Sacred vs. Secular – Action
Last week I attended the Global Leadership Summit with some co-workers. This is probably the seventh or eighth time I have attended the Summit, and every time, I come back with something that really cracks the leadership code for me. This year it was a speech by Aja Brown, Mayor of Compton, CA.
Actually it wasn’t her speech that impacted me. In fact, for whatever reason, her speech was not very impressive compared to the rest of the line-up. She seemed nervous and a little lost in her presentation. My guess is that she did not score well in the monkey survey that followed.
But Aja Brown blows me away! At the age of thirty-one, she became the youngest mayor of Compton, CA. In six short years, she has been a force in reducing gang-related crime, domestic human trafficking and unemployment. She actually convinced ex-gang members to take back their neighborhoods through peace treaties, unity activities and employment opportunities. But Aja will quickly tell you that this is her way of bringing Jesus to the community.
In her speech at the GLS, she made two statements that I had to record…
Statement #1 – “We can be busy and not be fruitful.” (My interpretation – “We can do a lot and do nothing at all”)
Statement #2 – “God desires to partner with us in creating in the world.” (My interpretation – “You gotta be in it to do it!”)
Aja Brown…what a great example of making the secular sacred! What a great example of incarnational mission!