I'm in Atlanta the Fourth of July to the sixth for the LifeWay International English Consultants Seminar. Thirteen countries are represented, and I had the privilege of sharing the principles of Jesus On Leadership to this diverse and wonderful group of leaders. I have met new friends from Singapore, Kenya, South Africa and South Korea--not to mention connecting with old friends at LifeWay.One new friend is Barine Kirimi, the Publisher and CEO of Evangel Publishing House, in Nairobi, Kenya. He has recently published his book on leadership, Rediscovering Leadership. We swapped copies of our books and promised to keep in touch. I hope to see him in his home country some day and have him as a guest in mine. Here I am talking with three of the group from South Africa. They were interested in applying JOL to business settings.
Both mornings I got up and rode with Steve Cretin of E3 Partners, who is here with his wife, Ann, who is an international consultant with LifeWay, to downtown Atlanta to run in the Piedmont Park Conservancy, the Central Park of the city. We ran the Park Loop Walk a couple of times and then headed back for the day. It's a beautiful, urban park, and a new place to run whenever I return to the city.I've spent most of my time working on a book Steve Pate and I are writing for Chalice Press, which publishes resources for The Columbia Partnership with whom I am associated through some of my consulting work. We current call it Community-Based Servant Evangelism. The concept was the basis for his D.Min. project and a perfectly matched strategy for what we do at Legacy Church. The contract deadline is August 30th, so, we are humping it to finish before I have to start my other job :) Don't worry. It's not work for me. It's like a guy who loves woodworking who spends all day out back in his workshop building a piece of furniture. It's the good kind of work that leaves you tired and energized at the same time. I'll get you a copy when it comes off the press.
PS Kim is back home guiding Ron Bledsoe and his Paint Paramedics as they paint the interior woodwork. I think I may stay here until we leave for Vancouver!