lake very well all year long with sking, tubing, and wakeboarding in the summer along with a couple slides. In the winter they use the lake for toboganning, skating, and probably coolest of all, kiting. Now, kiting is way cooler than it sounds. It's not just a regular kite but one of the ones that will pull you along when you're on a board or skis. Actually it can pull you a little bit even if you're just standing on the ice; I know. It happened to me today!
The atmosphere of Twin Lakes is much different than that of Hidden Acres, and one of the things that lends to the difference is the fact that there are many different vacation homes placed around the lake. Most of the homes are not occupied during the year, but when they weekends in the summer hit, they are packed along with the lake. They really don't crowd the lake that much during the week when camps are going on, but TLCC does run a wakeboarding camp on the weekends, and that can get a little interesting. But the vacationers are also helpful because some of them choose to send their kids or grandkids to day camp at TLCC, or some of the older gentlemen who don't have all that much to do will volunteer to mow the grass just to have something to do! And sometimes TLCC will drum up some more business from the community when they open their espresso machine to the vacationers.
A couple ideas we could plagiarize from them are perhaps putting an indoor climbing wall in somewhere in our facilities or coming up with some decorations to match the theme for the summer or having a set decor or ambience for our facilities like at Twin Lakes everything is very rustic and barnish.........yeah, it's cool! Overall I really enjoyed TLCC, and I would love to go back some day!
Monday, January 23, 2012
Can't see what's right in front of my face!
So today I had basically all day to myself and my thoughts, and it took me until about 3:30 to come up with anything deeper than the lyrics to Josh Kelley's song Naleigh Moon (which by the way is a GREAT song). But when I did have a deep thought it was about the study we are doing in LAUNCH called Truefaced. I;ve talked about Truefaced here before, but I'll explain about it a little again. Truefaced is about being real and taking off the masks that we hide behind. Something that it talks about is the "rooms" that we all live in. There are two different rooms; the room of good intentions where you try to live a better life on your own power. Then there's the room of Grace where we have all our problems out in the open and we work on them with Jesus at our side helping us. The way we get to the room of Grace is through humility, trusting God and others with who we really are. One day in class I mentioned that I hadn't ever heard of any of this, and they weren't using any scripture to back up what they were saying. Our teacher then informed me that he has a whole cd of another guy preaching about this stuff with boatloads of scripture.
Now to my significant thought of the day! I was thinking about all of that stuff I just talked about when Micah 6:8 popped into my head. It says, "He has shown you O man what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." Did you pick up on that last part? "Walk humbly with your God." What I'm learning this year has been staring me in the face my whole life. I've tried and tried and tried to work my way free of sin, but that is not what God wants of me! What He wants, no requires, is to WALK HUMBLY WITH HIM through life. What a thought!
Now to my significant thought of the day! I was thinking about all of that stuff I just talked about when Micah 6:8 popped into my head. It says, "He has shown you O man what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." Did you pick up on that last part? "Walk humbly with your God." What I'm learning this year has been staring me in the face my whole life. I've tried and tried and tried to work my way free of sin, but that is not what God wants of me! What He wants, no requires, is to WALK HUMBLY WITH HIM through life. What a thought!
Sunday, January 22, 2012
It's really not that bad :)
So today was Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. I don't really know what all this Sunday means or implies, but it's basically just celebrating human life and bringing awareness to options other than abortion. At least that's what I pick up every year.
I went home this weekend with a few things on my mind and a realization that real life isn't all roses and fun stuff like you believe when you're a little kid. I had been saying that real life just kinda stinks because I've got issues to deal with and decisions about college and relationships. But if you think about all the children who were never given the opportunity to live their lives, there's really not that much that we can complain about. Just think about all the living that we get to do because our mothers were commited to life. Think about every feeling, excruciating or joyful, every thought, brilliant or mundane, and every action, exciting or ordinary, that you have gotten to experience and learn from because you are alive. How grateful should we be for every moment we are alive, and instead I waste time complaining about how hard life is and what a pain real life is. Real life is real life; there's not much I can do about the stuff that just happens, but what I can do is be grateful for my life and make the most of it, maybe by helping others to choose life for their children or maybe in something else.
So yeah, that's really all I have to say, just be grateful for your life and don't waste it. God gave you life for a reason!
I went home this weekend with a few things on my mind and a realization that real life isn't all roses and fun stuff like you believe when you're a little kid. I had been saying that real life just kinda stinks because I've got issues to deal with and decisions about college and relationships. But if you think about all the children who were never given the opportunity to live their lives, there's really not that much that we can complain about. Just think about all the living that we get to do because our mothers were commited to life. Think about every feeling, excruciating or joyful, every thought, brilliant or mundane, and every action, exciting or ordinary, that you have gotten to experience and learn from because you are alive. How grateful should we be for every moment we are alive, and instead I waste time complaining about how hard life is and what a pain real life is. Real life is real life; there's not much I can do about the stuff that just happens, but what I can do is be grateful for my life and make the most of it, maybe by helping others to choose life for their children or maybe in something else.
So yeah, that's really all I have to say, just be grateful for your life and don't waste it. God gave you life for a reason!
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
components of an effective team
so this assignment is about what it takes to have a good team. we went through 8 components of an effective team in class today, and we are suppose to summarize them for you. we also got a few worksheets about those components rating our team (LAUNCH) on the 8 components. for the second and third parts of the blog, we have to say which component we think that LAUNCH does best at and which component we think that we do worst at. "SO LET'S DO THIS THING!!!"
component #1: Direction: direction is basically where are we going, how are we gonna get there, what's gonna help us and what's gonna hurt us?
component #2: Talent: talent is basically do you have the skills needed to do what this team does, are those talents known and are they being developed?
component #3: Work Process: work process is how do we do what we do?
component #4: Roles: roles is knowing where you fit and what you're supposed to do.
component #5: Team Process: team process is basically how the team communicates with each other.
component#6: Team Norms: team norms are the regular behavior patterns and communication styles within the team.
component #7: Reinforcement: reinforcement is basically encouragement.
component #8: External Relations: external relations is basically where do we fit in the big picture.
i think that our team really doesn't do all that well at reinforcement or encouragement. it's not that we're always tearing each other down; we just don't speak up and praise someone when they do something well. that can be fixed though by simply paying attention and intentionally complimenting each other on a good job.
i think that we definitely do external relations well. we know exactly where we are on the "food chain" (at the bottom) and all of us (i'm pretty sure) embrace our roles and don't mind them at all.
component #1: Direction: direction is basically where are we going, how are we gonna get there, what's gonna help us and what's gonna hurt us?
component #2: Talent: talent is basically do you have the skills needed to do what this team does, are those talents known and are they being developed?
component #3: Work Process: work process is how do we do what we do?
component #4: Roles: roles is knowing where you fit and what you're supposed to do.
component #5: Team Process: team process is basically how the team communicates with each other.
component#6: Team Norms: team norms are the regular behavior patterns and communication styles within the team.
component #7: Reinforcement: reinforcement is basically encouragement.
component #8: External Relations: external relations is basically where do we fit in the big picture.
i think that our team really doesn't do all that well at reinforcement or encouragement. it's not that we're always tearing each other down; we just don't speak up and praise someone when they do something well. that can be fixed though by simply paying attention and intentionally complimenting each other on a good job.
i think that we definitely do external relations well. we know exactly where we are on the "food chain" (at the bottom) and all of us (i'm pretty sure) embrace our roles and don't mind them at all.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
social styles
ok, so in class todayand yesterday we were talking about behavior styles or personality traits or something along those lines, i can't quite remember what they're called, and i didn't write them down. however our assignment is to assess ourselves and see where we land on the personality chart.
the first criteria is about responsiveness, between control and emote (definition: to express emotion especially in an excessive and theatrical manner). it's basically, do you let your emotions dicide things for you or do you think about things objectively. i don't think that i generally lean one way or the other. maybe i just don't know myself very well, but i think i'm pretty close to right in the middle of them.
the second criteria or whatever is about assertiveness, between asking and telling. it's basically do you tell people what you're doing or just simply talk to let people know that you're there, or are you a quiet person and don't really make yourself known or your opinion heard. i'm pretty sure that i fall farther on the side of asking or not really talking all that much.
now in the curriculum there was a cool little diagram with an x-axis and a y-axis. on the right side is "tell", the top "control", on the left "ask", and on the bottom "emote". now i know that i fall one side of asking, and i'm realy close to the middle of control and emote. i would have to say that i fall closer to the emote side of the diagram than the control side, which means that i'm called an "amiable" more than an "analytical". i have characteristics of both, but i think i have more of the amiables than analyticals. the strengths of an amiable that i feel apply to me in the area of emotions are being calm, cool, and collected, being patient and well balanced, and i think i have a pretty consistent life. as a parent (even though i'm not a parent yet) i can't really tell how i'd be with children.......or children of my own. at work i think that i'm pretty competent and steady, i don't really mediate problems, but i don't actively try to make problems in fact i try to avoid conflict a lot, and i think that i'm pretty good under pressure. and as a friend i think i'm pretty easy to get along with, i don't talk a whole lot which i guess means i'm listening a lot, but sometimes i don't really listen, i just look like i might be (yes, mom i guess you're right), and i do have a lot of friends, but i don't have a lot of really GOOD friends. my weaknesses being an amiable person with emotions are that i can appear unenthusiastic, i can be indecisive about things mostly just because i really don't care one way or the other about most things, i suppose that i could be seen as self righteous sometimes which i suppose i can be at times. as a parent you i really don't know yet, but i do know that with my cubbies students i am pretty lax on discipline and my room is the loudest and probably the most unorganized, and i do think that i could look like i take life too casually. at work i suppose i'm not goal oriented i just do whatever job i'm told to do, i don't really like change, but i won't resist it mostly because other people know more than i do and i don't really speak up a whole lot either. as a friend i can see myself appearing uninvolved and indifferent to plans mostly because i don't care what we do and think that if anyone has strong opinions about them they should have there way, i can judge others unfairly, but i'm starting to try and correct that realizing that everyone has their own issues and who am i to look down on anyone, and YES, i can DEFINITELY be sarcastic and teasing AT TIMES.......just once in a while ;)
and when i'm interacting with other social styles i should try to speak up a bit more and if i disagree realize that that is ok and someone might miss out on something if i don't speak up, but i do have to learn how to offer my opinion graciously and not too forcefully.
the first criteria is about responsiveness, between control and emote (definition: to express emotion especially in an excessive and theatrical manner). it's basically, do you let your emotions dicide things for you or do you think about things objectively. i don't think that i generally lean one way or the other. maybe i just don't know myself very well, but i think i'm pretty close to right in the middle of them.
the second criteria or whatever is about assertiveness, between asking and telling. it's basically do you tell people what you're doing or just simply talk to let people know that you're there, or are you a quiet person and don't really make yourself known or your opinion heard. i'm pretty sure that i fall farther on the side of asking or not really talking all that much.
now in the curriculum there was a cool little diagram with an x-axis and a y-axis. on the right side is "tell", the top "control", on the left "ask", and on the bottom "emote". now i know that i fall one side of asking, and i'm realy close to the middle of control and emote. i would have to say that i fall closer to the emote side of the diagram than the control side, which means that i'm called an "amiable" more than an "analytical". i have characteristics of both, but i think i have more of the amiables than analyticals. the strengths of an amiable that i feel apply to me in the area of emotions are being calm, cool, and collected, being patient and well balanced, and i think i have a pretty consistent life. as a parent (even though i'm not a parent yet) i can't really tell how i'd be with children.......or children of my own. at work i think that i'm pretty competent and steady, i don't really mediate problems, but i don't actively try to make problems in fact i try to avoid conflict a lot, and i think that i'm pretty good under pressure. and as a friend i think i'm pretty easy to get along with, i don't talk a whole lot which i guess means i'm listening a lot, but sometimes i don't really listen, i just look like i might be (yes, mom i guess you're right), and i do have a lot of friends, but i don't have a lot of really GOOD friends. my weaknesses being an amiable person with emotions are that i can appear unenthusiastic, i can be indecisive about things mostly just because i really don't care one way or the other about most things, i suppose that i could be seen as self righteous sometimes which i suppose i can be at times. as a parent you i really don't know yet, but i do know that with my cubbies students i am pretty lax on discipline and my room is the loudest and probably the most unorganized, and i do think that i could look like i take life too casually. at work i suppose i'm not goal oriented i just do whatever job i'm told to do, i don't really like change, but i won't resist it mostly because other people know more than i do and i don't really speak up a whole lot either. as a friend i can see myself appearing uninvolved and indifferent to plans mostly because i don't care what we do and think that if anyone has strong opinions about them they should have there way, i can judge others unfairly, but i'm starting to try and correct that realizing that everyone has their own issues and who am i to look down on anyone, and YES, i can DEFINITELY be sarcastic and teasing AT TIMES.......just once in a while ;)
and when i'm interacting with other social styles i should try to speak up a bit more and if i disagree realize that that is ok and someone might miss out on something if i don't speak up, but i do have to learn how to offer my opinion graciously and not too forcefully.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
New life.....even if it doesn't look like it ;)
in my last blog post i mentioned the study called Truefaced that LAUNCH is going through right now. i just read something from it last night that gave me hope and really made me want to share it with anyone who might happen to think that reading this could be worthwhile.
"if we brought a caterpillar to a biologist and asked him to analyze it and describe it's DNA he would say, "i know that this looks like a caterpillar to you, but scientifically, according to every test, including DNA, this is fully and completely a butterfly." God has wired into a creature that looks nothing like a butterfly, a perfectly complete butterfly "identity". and because the caterpillar is a butterfly in essence, it will one day display the behavior and attributes of a butterfly. the caterpillar matures into what is already true about it." (TrueFaced p. 47-48)
when i read this the other night, my heart nearly sang to realize that promise from God. now i do have to confess that that came from last week's assigned reading, but i didn't get to it until this week. however, i think that the important thing is that i read it! i also have a little story from today about how that example from nature is coming true in my life!
at the beginning of the year we took some spiritual gifts tests, just to find out about ourselves. so i took them and had my suspicions confirmed that my strongest spiritual gift is service or helps. but what i wasn't expecting was my secondary or weaker gifts being discernment, comforting, and most surprising, prophecy, or speaking truth into a situation. well at the time i agreed with the discernment, and maybe the comforting, but probably not the prophecy because i just do not really like talking all that much in front of other people, let alone saying something that could be controversial. well, today in class we were going through some behavior examples about the way that some people are, and we were sharing about what sort of person we thought we were. i was sitting by quietly, letting everyone else answer the question as i usually do, and i heard someone answer the question, but they're assessment of themself was way off from what i had observed of that person so far in our five months of being here at camp. and all of a sudden i could not keep my mouth shut, and i informed that person that they were not what they thought they were. now, let me be honest, i did not do it in the most gracious way, and i'm sorry for that, but it was also my first time really doing something like that, and i could use a little practice. but i guess that i really do have the gift of speaking truth into a situation. it just hadn't shown itself yet. that doesn't mean that i wasn't gifted in prophecy, it was just that i hadn't had it manifested in my life yet.
it's the same way with a christian's new life in Jesus Christ. after Jesus has saved, we might still look like a non christian or act like a non christian or even smell like a non christian (just kidding, everybody has their own smell regardless of whether they're saved or not). but all of that does not mean that you are not a Christian. if you still struggle with sin even when you're supposed to be a Christian and reflecting the image of Jesus, that doesn't mean that you are a hopeless cause. you are saved, and God sees you as a reflection of His Holy Son. that is who we really are, not what we look like on the outside, but what God says we are on the inside. and one day, someday in the distant future, we'll finally actually reflect our Lord and Savior on the outside just like God says we do!
"if we brought a caterpillar to a biologist and asked him to analyze it and describe it's DNA he would say, "i know that this looks like a caterpillar to you, but scientifically, according to every test, including DNA, this is fully and completely a butterfly." God has wired into a creature that looks nothing like a butterfly, a perfectly complete butterfly "identity". and because the caterpillar is a butterfly in essence, it will one day display the behavior and attributes of a butterfly. the caterpillar matures into what is already true about it." (TrueFaced p. 47-48)
when i read this the other night, my heart nearly sang to realize that promise from God. now i do have to confess that that came from last week's assigned reading, but i didn't get to it until this week. however, i think that the important thing is that i read it! i also have a little story from today about how that example from nature is coming true in my life!
at the beginning of the year we took some spiritual gifts tests, just to find out about ourselves. so i took them and had my suspicions confirmed that my strongest spiritual gift is service or helps. but what i wasn't expecting was my secondary or weaker gifts being discernment, comforting, and most surprising, prophecy, or speaking truth into a situation. well at the time i agreed with the discernment, and maybe the comforting, but probably not the prophecy because i just do not really like talking all that much in front of other people, let alone saying something that could be controversial. well, today in class we were going through some behavior examples about the way that some people are, and we were sharing about what sort of person we thought we were. i was sitting by quietly, letting everyone else answer the question as i usually do, and i heard someone answer the question, but they're assessment of themself was way off from what i had observed of that person so far in our five months of being here at camp. and all of a sudden i could not keep my mouth shut, and i informed that person that they were not what they thought they were. now, let me be honest, i did not do it in the most gracious way, and i'm sorry for that, but it was also my first time really doing something like that, and i could use a little practice. but i guess that i really do have the gift of speaking truth into a situation. it just hadn't shown itself yet. that doesn't mean that i wasn't gifted in prophecy, it was just that i hadn't had it manifested in my life yet.
it's the same way with a christian's new life in Jesus Christ. after Jesus has saved, we might still look like a non christian or act like a non christian or even smell like a non christian (just kidding, everybody has their own smell regardless of whether they're saved or not). but all of that does not mean that you are not a Christian. if you still struggle with sin even when you're supposed to be a Christian and reflecting the image of Jesus, that doesn't mean that you are a hopeless cause. you are saved, and God sees you as a reflection of His Holy Son. that is who we really are, not what we look like on the outside, but what God says we are on the inside. and one day, someday in the distant future, we'll finally actually reflect our Lord and Savior on the outside just like God says we do!
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