Kirk Bowman's blog

"The leader of the past knew how to tell, the leader of the future will know how to ask" - Peter Drucker

Because we live more and more in a niche-oriented, knowledge economy asking is becoming far more important than telling.

People on your team - in family, church or business - most likely have more knowledge than the leader in a certain niche of expertise.

Great leaders create solar systems where collective knowledge flows freely. It's not even the job of the leader to know it all. And then tell everyone what to do. Their role is to create environments where those who know best can share - what they know best. Everybody wins that way.

Obviously, this includes more listening than talking. More questions than answers. But I think it will lead to better answers.

A good question is far better than a bad answer.

I think this is why my mom always told me there was a reason God gave us (me) two ears and one mouth.

Your destiny is found in your connections. The quality of your life is largely determined by the quality of your relationships. You will become just like the people you hang around with.

These axioms have guided my life and ministry for many years.

Relationships can be a great channel of life or a destructive channel of toxicity.

This Sunday - Oct. 21 - we start a new Connect Group semester. 50 different groups will be available for people to start to build real relationships out of.

We know we cannot legislate relationships (how foolish to even try that) but we can help facilitate relationships. Connect Groups are a great way to start down the road to meaningful friendships.

Please let me encourage you to get involved in life giving relationships. Hardly anything is more important.

Get involved in a Connect Group this semester. You'll be glad you did.

This month I am celebrating 2 anniversaries!

First - and best - Suzette and I are celebrating our 26th wedding anniversary on October 17. I'm 51, so that means I've spent over 1/2 my life married to Suzette.

Outside of my relationship with God - Suzette is the best thing that has ever happened to me. By far. She is amazing. I am still completely infatuated with her. She's totally gorgeous, lots of fun, really loves God and people, sings like an angel and has the purest heart of anyone I know. I am blessed!!!

Then - our church is celebrating our 18 year anniversary. Wow! Sometimes it seems like yesterday we were just starting our church. God has done some amazing things for us, in us and through us. It's been quite a ride.

What's cool to me is - we are becoming The Rock 2.0 (or maybe even 3.0). Things are changing. Part of it is on purpose and part of it is by God's hand. I know the next part of the journey will look different than the first part. I'm loving it.

My life is exceedingly blessed and I am very grateful.

Our 2007 Unforgettable Women's Conference just wrapped up. This year was absolutely amazing!

Some highlights:
- About a third of the conference was brand new girls invited by friends and family. This is a culture for the conference that Suzette has been working for several years to build. Very fulfilling to see the invite factor rising.
- 40 men volunteering to serve the ladies. They were amazing.
- Watching all the volunteers pour their heart into making this a great event. They were having a blast serving together.
- Worship was amazing!
- Our ladies stepped up to sponsor 95 kids!!! with Food for the Hungry. The FFTH guys were astonished by the generosity. They expected 20 or so sponsorships from our size group. It is so great to pastor a church with so much generosity
- Of course, Holly Wagner. She is world class in every way. We are blessed to have her come.
- The whole event felt great! Videos, worship, gifts, messages, the big tent, all the details were in place
- The ladies are way better than the guys at creating atmosphere
- God moved!

Thank you to all our volunteers and paid staff who worked so hard to bless our ladies. You rock!

Our church is abuzz with activity this week as we get ready for our annual Women's Conference.

I love all of our conferences. It's just a great time to party together and shower value and love on people.

Our ladies are always so creative and put together such a great event. Every detail lovingly planned out. Great music, great videos, great speakers, great fun, great prizes and gifts. It's so much fun.

This year we are having Holly Wagner back. And my awesome wife will be speaking as well. Both of them are amazing. Girls, don't miss this!

Girls, Ladies - we love you and want every good thing God has in store for you.

Today is 9/11. It's a date that all of us remember. A date that changed a lot of things in the world and the way we view things.

I remember 9/11/2001. Suzette and I had just returned at midnight on 9/10 from a ministry trip to Australia. My daughter Tori (then 13) woke us up telling us there was something on the news about a plane hitting a building. We were totally out of it with serious jet lag. We kind of blew her off.

Soon after we got up and starting watching the news, the second plane hit the second tower. We were in a daze. Hard to know how much was jet lag and how much was disbelief at was happening.

Now I look back 6 years ago and think about what life was like then. And what it is like now. And what it will be like on 9/11/2013. 6 years from now.

There are people I dearly loved then who are no longer a part of my life now. Sad. There are people I love who have stayed in my life since then. Peace. There are new people in my life that I dearly love that I didn't even know then. Happy. Somehow I know there will be new people in my life in 6 years who I don't even know now. Hopeful.

Funny. 6 years ago I probably would not have posted about people and love - love lost, love remaining, love coming. Now it matters more to me than almost anything.

Faith, hope, love. The greatest of these is love.

Yesterday we had an appreciation luncheon for our guys who serve in guest services. What a great crew of men and women who so unselfishly serve people in our church.

Parking lot guys, front door greeters, sanctuary ushers, welcome center hosts, cafe workers. All great people who practically share the love of God with people week in and week out. No way our church would be anywhere near as great as it is without them.

These are the guys who come to church to give not just get. Who come to love not just be loved. Who come to serve not just be served.

I remember my first experiences in church. 18 years old. Fresh out of the drug culture. Didn't understand the culture of church at all. The music was awful. My first pastor used to preach messages with titles like "The Efficacy of the Atonement".

I could hardly understand anything about that little church. What I did understand was - these guys loved me just like I was. That was something I had never experienced before. Their love made the difference for me.

A great big thank you to all of our guest service team who help us share the love of God with people very single week. You guys rock!

I am reaching the end of my 99 day journey and I thought I would write a little about it.

My 99 days were to include:
1. Walk every day - 30 minutes
2. Touch heaven every day
3. Write a book

Here's my report on my progress with all of those things -

I walked almost every day. Maybe missed 15 or less days. Not perfect but I feel good about it.

I did touch heaven almost every day. I think every day, to be honest. Meaningful Bible time, prayer time or worship time. Something every day. My favorite of all this was our 11 - 2 prayer time at church. Our sanctuary, with worship music playing and cool lighting. No one else there some times. A handful there other times. Really rich and chocolaty. Loved it!

My book efforts were the least successful. I started out pretty strong for the first 30 or 40 days. Then I faltered pretty heavily. Lots of stuff going on this summer that threw me off. I wish I could have plowed through it all and kept writing but I couldn't.

My idea for the book - "Solar system leadership" is still strong in me and growing even stronger. I do intend to get back to working on it.

I'm used to communicating through public speaking. Writing is proving hard for me but I will break through on this one.

To all who had the courage to try something for 99 days - Bravo!

Whether you did really well or not, remember you are loved - not because you are good but because He is good.

I'm not into tattoos. Not for the normal reasons most people give, though. I don't think there's anything morally wrong with having a tattoo. Actually, some people's tattoos look pretty cool to me. If someone wants a tattoo for them self, that's their choice.

My personal issue with tattoos is this: What looked cool to me when I was 20 doesn't look so cool now. What I thought looked so awesome then is a picture we would all laugh at now. I used to have a moustache that looked like the guy from Hall and Oates. Cool then. Really!! Stupid now. Glad it wasn't a tattoo.

To make a permanent mark on yourself with the viewpoint you happen to have now just doesn't make sense to me. 20 years from now it may look ridiculous.

I've seen "what was cool" change so much over my lifetime. I've seen dozens of looks and ideas that were so hip at one time but now appear entirely outdated.

I've had a lot of opportunities to get tattooed. The ways we thought looked so cool about church, money, evangelism, worship, discipleship, etc. 20 years ago all look pretty silly now.

I don't want to make (or take) a permanent mark on something I happen to like now. There has to be the freedom to evolve into a new day. Some old ideas and paradigms need to be shed to keep growing in life.

Cool sideburns, Elvis.