EXCEL in 2016

 Home sweet home after 22 days in Texas and Washington over the Christmas holidays.  Precious times away, and excited now to EXCEL in 2016.  

Those incredible 22 days were topped off, yesterday, when many of our Unstoppable Summit attendees went to Elevate Life Church to worship and praise God together.  And to hear a message by Pastor Keith Craft entitled "EXCEL" only provided the icing on the delicious "cake" we'd experienced all weekend at the summit.  In 2 Corinthians 8:1-11, the Apostle Paul was speaking about the folks in the Macedonian churches and in verse 2 said " In the midst of very SEVERE TRIALS, they had OVERFLOWING JOY and their EXTREME POVERTY welled up in RICH GENEROSITY."  Did you get that?  They were experiencing severe trials, but had overflowing joy.  They lived in extreme poverty but were richly generous.

And, then in verse 7, he encourages the Corinthians by saying "Since you EXCEL in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you—see that you also EXCEL in this grace of giving."  WOW -- did those words ever pack a punch!  God is impressed when we have overflowing joy in the middle of trials and He's even more impressed when we're generous during times of lack.  Pastor Keith said, "EXCEL means to soar -- surpass limitations".  I reached up and grabbed that word as I heard this message.  I desire to soar, surpass limitations and, as Paul mentioned, "EXCEL in everything" -- in faith, in speech, in knowledge, and above all, in the grace of giving this year.

Giving comes in so many forms:  a hug, a smile, an encouraging word, a compliment, time, treasure, and a host of other ways to EXCEL in the grace of giving.   I'm going to be "in the moment" and "on the lookout" for ways to EXCEL by being an extravagant GIVER this year.

"Powered by Relationships" has been our tag line for over three years now -- and as I think about the power we receive in our relationship with God, as well as His beautiful people like those who joined us in the summit this weekend, I expect EXCELLING to be the norm.    I loved being able to share my heart with these precious people yesterday afternoon, and they shared their love and heart right back to me.  We were EXCELLING.   Indeed we had an empowerment weekend that surely fueled us for a beautiful and blessed year to come -- a year of continual EXCELLING.  Let's EXCEL together as we truly become extravagant GIVERS this year!

Outlook and Perspective

The 2016 Unstoppable Leadership Summit in Texas continued today with incredible sessions that always radically impact us with a new outlook and perspective for this new year.  I loved it when we all received black rimmed glasses (outlook & perspective) with an arrow on the sides -- trajectory.

Set-backs are like an arrow that is pulled back in the bow that propels the arrow to the target.  

This first-of-the-year weekend sets us up for a year of living undaunted in our pursuits to be world changers.  We see total life transformations taking place as well as hilarious times that rejuvenated us and so many "aha" moments that opened our eyes to the possibilities that await us.  

"Warrior Mentality" continued to be our mindset and each of us presented our own winning "battle cry".  

My warrior mentality isn't like most of those guys who are loud, over-the-top with their screams, but what I tend to do in just about any of my daily confrontations with the enemy -- his temptations, taunts, and tactics...I just LAUGH OUT LOUD right in his face.  "Are you kidding me, Loser, you are messing with the wrong girl." So I did my slap leg, rip snorting, belly laugh that always brings me a merry heart and chases away the doubts and fears.

Another beautiful part, each year, is the"rock ceremony".  Just rocks, but so very special because we hand picked each of them from a rock and stone yard.   We engrave "Unstoppable" on each one and then we sincerely pray for "the word" to engrave on the underside.   At the ceremony, each attendee at the summit walks up and selects their rock -- based only on its size and characteristics.  Not until they select the rock, do they see the "word" that is theirs.  It's always an amazing exercise as we see the exact word that causes them to know their course (ie., wisdom, courage, favored, brave, gratitude, selfless, etc.).  The one I selected was "perseverence".

Perfect!!   I know that's my word, because I know the key to accomplishing goals, completing my "God" assignments and finishing tasks is to persevere.  I'll keep that in mind this year when I'm tempted to slow down, put-off-to-tomorrow, quit, and re-treat.

Every year an encased boxing glove trophy is given to someone who has faced tremendous challenges, accomplished incredible things, and went on to victory on so many levels.  They are UNSTOPPABLE.  This year's award went to Miguel Cervantes and Zoila Cervantes​ who unquestionably represent being UNSTOPPABLE.  Miguel was diagnosed with cancer in early 2015, yet with his conquering spirit, and undaunted determination and spirit....has come through to victory.  Both he, and Zoila prove that optimism and unquestionable faith in God is key in overcoming life's challenges.

SHIfT happened in all of our lives....and we will be better, brighter, smarter, stronger and more relentless and #unstoppable in 2016 more than EVER before. These photos help to explain!  

May you be UNSTOPPABLE this year in all you set out to accomplish!

The Warrior Mentality

We all have defining moments that either make or break us.  Whichever they are -- God will use them for our good.  Our destiny and purpose is wrapped up in each and every one of them.  It's that "stuff" that causes the aha moments -- those moments that seemed like the worst of worst times, but were actually the turbo boost to propel us to where we were meant to be. Most of the time, those defining moments come as adversity.
The times of adversity either make us stronger and cause us to have the "warrior mentality" or we succomb to the pressure and throw in the towel and have the "pull-the-blanket-over-the-head mentality".  One makes us stronger and leads to success and the other causes us to quit and leads to failure stories.   They're either stories that said "I pushed through to victory" or "I gave up and quit.  IF ONLY....I had persisted."    From Abraham Lincoln to Steve Jobs to Michael Jordan, great leaders and achievers push themselves beyond the point of failure and take a step back to re-evaluate why they started the journey in the first place.  Even when their body or mind tells them to quit, they dig deep and push through the adversity.

That's what our annual Unstoppable Summit is all about.  This weekend, once again (8 years in a row), incredible, die-hard leaders from all over the country have come together to re-evaluate, re-focus, re-ignite, re-enforce and re-mind ourselves that we are warriors who are on a daily mission to accomplish everything God assigns us to -- all for the purpose of making the difference in people's lives.    I loved it yesterday morning when we were talking about the "warrior mentality" of strength, courage and determination.  Warriors don't fear combat -- in
fact, it causes them to rise to the challenge.  They are on the front line with their trusted comrades and strongly value both courage AND loyalty.  Warriors are distinctly solid and physical, ready for action.   Today, Staci brought out a sword that had been given to her by her pastor because he said he saw her as a warrior.  She asked Anthony Abron​ to demonstrate his warrior voice.  In his big, booming, boisterous, strong and authoritative voice he belted out his interpretation of a warrior's offensive, protective, determined cry.....AND, it shook the house.  That cry/yell would certainly cause the enemy to run in terror.  And, isn't that what our attitude toward the enemy should be?  Not a wimpy, woe-is-me, pitiful attitude and cry, but one that causes the enemy to flee.

Almost as if on queue, a knock came to Larry & Staci's front door, it was Pastor Keith Craft (their pastor and,(by the way -- a complete surprise to all of us).  He wanted to show us his Team Strike Force's new meanest, baddest, AWESOME F650 truck.   "Now that's a WARRIOR'S machine!" Team Strike Force was founded by Pastor Keith Craft 28 years ago -- with the purpose of conducting school assemblies to motivate and encourage students with doing what's right.  They are Christian bodybuilders who wow crowds with their feats of strength.     That's "Warrior Mentality".  Being tenacious, committed, passionate about doing the right thing and helping young people become warriors who do the right thing too.  

Isn't that the warrior mentality we all should have when it comes to standing up for what's right and doing what's right -- to take all life with passion and purpose and dig in deep to declare war on ANY and EVERYTHING that tries to stop God's assignments?