me.

The Vision: Team-Minded

Sun, 3 Aug 2008 14:26:47 -0500

This and many more posts can be found at:
www.creativerealauthentic.com

I want to share what I have been able to experience over the last several weeks as I have been a part of the Orientation Council here at Belmont University. I shared last time that I have had the opportunity to grab a hold of a whole new understanding of leadership, and furthermore, a whole new vision for my life. I believe that over the last year, but more specifically the last few weeks, I have had the privilege of walking through life in an authentic community of 25 other people. This vision has started to change my life, and the way I interact with others, but most importantly, it has changed the way I believe we, as people, should lead.

I know that many people who read this are most likely in a leadership position in some way, shape, or form... but if not, I trust that we all will experience leadership somewhere, somehow. For some, it may be on a project at school.... or at work... but a lot of us will get a chance to lead in our family, in our friends and around our communities. I think this new vision will have an impact on the way you are able to lead. I want to share that vision with you.

TEAM-MINDED
Our schedule this summer was pretty tight, and I mean pretty tight. we were usually up by 5:30, in order to be in the office by 6:15-6:30 every day, and would be lucky if we were in bed before 10:30 on some nights. Between these hours, we were filled with breakouts, sessions, speaking on stages, holding the doors, saying hello to distressed parents while pointing them in the right direction, as well as cramming in a few meals. For us, Time was always on the go. Time was precious. Time was in no way on our side, and as we learned quickly into the process... Time flew by us!

With so little time, a lot of people would say that in order to achieve excellence and fulfill the hope of creating an incredible orientation program, that we are always focused on the next event so that it is as smooth as the current event. This is where I step in to say that the new "vision" is a little bit different than the status quo.

You see... for our team [the 4 OC members, our intern, and our advisor] we had a choice to make, every minute of the day...... Choose to invest in our team, or take care of our time. In moments when time is not readily available to us, we always had to choose whether to invest and take time to care for them... or take the time available to make sure that everything was in order for the next event. I will share with you that our choice, 99.9% of the time was our team. I can't say 100% because I simply can't gaurentee that we always made that choice, but everytime the choice was given, we chose our team.
Your team is the most important people in your organization, because if you didn't have a team, most likely you wouldn't have an organization. Your team members are the people who actually carry out your mission and vision. They are the hands and feet normally and people in leadership roles know that the team is the people who normally do most of the work, but rarely get enough credit.

That is exactly why in every situation, we took the opportunity to be present with our team. We knew that if we invested in our team, they would feel more connected, more involved, and more appreciated for the role that they played. I will not lie... it was a tough thing to do a lot of the time. We knew we had a very qualified and competent group of leaders with us this summer, but we still knew that the program would have more of an impact on our leaders if we chose to be present and available for our leaders, rather than their "boss."

You see, no one want a boss really. The connotation with that word has too much negativity attached with it. A boss assigns tasks, stays a bit distant in his/her office a lot of time. A boss is focused on efficiency and not maximizing the potential of their employees. A boss is often times focused on the end task of making good reviews, or increasing the profits. What people prefer is a friend. A friend cares for you for who you are and not what you do. They do not wish for you to perform, but rather to be genuine in all interactions with others. A friend loves first, and worries about tasks second. A friend wants you to be successful wherever you are, rather than focusing on numbers and increasing revenues. We chose friend.

In the end, we may have missed some small details in a program that could have allowed it to run a bit smoother... flow a bit more evenly and in the end, we may have had a few more "I strongly Agree's" in our ending survey to all parents and students. But we were incredibly pleased with our results. Our team, spent over 3 hours saying their final goodbyes. The words that were shared among all our leaders were so uplifting that after 3 or 4 hours of tears, we were exhausted of crying. Our comments and thoughts for one another were authentic. They meant something to each other, and we really didnt need one or two more "Strongly Agree's."
We had the highest approval ratings in the programs history. Not because we were better leaders than the other, I assure you that is not the case. And it wasnt because our events were perfect either, because again, they were not. I really believe that it was directly related to the fact that our team had the opportunity to care and love on new students because they felt very cared and loved by from each of us. WE invest in our team. THEY invest in the students. That was our plan... and it worked.

In the end... we understood that our team was the most important part of our organization.

Our team mattered.
YOUR team matters.

Become Team-Minded.

Luke

Moving.

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 12:16:43 -0500

New Blog Location!
www.creativerealauthentic.com
I Am not sure how many of you have been to the new site yet, but I wanted to make sure that I do everything in my power to let you know that I am moving to a new location...
www.creativerealauthentic.com
Thats right... I have bought a domain and am moving this blog to that location... You will be able to post comments, quickly and easily locate past blogs... as well as I can update them faster... so remember, the url is:

www.creativerealauthentic.com

::IF YOU USE RSS::
I know some of you use RSS, and this is going to cause you to update your RSS link... otherwise, you will not see any new updates. I have posted it below, or you can go to www.creativerealauthentic.com and click on the “subscribe” link in the upper right corner below the title. but, for your convenience, here it is!
feed://www.creativerealauthentic.com/feed/
Thats right... here it is one more time!
feed://www.creativerealauthentic.com/feed/

See you on the other side!

- Luke

www.creativerealauthentic.com

The Vision: Relationships

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:57:12 -0500

This can also be found on: www.creativerealauthentic.com

So it's been a while since the last real blog entry, and I can't begin to share how my heart, my head and my life has changed so much from the last several weeks and even months as I have been a part of the orientation program at belmont university. I feel like I made a similar statement like this when I was working for Passion two years ago, but I honestly feel as if God has put me in the orientation position to mold me into the man [or person] I am meant to be! A man in touch with knowing and caring about others feelings, and the way we interact with others.

As this process started to come to an end, I had an unbelievable opportunity to begin catching a vision for who God was calling me to become. This vision has changed me, for the better and I believe that it is something that everyone can relate to in a way.
I want to share that vision with you.
Over the next several days and weeks I hope to just share a little bit about some of the ideas and life truths that I am walking away from this Belmont experience with. I think that for most of you who read this, will be challenged and inspired as we think about the things most important in life.

Relationships matter.
first and foremost, relationships are the most important thing in life. They are your fuel, they are your crutch sometimes, they are your joy and also sadness, they bring you full life, they allow you to share, they allow you to vent, they allow you to love and hate. Relationships are the center of full life! now don't think that I am trying to tell you that Jesus is not supposed to be the center of your life... you see, that is a relationship too... and that relationship should be the top priority among all other relationships!
Our orientation program has a philosophy that we have adopted that really deals with this understanding... its called people over program. This idea embraces that programs do not change people, people change people. So when you are in a situation where you are producing a "program" or event, and you have a choice to be present with a person or fix a current problem with a program, I choose the person. WE, as orientation, choose the person.
IF we take the time to invest in the people, there really won't need to be a program. Think about it... if we took the time to think back on all the meaningful moments in our spiritual walk, or even the times in life where we felt like we had the biggest revelation in our walk with Christ, what is it? Was it an event? was it a program? or was it an interaction with someone you were in relation with? Like a bible study leader? or a good friend? a mom or a dad? a brother or sister? even someone you had just meet?

if we sit back and think hard about it, I would guess that your answer is very similar to mine, it comes down to relationships... Yes, there are a few worship services that were very impactful in my day... and I don't want to discredit that... but that was still a relationship if i remember those nights. Those nights I was in a deep connection with my Jesus, and he was with me in those moments. Therefore, it wasnt the music, or the speaker, or the visual effects, or even the people around me... It was my relationship with Jesus that caused me to be a changed or enlightened individual.

Relationships Matter. They matter more than anything else we do on this earth. Relationships are the catalyst to changing someone's life. If we really want to have an impact on someone we start with a relationship.... we start by investing.... we start by saying hello... not welcome.

So, for me, I have chosen the path of Relationships with other people. People who I care deeply about... I would rather invite someone to a cup of coffee than bring them to some concert or event, I just think it is more effective!

I don't know how that sits with you today, but I hope that it encourages us and reminds us to appreciate those around us, whether they live next door, or 800 miles away... the people who love you are very important people in your life, and it would be a great thing to recognize who they have made you become!

a dear friend,
-L

A New Look!

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 18:31:29 -0500

This can also be found on: www.creativerealauthentic.com

Well I have been toying around with the idea of launching some sort of new look for both my website [lukemcelroy.com] and the blog that is attached with it!

I have finally found the solution! Here is a sneak peak to what it will look like once it is all up and running... as now I am in the process of backing up all the old files and converting them to the new look! The new blog will however have a new address... just like moving houses! SO... what does this mean for you the reader? It means you will need to bookmark a new blog for me... or start checking it a different way.
I know that some of you use the RSS feed in order to know when there is something new... This new blog will also have the RSS feed, all you will have to do is update the bookmark link!

Why am I changing it you may ask?
Several reasons I guess... first from the standpoint of easy ability to upload a thought or neat phrase pretty quickly. With the old system I had to spend nearly an entire hour just in the upload process... where the new blog will have the ability to do it in seconds! As most of you know [or could tell from the bottom of my old posts] I am a Apple lover at heart! I own an Apple iPhone, and will have the ability to upload through that soon, which is really really cool!
I will also have complete control of the look and feel, as well as a lot of the other moving parts of the core site. The system will have a backend software for me to publish and unpublish things, allow me to link photos better and faster, as well as many other internet related things.
BUT, the biggest proponent of the changeover is due to a large number of requests for people to be able to comment! So... this new system will allow comments!!!! YEAH! a way for us to actually communicate back and forth!

I hope that as I change this over, it will be easier to upload entries. Thus, a more regular blog for all of you!

In the meantime, I will be keeping both blogs up during the transition posting on both sites to make sure that people know I am switching! More details to come, but for now... this picture is all you get!

- Luke.

A God Who Saves.

Fri, 9 May 2008 14:30:19 -0500

This can also be found on: www.creativerealauthentic.com

A thousand years are like a day, and a day is like a thousand years! What a powerful promise from a creator that promises his plan. A plan that is focused on one thing: Ultimate Glory. A few days ago I wrote about a dark, gloomy, and just yuck of a day! It sucked, but I found hope in the fact that God sometimes calls us to crawl into the crap of life we deal with. Sometimes its his hope, his desire, and our purpose to sit in the sorrow of life. As long as we understand that it takes that breaking down, and takes the weak points in life to truly appreciate the good in life, then we will be fine.

Sometimes for me, it takes a lot of prayer to come out of the muck. For me, I just pray that I will get to experience Jesus Christ in my days. This experience is the fuel for me. This experience of the most powerful love man can know, is what causes me to understand that its all for His glory! These experiences are what should cause us to live in the light of his son! To celebrate with everything in us for the grace, mercy and forgiveness of our creator. These experiences are nothing more than overflowing love for the God of the eternal universe.

So after praying this prayer for a few days, or years [who knows how long in God’s time. 2 peter 3:8] God decided that I should learn something. A simple phrase that would allow me to get a tiny taste of who he was. It was a little bit like when someone hits you or nudges you to wake up because you have been dosing off.

I don’t know about you, but I feel at times that I have been dosing off in the faith. Drifting away as my child-like faith begins to faint. So in order to hold on to that faith, I just pray for the experience of Jesus Christ!

This experience allows us to get on with our day. The experience for me was the simple phrase that reminded me that my God, is more powerful than anything else in the world. More powerful than dark days, and more powerful than disappointing people. Want to know why?

MY GOD IS A GOD WHO SAVES!!!!!!!

That simple concept is what causes our God to be the greatest GOD ever! He sent his son, so we could be saved.

Saved from the dirt of the world.
Saved from the sick gloomy rain that life sends us every once in a while.
Saved from the eternal damnation of sin
Saved for his glory.
Saved by grace.
Saved, because that’s what my God does!

So just sit back a minute and let that process. My God, Your God is a God who is able to save people! That should be enough to know that the day is a bit clearer now. The skies are sunny, and the rain doesn't matter anymore. God is here. God is near. God saves!!

-L.