family vacation and the leadership summit

originally uploaded to flickr by leadershipsummit2009

my husband and i just returned from a lovely family vacation - an annual summer tradition where all eleven of my immediate family members spend the week together relaxing, reading, swimming, shopping, chatting, playing games and laughing!  i look forward to this vacation every summer because it is always a rich time of just being together.

every couple of years the annual family vacation occurs during the week of the willow creek leadership summit (as it did this year) and we have to miss this fantastic leadership event. i attended my first leadership summit at willow when i was 16 years old as a volunteer in the promiseland ministry - with the exception of a few years while on family vacation - i've attended every year since. as a leader - i absolutely love the experience of being surrounded with fellow leaders and being challenged to think in fresh ways.

since i missed this year's event - i've been pouring over blogs, and tweets, and facebook pictures - so that i might experience just a taste of the summit. in case you missed it too - here are a few of my favorites:

"finding leaders for ministry is not the problem, the challenge is creating a culture that thrives without super humans at the top."  - bill hybels

"tolerance for failure is critical if you hope to achieve change." - dan & chip Heath

"learn to be positive deviants." - gary Hamel

"there is always resistance in the journey to equality" - bono

"if you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together." - david gergen

some of my favorite blog recaps: drew from nyc, taylor birkey, greg cox, tim schrader and check out the flickr pics and summit next steps.

i read several tweets from people hoping for more female leadership representation. i agree! and desperately wish, not only for the summit but for our churches that we realize that growing need for women to lead in this current context.

i'm still searching for children's ministry blogs - leaders who were inspired by the summit and are applying the lessons to children's ministry. if you have seen any - please send them my way!

overall it sounds like summit 2009 was a great experience - what was the best moment for you?