James Kerr: The First XV

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9

This is post #20 in a series of 20 posts in a book I just finished. It contains leadership insights from the most victorious team in sports history (winning percentage = 86% as of the writing of the book): The All Blacks, The New Zealand National Rugby Union Team.

I. Sweep the Sheds. Never be too big to do the small things that need to be done.

II. Go for the Gap. When you’re on top of your game, change your game.

III. Play with Purpose. Ask ‘Why?’

IV. Pass the Ball. Leaders create leaders.

V. Create a Learning Environment. Leaders are teachers.

VI. No Dickheads. Follow the spearhead.

VII. Embrace Expectations. Aim for the highest cloud.

VIII. Train to Win. Practice under pressure.

IX. Keep a Blue Head. Control your attention.

X. Know Thyself. Keep it real.

XI. Sacrifice. Find something you would die for and give your life to it.

XII. Invent a Language. Sing your world into existence.

XIII. Ritualize to Actualize. Create a culture.

XIV. Be a Good Ancestor. Plant trees you’ll never see.

XV. Write Your Legacy. This is your time.

James Kerr in Legacy: What the All Blacks Can Teach Us About The Business of Life (London: Constable, 2013) 184-185.

If you enjoyed the quotes from this book with me, feel free to share them from the Daily Meditations Archive with others. If not, then good news, today’s the last post. And if words in this list are unclear, buy the book and read it. It’s worth every penny.

I’ve returned from a fruitful trip to South America and am resting today. I plan to review this list again and will pick a few points that I will lean into to help my generosity go to another level. I’d encourage you to do the same. The All Blacks legacy is stellar. I want that to be said of your legacy. It will only happen if you aim high.

Followers of Jesus are a special people called to a higher purpose. To fulfill that purpose we must focus on being the people God wants us to be, knowing the things He wants us to know, and living with purpose and intentionality that may look crazy to the rest of the world, but will position us to leave a legacy that will impact generations.

Don’t aim to be an All Black. Aim to be a Great All Black that focuses on the First XV.

At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. Acts 10:1-2

This is post #19 in a series of posts in a book I have just finished. This will be the second to last post from it. It contains leadership insights from the most victorious team in sports history (winning percentage = 86% as of the writing of the book): The All Blacks, The New Zealand National Rugby Union Team.

“When a player makes the All Blacks, they’re given a book. It’s a small black book, bound in fine leather, and beautiful to hold.

The first page shows a jersey — that of the 1905 Originals, the team that began this long whakapapa [legacy]. On the next page is another jersey, that of the 1924 Invincibles, and on the page after, another jersey, and another, and so on until the present day. It is a visual whakapapa, layered with meaning, a legacy to step into. The next few pages of this All Blacks handbook remind you of the principles, the heroes, the values, the standards, the code of honor, the ethos, the character of the team.

The rest of the pages are blank, waiting to be filled. It’s time to make your mark, they say. Your contribution. It’s time to leave a legacy. Your legacy. It’s your time.”

James Kerr in Legacy: What the All Blacks Can Teach Us About The Business of Life (London: Constable, 2013) 183.

What will your contribution be? Your legacy? Today’s Scripture reflects the legacy of a mighty Roman soldier. I love the irony. He’s not known for battles or victories but for the faith of his family, his giving, and his prayer life. Make that so of me too, Lord.

Such legacies are only possible if we write them. They don’t happened by accident, they are always informed by the past, they always require courage, and they never come without sacrifice. Take a few minutes on a blank page and write what you want your whakapapa to be. Now map the first step you will take toward it.

Generous contributions are not made on one day but over a lifetime. If you are the first generation to pursue generous living then write ‘Originals’ atop your paper. If you stand on the shoulders of others write ‘Invincibles’ for that is what you are. You can do all things through Christ who gives you strength.

If you have the lineage of the ‘Originals’ and the ‘Invincibles’ then put ‘All Blacks’ atop your page. But, as Richie McCaw, one of the greatest All-Blacks to ever play the game would say, don’t just try to be an ‘All Black’, be a G.A.B., a ‘Great All Black’. This is your time.

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. Romans 5:3-5

This is post #18 in a series of posts in a book I read on my Philippines trip and en route home. It contains leadership insights from the most victorious team in sports history (winning percentage = 86% as of the writing of the book): The All Blacks, The New Zealand National Rugby Union Team.

“John Wooden said, ‘Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what you think you are.’ Character is forged by the way we respond to the challenges of life and business, by the way we lead our life and teams. If we value life, life values us. If we devalue it, we dishonor ourselves and our one chance at living. This is our time.”

John Wooden as cited by James Kerr in Legacy: What the All Blacks Can Teach Us About The Business of Life (London: Constable, 2013) 180.

The Generosity Consultation is going great in Ecuador. The header photo of the volcano in the Andes Mountains near the seminary gives you a glimpse of the beauty of this place. It’s been a peaceful and powerful week.

But it does not always go this way. Sometimes, our lives are filled with challenges. God allows them to make us into people of great character and hope. I’ve got a way to go on this one. Perhaps you do too?

To join the club and learn the secret of responding rightly to challenges of life or business, we must follow the Apostle Paul’s advice. We must glory in our sufferings.

What does that mean and what does it have to do with generosity? To glory in them is to warmly welcome them as constructive and for your good, rather than freaking out or getting bitter and angry.

This positions us for growth and for facing new challenges. As stewards, we have a limited window to make an impact for God. Don’t waste a moment worrying about things you can’t sort. Trust God and lead boldly.

This is your time. The best part about this way forward is twofold. There is no shame, and the love of God poured out on our hearts when we live, give, serve and love generously.

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. Galatians 5:13

This is post #17 in a series of posts in a book I read on my Philippines trip and en route home. It contains leadership insights from the most victorious team in sports history (winning percentage = 86% as of the writing of the book): The All Blacks, The New Zealand National Rugby Union Team.

“Our social footprint is the impact our life has — or can have — on other lives. It begins with character — a deep respect for our deepest values — and it involves a committed enquiry into our life’s purpose. What do we hold most sacred? What’s our purpose here? What can we pass on, teach?…It is likely that the teams — whether companies or causes — that contribute a healthy social footprint will be those that survive and thrive over the coming decades. They’ll recruit better talent, engender more loyalty and profit from a virtuous circle of purchase and recommendation, and build a sustainable culture of contribution and success. From their value to society will come their value as a company.

James Kerr in Legacy: What the All Blacks Can Teach Us About The Business of Life (London: Constable, 2013) 178-179.

What’s your social footprint?

Most people think the question refers to their number of Facebook friends or their Twitter following. While, those are big and far reaching, social footprint is a bigger issue.

Kerr describes it as our character and committed enquiry (or ‘examen’ as it is described in the Ignatian world of Christian spiritual formation) linked to our life’s purpose.

In short, who are we and how does our current trajectory match that. Are we off track or on purpose? Those who are on purpose will flourish.

The ministry in Ecuador is going well this week with my colleagues, Nydia Garcia Schmidt and Ereny Monir. We know who we are and our service is generous because we are on purpose.

With 55 participants from 23 countries the impact of this consultation has the potential to reach an unthinkable social footprint. Make it so, Lord Jesus.

Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. 1 Timothy 4:12

This is post #16 in a series of posts in a book I read on my Philippines trip and en route home. It contains leadership insights from the most victorious team in sports history (winning percentage = 86% as of the writing of the book): The All Blacks, The New Zealand National Rugby Union Team.

“Today it’s hard for many of us to remember or imagine life as it was in the 1940s and 1950s.

Polio had reached epidemic proportions. Every parents worst nightmare, it paralyzed over 500,000 people around the world every year. The ‘public reaction was to a plague’ wrote the US social historian William O’Neill. ‘Citizens of Urban areas were to be terrified every summer when this frightful visitor returned. Sanatoria, calipers, and withered limbs were embedded in the collective consciousness.

Jonas Salk changed all that. On 12 April 1955, he announced the Salk vaccine which relegated polio to a footnote of medical textbooks. It was hailed a miracle. Salk became a hero overnight, the most fêted man in America, yet refused to patent his new vaccine, donating it to the human race instead.

‘Example is not the main thing in influencing others,’ said the philosopher Albert Schweitzer. ‘Its the only thing.’ Salk set a wise example. He used his fame to argue that it was time for the human race to change; consumerism, unfettered capitalism, environmental degradation and population growth is unsustainable, and it was our ‘responsibility to find solutions to the key issues facing the human race.'”

Albert Schweitzer as quoted by James Kerr in Legacy: What the All Blacks Can Teach Us About The Business of Life (London: Constable, 2013) 174-175.

“Example is not the main thing in influencing others…It’s the only thing.”

What example are you setting in the times in which we find ourselves? Related to generosity, none of us likely can come close to what Salk did to impact the human race. But we can set an example through our giving, living, serving, and loving to shape the world around us.

Related to GTP, I am specifically identifying Christian servants of the next generation by teaching and investing in their lives like Paul did with Timothy. In today’s Scripture we see the charge to them is to set an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.

God, help everyone reading this, myself included, identify people you are raising up and pour our lives into theirs by the power of your Holy Spirit, so we multiply our impact for your glory and for the advancement of your Kingdom. Hear my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Today GTP is well represented at the Wycliffe Global Alliance Generosity Consultation outside of Quito, Ecuador, I get to teach and my GTP colleague, Ereny Monir, will facilitate discussion for about 50 delegates from 23 countries. Pray that we can set a good example for everyone we serve.

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31

This is post #15 in a series of posts in a book I read on my Philippines trip and en route home. It contains leadership insights from the most victorious team in sports history (winning percentage = 86% as of the writing of the book): The All Blacks, The New Zealand National Rugby Union Team.

‘There’s a big saying in the team,’ Graham Henry says. “You don’t own the jersey, you’re just the body in the jersey at the time.” It’s your job to continue the legacy and add to it when you get your opportunity. The current All Blacks team is playing for the guys that have played in the jersey before. That’s hugely important to the current guys.’ They also play for All Blacks yet to be born. Fatherhood is an important theme within the All Blacks; this handing down of knowledge across the generations, this stewardship of the future… ‘What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.’

Graham Henry as quoted by James Kerr in Legacy: What the All Blacks Can Teach Us About The Business of Life (London: Constable, 2013) 171.

What legacy will you leave behind? The idea of stewardship of the future links precisely to what we do for the brief moments we wear the proverbial All Blacks jersey.

I’m excited to start a legacy today. It’s 1 July 2019, and the first day of the first full fiscal year for Global Trust Partners. As President/CEO, I begin with a focus on the future. As the saying goes, “we are planting acorns today for the oak trees of tomorrow.”

I say this because the people who started ECFA 40 years ago likely never dreamed how hard it would be at the outset. Getting the right people together. Drafting the standards. Accrediting ministries to verify compliance. It’s hard work to enhance trust. The work looked glamorous, but it was really grueling.

And then I am sure they never could have imagined the impact that ECFA would have in a generation. What started with a handful of ministries is now more than 2,400 accredited members through which about $27 billion flowed last year. Wouldn’t it be great to see that participation in every nation? That’s the hope that drives me.

Since I don’t own this jersey but I am in it on opening day for GTP, here’s the legacy for which I am willing to give my life for God’s glory. It’s the purpose of GTP: GTP multiplies disciples of faithful administration and mobilizes peer accountability groups to increase gospel participation in every nation.

All that officially starts right here, right now. Here’s are the four GTP paid team members with their jerseys: Gary Hoag, President/CEO (Denver); Ereny Monir, VP of Training & Empowerment (Alexandria, Egypt); Ruthie Cristobal, VP of Partnership & Communications (Manila, Philippines); and, Shawn Manley (Seattle). Pray for each of us to wear our jerseys in a manner that glorifies God.

Sometimes the travel can be tough. For example, today Ereny and I fly all day (hence the airport header photo) to Quito, Ecuador, via Houston and Panama City. We will network and speak at the Wycliffe Global Alliance Generosity Consultation held at the Seminario Ministerial Sudamericano in Pichincha, Ecuador, from 2-5 July 2019. This event welcomes 55 registrants from 23 countries and is hosted by Nydia Garcia Schmidt, who serves as Director of the Americas for Wycliffe Global Alliance and volunteers as GTP Regional Facilitator for Latin America. Pray for safe travel and for fruitful networking and teaching that produces much fruit both now and into the future for God’s glory.  Also pray for our presence to build up Nydia for regional service to Latin America.

And, rather than make this post just about GTP, think about your own legacy. Ask yourself these questions: What will kind of person will you be in your jersey? What legacy will you leave in the lives of others? 

To tip the cards of my own gameplay, my focus in year one will be to rally the GTP team, the board, and the regional facilitators to become people of prayer, fasting, and confession, because the challenges before us are spiritual and can only be solved by God who is with us.

On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Matthew 2:11

This is post #14 in a series of posts in a book I read on my Philippines trip and en route home. It contains leadership insights from the most victorious team in sports history (winning percentage = 86% as of the writing of the book): The All Blacks, The New Zealand National Rugby Union Team.

“Large or small, formal or informal, corporate or creative, personal or professional — conscious or not — rituals continue to recreate meaning and have embedded within them the deep values and purpose of the person, the place, or the project.

Though they often become almost invisible, they never lose their meaning, their metaphor, the story they tell us about ourselves and each other: that we’re hospitable, collegiate, united, generous, respectful, remembering, reverent, committed, or in love.

By inculcating rituals into a culture, leaders can bottle its essential spirit, capturing it for future generations. ‘Tell me and I’ll forget,’ goes the old saying, ‘show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.'”

James Kerr in Legacy: What the All Blacks Can Teach Us About The Business of Life (London: Constable, 2013) 163-164.

Everyone who reads these posts and has family and friends desires for generosity to pass to the generations. The way to do it is to embed rituals that are not formulaic but formational. They shape families and communities when they do them together.

When Kerr said, ‘large or small’ all I could think of was today’s Scripture and watching our children, Sammy and Sophie, act out the nativity on Christmas morning. We did this for years when they were growing  up. We’d read it, and they’d make the characters enter the scene with the story. Then later the Maji would enter with three gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Ever since, we have given three gifts to each other to make gift-giving meaningful and to not get out of hand. We simply played off the fact that Jesus was content with three gifts, we certainly don’t need more than the Son of God. The ritual has given structure and life to our gift-giving ever since.

I can only imagine how fun it will be with grandchildren someday, though we have to get through two weddings in the next seven months first.

This is also partly why I have hired staff younger than me with Global Trust Partners, like Ereny Monir, who arrived in our home last night from Alexandria, Egypt, or Ruthie Cristobal of Quezon City, Philippines, who just got her 10-year USA visa yesterday (that’s a tool that prequalifies entry into many countries). I am, from the start, trying to create a structure that involves workers who are deeply committed to Jesus Christ of the next generation from the beginning. I have work to do to build this culture. We will spend time together this month to form and forge it. I am prayerfully planning some rituals to help embed the values to the GTP culture. God guide me.

Don’t miss the point today. In whatever roles God has us, if we want to create a culture of generosity that outlives us, it requires doing intentional activities that involve others in structured and repeated ways.

This is post #13 in a series of posts in a book I read on my Philippines trip and en route home. It contains leadership insights from the most victorious team in sports history (winning percentage = 86% as of the writing of the book): The All Blacks, The New Zealand National Rugby Union Team.

“‘Culture,’ says Owen Eastwood, ‘is like an organism, continually growing and changing.’ Identity and purpose, he says, need to be continually renewed and reinterpreted to give them meaning. ‘This cultural milieu is constantly changing,’ agrees Anton Oliver. ‘It’s not a static thing.’

‘Building trust, developing people, and driving high performance behaviors are never-ending tasks,’ says Eastwood. ‘Rituals are key for reinforcing the emotional glue.’ ‘It becomes absorbed,’ says Enoka. ‘Because with the power of the rituals, they’re so strong, you don’t have time spend two or three hours sitting in a room…’

It’s what Wayne Smith means when he talks about connecting to the central story, and what Enoka means by connecting to the core. ‘I think in the All Blacks’ culture,’ says Oliver, ‘that’s how it’s passed on. So much of the legacy we have,’ he says, ‘is done through ritual.’ Ritualize to actualize…Rituals reflect, remind, reinforce, and reignite the central story.”

Anton Oliver as quoted by James Kerr in Legacy: What the All Blacks Can Teach Us About The Business of Life (London: Constable, 2013) 159-161.

This post contains some very powerful ideas for me as I seek to build the culture of GTP. They also relate to everyone as they pertain to life in general and generosity in particular.

Shaping a culture is done through rituals which keep us focused. They remind, reinforce, and reignite the central story. What’s your central story?

For example, if your central story is ‘family’ then the rituals might be to do certain things on holidays together. When generosity comes into view in such families, the giving tends to be weighted toward giving to family members rather toward God.

If the central story is ‘Christ and His kingdom’ it does not mean that family is not valued, but that family will be valued according to Christ’s values. When His kingdom is central, then all we say and do, including our giving, will align with that story.

So, what’s my point today?

Our lives are shaped by rituals, for sure, and like glue they have held my family together. I pray they hold my GTP team together. They will only find unmatched strength as compared to the culture around us when they connect to the central story.

And, as Anjji Gabriel, GTP regional facilitator for SE Asia says, “There’s only one story.” It’s God’s story, made known to us through Jesus Christ.

Today (and every day) make Christ and His kingdom the central story of your living, giving, serving, and loving and through you He will shape the culture around you for everyone’s good and for His glory.

Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 1:8

“God promised Jeremiah that He would deliver him personally — “Thy life will I give unto thee for a prey.” That is all God promises His children. Wherever God sends us, He will guard our lives. Our personal property and possessions are a matter of indifference, we have to sit closely to all those things; if we do not, there will be panic and heartbreak and distress. That is the inwardness of the overshadowing of personal deliverance.

The Sermon on the Mount indicates that when we are on Jesus Christ’s errands, there is no time to stand up for ourselves. Jesus says, in effect, Do not be bothered with whether you are being justly dealt with or not. To look for justice is a sign of deflection from devotion to Him. Never look for justice in this world, but never cease to give it. If we look for justice we will begin to grouse and to indulge in the discontent of self-pity — Why should I be treated like this?

If we are devoted to Jesus Christ we have nothing to do with what we meet, whether it is just or unjust. Jesus says — Go steadily on with what I have told you to do and I will guard your life. If you try to guard it yourself, you remove yourself from my deliverance. The most devout among us become atheistic in this connection; we do not believe God, we enthrone common sense and tack the name of God on to it. We do lean to our own understanding, instead of trusting God with all our hearts.”

Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest (Grand Rapids: Discovery House, 1963) reading for 27 June. Special thanks to Daily Meditations reader and Aussie mate, Josh Reid, for alerting me to today’s gem of a thought!

Do you live, give, serve, and love in a way that shows you trust God to look after and guard your life? Today’s post from Oswald Chambers reminds us that we need to treat as “a matter of indifference” all the property and resources we have. Instead of trusting in them to guard our lives, we trust that “wherever God sends us, He will guard our lives.”

People often say, yes, but how do I do this practically? How is this lived out by ordinary people so our lives exhibit generosity and trust? Jenni and I would say live on a mina (three month’s income, cf. Luke 19:11-27) and store up the rest in heaven. That way you have cash flow and can’t trust in yourself. This is where people become “atheistic” without realizing it.

Does your financial house look like the world rather than the Word? To be “atheistic” is to show that you are using finances to guard your life rather than allowing generosity to define your life. You have become a reservoir instead of a river, a container rather than a conduit. Chambers points us to the better way. We’ve found it’s the only way to live.

What most people fail to realize is that living any other way actually removes us from His deliverance. Their decision creates a self-fulfilling prophecy for them. They choose common sense which removes them from dependence on His care. Chambers acknowledges that this impacts even the most devout. Don’t let it get you.

“Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” John 6:9

This is the twelfth in a series of posts in a book I read on my Philippines trip and en route home. It contains leadership insights from the most victorious team in sports history (winning percentage = 86% as of the writing of the book): The All Blacks, The New Zealand National Rugby Union Team.

“Sacrifice. Stand fearless. Champions do extra. Find something you would die for and give your life to it.

‘I was in the hotel,’ says Benson Stanley, a young man about to make his All Blacks debut, ‘when one of the senior guys comes up to me, tapped me on the shoulder, and gave me two questions to think about…

First, what do I have to offer the team? …And, second, what am I prepared to sacrifice?’ He pauses. ‘Pretty big questions’.

That night Stanley and a number of other rookies were called in front of the team. They answered the questions. What can I offer? What will I sacrifice?

Then a few of the senior players — Richie McCaw, Conrad Smith, Brad Thorn — spoke about what it means to be an All Black, the legacy the standards, the players who have laid their bodies on the line before them.”

Benson Stanley as quoted by James Kerr in Legacy: What the All Blacks Can Teach Us About The Business of Life (London: Constable, 2013) 132-133.

This post and these two questions seemed fitting for celebrating ten years of daily mediations today. Wow, what a milestone.

Ten years ago I dedicated my life to encouraging Christian generosity. What can I offer? What will I sacrifice?

I reasoned that I’d get up early, spend time with Jesus, read, learn, and share things that would help others.

I never dreamed how the journey would transform me. The gain has far outweighed any sacrifice.

How would you answer those two questions? Each person will certainly answer them differently. The key is to answer them.

Don’t let your limited resources to cause you not to stay on the sidelines. Remember what Jesus did through a boy with 5 loaves and 2 fish.

Offer Jesus what you have. Sacrifice everything for Him. You will only discover as you do it that it’s the path for taking hold of life.