When I moved from Chicago to Los Angeles in March of 2000, I arrived in a 1987 Honda Civic. It had been given to me a few months earlier after my previous vehicle was stolen (long story). The Civic had a manual transmission without air conditioning and came nicely loaded with 225,000 miles. Had it existed then, I would have been looking real good in the Junky Car Club!

The Civic was definitely meant to be a temporary car since it needed tons of work, not to mention being able to pass California smog inspections. With Jamaica meeting up with me in California after a year in England, she was going to need a car too (we were not yet married). I bought a used Chrysler Sebring with a convertible top--a request of the lady friend (soon to be fiance). Between the Civic and the Sebring, we'd be able to get along just fine in SoCal for many years to come.

Until the Civic died out on us 18 months after we got married. Frustrated with unreliable cars all our lives, we bought a new Toyota Matrix. Good gas mileage, decently priced and the perfect car to last a couple hundred thousand miles. Between the Matrix and the Sebring, we'd be able to get along just fine in SoCal for plenty of years.

Until one of my younger brothers--who was living with us at the time--borrowed the Sebring and completely totaled it in a car accident. Fortunately no one was injured! My dream car up until this time had been a BMW, so I thought this might be the perfect excuse to start test driving. After several months of shopping, I settled for an Acura. Not quite a BMW but it was a nice car for a great price. Between the Acura and the Matrix, we'd be able to get along just fine in SoCal for a lifetime.

Until we moved to downtown Los Angeles. Not only did we not need two nice cars, we didn't need two cars period. Although Jamaica has to commute 25+ miles for her job, I live just three miles from the office. That's walking/biking distance people. So began our quest to sell the Acura--the more expensive of the two cars. As of this past week, I am happy to say we are now a one car family! Between the Matrix and my two feet, we'll be able to get along just fine in SoCal.

It feels good to continue living on less. Having one less car will mean mucho money savings, better stewardship of the environment, increased exercise and more exposure to people.

Here we go!

My team often pokes fun at my 2-3 word email replies. "Go. BA" is a regular response to many incoming emails. "Looks good. BA" and "Please handle. BA" are also repeated replies.

Keeping Twitter current has been a great lesson for me in capturing the big idea in as few words as possible (140 characters or less to be exact).

At the Webby Awards this year, all acceptance speeches were limited to five words or less. Brilliant.

Kevin Hendricks wrote a great post about Apple's genius ability to say things succinctly with the latest iPhone announcement.

What's your point already?

Mike is extremely passionate about making sure every child in the U.S. is living in a loving family. He quotes statistic after statistic about the affects of messed up kids and how they in turn mess up society. Mike is the perfect advocate for such issues like foster care and adoption because he himself was adopted after a despicable childhood experience of sexual abuse and fear, among others.

In addition to hosting a daily radio program, Mike is an author, including the book Twice Adopted.

It's difficult not to get fired up about this stuff after you spend any amount of time with Mike. When I asked how he is engaging churches on these issues he said not as much as they should be. However, Mike is a part of rolling out a test campaign in September, in partnership with Arrow. I look forward to seeing how that goes.

Jamaica and I have been considering adoption for several years. Conversations like this certainly add fuel to the fire.

I'm really proud of Jamaica for having the discipline to prepare for this grueling exam. In addition to taking an 8-week prep class, she has been pacing herself with some intense self-study. We're talking 4-hour practice exams a couple times a week. This is on top of her being an adjunct professor teaching five undergrad classes, serving as the chairperson for a Hollywood nonprofit, and being my best friend. Whew.

I'm rooting for you babe. I can't wait to see where this journey takes you... and me.

I'm planning to use some of this stuff for a few upcoming talks I have later this year. It's also a great setup for so much of the consulting work I do.

A few things I am anticipating...

• The Monday night opening is going to be quite dramatic. We've partnered with the local arts district here in Houston and several singers/actors are helping out.
  
• Houston Mayor Bill White is bringing greetings Monday night.
  
• Israel & New Breed are live Tuesday night--almost 20 people in their crew!
  
• Mr. Smiley (a.k.a. Joel Osteen) shot a video greeting that we're rolling on Monday night.
  
• Kirbyjon Caldwell--of recent Bush wedding fame--is speaking Thursday night.
  
• We've got a special guest from NASA sharing on Wednesday night.
  
• The Foursquare national leader from Myanmar (Burma) in town. He'll share updates on Monday.
  
• We're debuting a new video on Thursday night about Foursquare that people are going to love.

I'm grateful for the hundreds of volunteers that have gathered together from Foursquare churches in the Houston area to help pull this thing off. And special props, as always, to the core convention crew: Steve Cauble, Mitchie Sarmiento, Mike Fullerton and the rest of my team for making the journey enjoyable.

Here we go!

William Young is a great storyteller. I started the 253-page book yesterday morning and finished it this afternoon. It's the first work of fiction I have read in a long time. I'm not a fan of fiction, especially "Christian" fiction. This book is a rare exception.

The story is about a father of a kidnapped daughter who everyone presumes is dead. Mack is tormented by the loss of his daughter and is trapped in a world of grief and guilt. One day Mack receives a letter--presumably from God--that invites him to the scene of the crime. What Mack finds there is what changes him forever.

The Shack is a mix between Pilgrim's Progress and The Chronicles of Narnia, although not as theological or fantastic in its content. It's written perfectly for the big screen, which I later learned is already in the works.

One thing I am learning is what questions to ask. Some of those include:

• What books have you read that you would consider to be a key part of shaping who you are (personally and professionally)?
• What websites, blogs and magazines do you read regularly to keep you at the top of your game?
• What else do you do to keep you at the top of your game?
• If you could write a book, what would you write about and why?
• What do you look for in a good team? How would you go about building that "good" team?
• What do you look for in a good manager/supervisor?
• What should a supervisor/manager know about you to keep you performing at your best?
• How do you react when your good ideas don't seem to be going anywhere?
• Describe a write-home-to-momma moment--something that you have been responsible for that you are really proud of.
• Describe a moment you don't want anybody to know about--something that you have been responsible for that you're not so proud of.

I think a parallel exists for people that spot problems. The person that points out the problem is probably best suited to solve the problem.

"We need a more more unified team."
"There's got to be a better way to build this."
"That design is awful, surely we can do better than that."
"Why can't we say it this way?"
"Are you sure we can't automate that?"
"Does it have to cost this much?"

The next time you point out problems, blurt out critiques, or offer your humble opinion, maybe you should also consider a follow up response and come up with a few solutions.

One of those guys was 69-year-old Harold Taber. After being the group president for Coca-Cola Bottling of Los Angeles and selling it back to Coke in 1987, he bought Hansen's and took it public in 1992. Harold's life story is pretty amazing, including beating cancer twice. In addition to being on the board for Hansen's, Harold is also the director of mentoring for the MBA program at Biola.

Harold shared with me his "Baker's Dozen."

1. Employees are an organization's greatest asset.
2. Develop people through work rather than getting work through people.
3. Organizational values drive behavior.
4. People leave managers, not organizations.
5. Servant leadership is focusing on those to be served.. customers, clients, etc.
6. Leader insurance... Mentoring.
7. Focus on strengths, not weaknesses.
8. Attitude is not something you can teach or train.
9. Ethics trump law.
10. Focus on character, not image.
11. Accountability > Responsibility > Authority
12. Efficiency, doing things right vs. Effectiveness, doing the right things (Drucker)
13. Investors bet on management, not the product.

After last night, I was definitely re-energized about my desire to get an MBA and the impact that could have on so many people.

In the first seven years of this century (2000-2007), there were 154 books published containing some iteration of the words "change the world.” Crouch estimates that by 2010, there will be 220 titles. In comparison, only 140 books were published over the entire 100 years leading up to 2000. The allure of changing the world is obviously on the rise.

I can relate. For as long as I can remember, whenever someone asked me what I wanted to do with my life, I always responded with an audacious, "I want to change the world!" Lately, I'm beginning to think this inclination is not only unhealthy, it's also counter-productive. In my humble opinion, the idea of changing the world has derailed a generation from actually accomplishing it.

There's a reason for this, and I think it has to do with how humanity has progressed over the centuries when it comes to knowing and being known.

Aside from this being an obvious way to tickle the ears of new business prospects, I feel really good about how this has turned out and the potential help it can be to organizations that struggle with these issues. In our early tests and from feedback we've seen this week, people really appreciate the accuracy of the results. For those that submit their results to us, we take it a step further and send them an 11-page PDF called The Confidence Factor. It breaks down the Confidence Evaluation score and gives practical ideas on how to move your business from stuck to stellar.

Props to the Personality team for doing such a great job with this!

Packard points out that "routines are dangerous for groups and people which value diversity in individual expression." In other words, routine can be the enemy of innovation. The more routine takes root, the more groups of people become institutionalized.

The cause of this institutionalization is varied, arising from such diverse sources as government regulations (e.g., mandated organizational components of filing as an official 501(c)3 nonprofit, tax exempt, organization), internal norms and habits developed during professional training (e.g., seminary), and mimicry of perceived success (e.g., utilizing ministry models such as A Purpose Driven Church).

Although Packard is making his case in the context of the church, the reality is that the danger of institutionalization is not confined to the church. It can suck the life out of businesses, schools, government and any other place that people congregate.

Nonetheless, I told Jamaica I would read this one. She was really inspired by the quantity and quality of quotes that Eldredge incorporates into Desire, and she wanted me to share in the inspiration.

After a bumpy beginning--three pages into the book and I'm already hiking and swimming with John in the Tetons--I knew the next 209 would be a challenge. Three months later I made it to the end and I'm glad I did.

The Journey of Desire boils down to this:

• We are desire.
  
• Absolutely nothing of human greatness is ever accomplished with it.
  
• Desire fuels our search for the life we prize.
  
• We must go into our desire if we are to meet God.

Unpacking the above took me on a journey of patient redundancy, but I found some treasure. All quotations that follow are from John Eldredge unless otherwise noted.

As expected, Q was a great place to think about big ideas and discuss them with big-idea people. The size of the event is intentionally small--about 350 I would guess--which makes way for some great conversations. The bulk of the crowd were pastors, although I did hang with other types as well--a former Amazon exec, ad agency creatives, educators, etc. Great mix, although everyone kind of looked the same which kills me.

Scott Hodge did a marvelous job blogging the entire 3-day event, so for my purposes here I'm just going to highlight the stuff that I've been chewing on since I've been back.

Jim Wallis: Change the the direction of the wind
The controversial Jim Wallis had some great things to say about politics and social justice. Politicians hold their fingers to the wind to determine what they should be thinking about or voting on. If the wind is blowing one way, so will they. As Christians, we need to quit trying to change politicians and instead change the wind. Martin Luther King, Jr. never endorsed a candidate. Rather, he had the candidates endorse his agenda.

Dan Merchant: The gospel of love is dividing America
He is the producer of a docu-drama-dy called Lord, Save Us From Your Followers. I saw the preview at Q and then found out this week that Dan is a part of the Foursquare tribe up in Beaverton, Oregon. Small world. Looks like it's going to be a great movie with the pompous, pace and perseverance of a Michael Moore flick.