alright… i’m sure you’re sick of hearing about these things I come up with… but I am hoping that God is able to do some really cool things through various relationships that I am able to build with this company. I just thought that I would share with all my incredible friends that you need to check out the new website I uploaded yesterday!

I have worked my butt off to get it up this weekend… I had an incredible opportunity to work some great networking angles this weekend, and wanted to launch this as soon as I could! So… without further adu, I present to you… Orange Thread Media.

www.orangethreadmedia.com

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its been a little while since the last time I posted on this topic, but lately my mind has been thinking more and more about what to post next as far as what this new “Vision” of leadership looks like. To give those who haven’t heard about any of these posts, I recently was in a year long leadership program and felt like during my time, I was entrusted with a new “Vision” of what leadership could be and should be. These are just various thoughts, practices, principles and strategies that will allow all of us to become better leaders if we begin to put these ideas into our everyday way of living. 

 

I know it’s been a little while since I have talked about leadership, and its been a long time since my last post about the new “vision” i have recently caught for what leadership should be. The first thing I talked about was how important it is to realize that relationships are the most important thing in life, and if we can own up to that, we will lead better, love better and enjoy the presence of those in our lives. 

 

I then talked a little bit about what it means to turn our minds to focusing on teams. and how it is crucial to take time to love on your own team members and not necessarily work out every fine detail of your next event or next project. And most recently, I talked about placing ourselves in strategic positions to leverage our ability to be available, accessible and aware of the surrounding environment. 

 

All of this is a result of a new vision that I have for leaders. The one I want to talk about in this post is very much a part of what I think leaders would embody.  This is my vision… and I would like to share it with you.

 

 

PROVIDE SUCCESS

I know that at times it’s tough to measure success, because its night and day different  for every organization. What is consistent among every organization is that there is a way to measure success. It may be the number of people that come to an event, the amount of products sold, the number of lives saved, or the amount of impact people have on another person or client. Whatever the case may be for your own organization, you know exactly that there is success in some way or another. 

 

What great leaders need to do is figure out how they can put their team members in positions to be successful. One of the great leadership teachers, Andy Stanley from North Point Community Church in Atlanta, GA said once, “When you walk into a room and realize that you have the greatest amount of influence of all the people there, great leaders have to figure out how to leverage that influence to better the lives of everyone else.” 

 

That is exactly this same though process… How can you as a leader put your very own team members in positions of success? For my team on the Orientation Council at Belmont University, it was figuring out a way for the 8 section leaders below each of us to be successful in our own way. 

 

I think there is a myth in leadership. A myth that states that a good leader is “hands-off” that is not what I am talking about in providing success. What I am getting at is a leadership model that looks more like a coach or a mentor as you walk with your team members and prepare them to have a success. Help them find pitfalls before they experience them, and help them understand on a deeper level the vision and purpose of an event. 

 

When you can figure out how to get your team to a position of continual success, you will realize that each member of the team will begin to take more ownership in their projects. More ownership, equals greater momentum and faster growth. You also prepare and raise up more leaders by providing others with success. 

 

 

 

What are ways that you can provide your team with success?  

 

 

 

I do need to forewarn you that at times trying to find success for a team may result in failure. It’s inevitable. But, what we can do with this failure is learn from it. If this situation happens for you, and failure results before success, it is key that you as a leader helps your team understand what success looks like when they actually hit it. 

 

What would it look like for a world of leaders to be more focused on providing success for each member of their team rather than finding ways to be successful publicly themselves? I think we would see a leadership revolution. Its’ not about ourselves and its not about how great you can become. 

 

 

 

 

As Andy said… its all about leveraging everything we have to better the lives of the people in the room with us.

 

 

So, do you know that you have influence with many other people? 

 

 

 

 

how are you providing them with success?

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so every once in a while I try and share a really cool and/or creative video that I have seen recently… This will hopefully get some creative juices flowing..

if only I could learn how to do some of this stuff on a computer!!!

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I havent been able to write as often as I hope… but I thought that some of you who read this would find this cool. 

Aside from running (or not running apparently) this website and going to school I co-own a company that does custom screen staging and live video production. We work very closely with some very good friends such as GI, Inc and Renewed Vision. Both of these guys are worth checking out.

 

Anywho - I want to from time to time post some pictures of other things I am working on as a way to help stir a little more of the creativity side of  this blog!  I mean it is the first word in the domain name and the title.  So this is pictures from the “Alumni” showcase at Belmont University.

We had one 9×12 Rear Project in the middle and two 6×8 Rear Project screens turned on their side.. this gave a very intimate, yet creative video wall in order for us to have a great evening of music and fun! Check these out:

 

 

Hope you enjoy this.

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When the music fades 
And all is stripped away 
And I simply come 
Longing just to bring 
Something that’s of worth 
That will bless your heart 

I’ll bring You more than a song 
For a song in itself 
Is not what You have required 
You search much deeper within 
Through the ways things appear 
You’re looking into my heart 

I’m coming back to the heart of worship 
And it’s all about You 
All about You, Jesus 
I’m sorry Lord for the thing I’ve made it 
When it’s all about You 
It’s all about You Jesus 

 

That is the Matt Redman Song, Heart of Worship. We sang it this sunday at my church and for the first time, the music literally ripped right through my thick skull and into my heart! The thing I feel God desires from each and every one of us whenever we come to the cross for worship. 

 

Someone once said to me, “to bow down is to put ourselves in a position in which our hearts are above our heads.”

What a powerful statement. I mean think about it. When you bow down with your head to the ground, your heart is actually higher than your head in a vertical sense. Sometimes we need to bow because God can only truly speak to our hearts on some issues. Our head won’t let it respond in the capacity in which is needed. Our head uses reasoning, facts, proof, and intelligence. Our heart recognizes beauty, truth, and love. 

 

The things our hearts yearn for, our head often times wont allow because if information were to flow in a vertical path from your brain to your body as a reaction to a thought, the head would reason too much with issues of what is truth and what is love. If we were to understand truth, if we were to recognize God’s true beauty, or to seek and react to his love then God would need to speak to the heart! 

 

Now, look at that song… When the music fades and all is stripped away, I long for the moment when I can bring something to my God that is something of worth. the intentionality there to bring something of value to our God. Often times our God doesn’t want something that has a specific appearance of intelligence, or a complex formula of love. God wants true beauty. God wants something that is real and alive.

Take a look at the Chorus, “I’m sorry Lord for the Thing I’ve Made it.”  WOW! What a statement. I mean does anyone think that we have created worship into a beast that is so complex and convoluted that we often times can forget that God is the center of all that we do in the act of worship?  Maybe thats another blog for another time, but the truth of the matter is this… God wants us to just respond from our hearts. 

 

 

I guess what I am getting at is this… When all is stipped away in your life. You take away the bright lights, rip down the curtains, remove the mask, clear out all the dust, and sift through all the excess crap that lays on top of you… are you bowing?

 

Have you positioned your heart above your head? 

 

 

 

Maybe… just maybe, God is trying to tell you just as he has told me this week… Hey Luke… I need to speak to your heart. I need you to understand my truth. Understand my Love. Understand my incredible Beauty! 

 

 

How are you positioning yourself in the presence of your Savior? 

 

 

 

Luke

 

 

P.S. The Vision Returns Shortly.

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