I’m getting ready to travel to the east coast this week to help facilitate a leadership off-site for a dynamic, young, and growing church in Fredericksburg, Virginia. In preparation for this event, I’m reading a profound book by Jim Collins titled, How the Mighty Fall.

 I’m sure you’re familiar with the work of Jim Collins. Past powerhouse publications include, Built to Last and Good to Great. His latest work, though smaller, discusses the phenomenon of how an organization can look healthy on the outside, and even appear to be thriving, while already beginning to decline on the inside. If you lead or manage any kind of organization, I would recommend it.

 Gordon MacDonald recently wrote about the concept in a Leadership Journal article titled, “How a Mighty Church Falls.” MacDonald points out that the same principles can be seen and applied to faith-based organizations and churches. If you lead any kind of these groups, this is also an important read.

 I would recommend both to you and perhaps suggest that you begin to ask yourself and your fellow leaders the same questions that Collins brings to the forefront. I wish I had asked them a couple of years ago.

I mentioned below the recently completed Leadership Summit, sponsored by the Willow Creek Association.

If you’re a leader, former leader, or aspiring leader, and have never been to a Leadership Summit, you owe it to yourself and the group you lead to check into next year’s Summit.

It’s not too early to plan to attend and even register for next year’s event. It’s scheduled for August 5-6, 2010. Check it out. It will be well worth your time and money!

One of my favorite authors, Gordon MacDonald, wrote a book several years ago called Mid-Course Correction. It was based on the biblical character, Abraham, found in the Old Testament. It was a wonderful reminder that as we walk or, in our day, fly through life. Continual “mid-course corrections” need to be made.

Ted Van Dyk, who was Vice President Humbert Humphrey’s assistant back in the Johnson White House during the sixties, reminded me of the same lesson yesterday in his Wall Street Journal article – only from a different perspective. He talked about the need to do a “reset.” In his mind, if certain contemporary leaders don’t do the “reset,” or to use MacDonald’s term, make a “mid-course correction,” there’s trouble ahead.

Check out Van Dyk’s thoughts. They are well worth your time.

One of the earliest lessons in Leadership 101 is that leadership is all about credibility. And credibility is earned when one’s actions are consistent with his or her speech. In short, if all of your talk, no matter how profound, elegant, or persuasive, is not seen as consistent with one’s actions, or to put it another way, when no actions accompany one’s speech, pretty soon people quit listening. And when they quit listening, they also quit following.

Daniel Henninger wrote a brilliant piece about this very subject in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal. For a good read and personal edification, check out his article here.

New Heights Christian Fellowship, a church in Boise, Idaho, will host Willow Creek Association’s annual Leadership Summit on August 10 – 11 – 12. It is one of 111 churches/sites across America that will partner in this endeavor. One of the purposes of this gathering is to help create a “leadership culture” across towns and communities in America, particularly in the churches of our land. If John Maxwell is right (and I believe he is) when he declares that “everything rises and falls on leadership,” then we as leaders need to prepare ourselves to lead.

Romans 12:8 admonishes us, “If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously.” (NLT) By all means! If you would like more information about this year’s summit go to the Willow Creek Association website.