Today, I’m off to one of my favorite events: the Catalyst West conference. I’m excited to learn, to be encouraged, and to be inspired. One of my mentors, Anthony Pangilinan, uses the word “disturbed” quite often as something that needs to happen to every leader, and as scary as it sounds, I hope to be disturbed in these next few days as well.

I want to share with you the description of this year’s conference theme, which I pulled from the website (the theme is incredibly appropriate for me and my word of the year):

Take Courage
Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the LORD. Psalms 31:24

As leaders, it is inevitable we will arrive at a specific moment where God calls us to something bigger than ourselves.  We receive a divine glimpse of the future and discern what we were created for. Time suddenly stands still as we ponder the question: What if? What if God is inviting us to play our unique role in the advancement of His Kingdom? We have arrived at the place where our design and the worlds needs meet and we now have a choice to make.  We know God has granted us influence in our community and the responsibility is now on our shoulders to lead.

However, there must be something more than an overwhelming awareness of a call. Action is required. We are being stretched. We are being challenged. We are being tested. We must be willing to take a risk. We must be willing to answer the call. Often this is where we count the costs, decide they are too high, and retreat. We are sidetracked by legitimate fears and our vision loses momentum. New Ideas have lost their emotion. Our fears have overtaken our faith and we turn back from the dream – resisting the unknown.

We must push through this fear in order for true kingdom change to take place. We must overcome. What if we fully embraced the life to which we’ve been entrusted and the journey to which we’ve been called? What if we broke free from our comfort zones and stepped into all we were created to be? He will use us to change the world.

He is good. His name is faithful and true. He can be trusted. He will be with you.
Take Courage.