Arrow Leadership Graduation

In January of 2009 I was accepted into the Arrow Leadership Program along with 23 other emerging Christian leaders from around the country.  This journey has been one of the most formative times of my life.   Along with learning tons about myself, my leadership and how to lead others, I made lifelong friends and connections that are huge gifts from God.

Click here for a link to pictures from my first seminar week on beautiful Keats Island, Vancouver, BC  at Barnabas Ministries- this was reason enough to go through the program!

This is my Arrow roomie, Joy – who is also expecting her son in a few weeks!

This is my mentor, Carol Kraning and her husband Bob

The ladies of my Arrow class!

*For my mom and grandma...this is me walking the stage!

And finally, this is the Southern California crew -  Gabe Veas and Tracy Brown have become dear friends and I look forward to many more times together!

I also want to share just a few of the things I’ve learned…

Arrow’s name comes from Isaiah 49:2 “He made me into a polished arrow.” and Arrow’s main confession is to develop leaders that are Led more by Jesus, Lead more like Jesus, and Lead more to Jesus.  Below is an excerpt from my reflection paper on how I have grown in these three areas:
God calls us as kingdom leaders, to be led more by Jesus, knowing and understanding his will.

My time in Arrow has given me the space and time to journey further into my identity in Christ.  Being led by Jesus is cornerstone to leading like him and leading others to him. Throughout Arrow I’ve come to accept the reality of my limitations and be ok with spending a significant amount of my time solidifying who I am in Christ and coming to a deeper understanding of what it means to be led by Jesus.

When I look back over my notes from the previous three seminars and reflect on the past eighteen months, some of the most significant moments happened during our first few days at Barnabas.  Steve’s opening devotional on Monday morning laid out what God had in store for me during this time.

• Grace of Sanctification – I have learned to trust and submit to God’s process of sanctification over my own pride and justification.  I’m more clearly seeing the ways he is polishing me despite my pain and insecurities.  I am learning how truly gracious his sanctification is.
• Truth in the context of community – There is one phrase that has stuck with me more than anything else over these past few months, “Lean into community.”  The Lord has continued to show me that this is where I find healing, that in community is where I find wholeness.
• Transformation takes time – Steve’s use of the video “Building a plane in the sky” has kept this truth towards the forefront of my mind.  During the module on the Journey of a Leader we dissected the different phases of a leader and as a 28 year old, I am in the “Age of Learning.”  In order to answer the key question of “Who am I?” I need models and mentors around me, I need perspective, affirmation and feedback, I need to deal with my inner life issues, I need accountability and I need time that is un-busy.  In a nutshell these drove my leadership plan and I’ve seen the transformation in my life over the last 2 years and trust God’s transformative power in my life to continue me towards the next phase – in his timing, not mine.

God calls us as kingdom leaders to lead more like Jesus, enabling His people to be a reconciling community.

The more I’m led by Jesus, the more I lead like Jesus.  On a very practical level, there have been several things I have taken back to our team to help us grow personally and professionally.  Even though my role in our ministry is Organizational Development, I’ve learned to do this through People Development – which is core to leading like Jesus.  This past year our staff worked through Individual Development Plans, we used Bobb Biehl’s QuickWisdom on a regular basis and went through several of the modules after our Arrow seminars.  The two that stand out to me most are Leading in a Cross-Cultural Setting and Leading Change.  Both were immediately insightful for our team and helped me to lead more effectively and more like Jesus.

Our team and our organization have grown tremendously as I’ve journeyed through Arrow.  A part of our mission is to “identify and equip leaders” and I’ve learned a significant amount about what that means.  From every seminar there are things I have changed and implemented that have become a part of how we work.   The other day our team was reflecting on my Arrow time coming to an end and the question of “Who’s doing Arrow next?” came up because we’ve all benefitted so much from it we don’t want to lose the connection!

God calls us as kingdom leaders to lead more to Jesus, serving His redemptive purposes in our generation.

My life has been transformed by the God of the universe and I have a story to tell.  As I gain a deeper understanding of my brokenness and pain, I realize that those are the very places Christ has met me and redeemed me even in the midst of my sin.  The good news of the gospel is life to me and like the woman at the well, I can’t help but tell of my encounters with the Messiah.

Thank you to all that supported me through this journey!

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