Calling

Your calling is deeper than your work, your career, even your gifting. Your calling is related to who you have been designed to be. You were uniquely crafted by your Creator with certain gifts, passions, dreams, and a perspective on life that no other human being can fully appreciate or accomplish. When you find you and live how you were created to live, you fulfill God's work. 

Jesus gave us a glimpse into calling when he prayed his priestly prayer, " I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do" (Jn 17:4).

To find your calling, is to find  you! Parker Palmer in his book titled, "Let Your Life Speak," makes that point dramatically clear. You are at your best and the most effective for all you are designed to be when you are acting out of your own unique personhood and not attempting to be anyone else or to emulate anyone else.  

Leaders are able to understand their calling and move forward effectively in life toward God's good purposes when they identify how God reveals himself to them (shepherd, father, lover, protector,), learn and incorporate their personal life dream (the deep seated passion that flows from within), understand the legacy God wishes them to leave to those who know them best and love them the most, and as they identify the primary gifting pulsating through their work.

At C3 Leaders we intentionally work to help leaders identify and affirm their calling, knowing that when leaders know who God is and know who they are in relationship to him and what God has called them to, they become his instruments of grace in powerful ways and begin to see God's powerful hands released in our communities for healing and renewal. 

May 22. C3 Leaders Community Breakfast

May 31, Kickoff Celebration

C3 Leaders Kick Off Celebration on May 31, where forum members, friends, and spouses, will join together to kick off our new organization with a vision of seeing Spirit led leaders impacting every marketplace in our region. You will have an opportunity to meet other members, hear how God has shaped our vision and mission, and give thanks for God's grace on our work. This is not a fund raiser. It is a celebration!

On May 31, we offer three venues for you to choose from: Choose one or all three!

• Rainier Club Breakfast at 7:00AM or
• Seattle Golf Club Luncheon at Noon or
• Bellevue Harbor Club Hors d’ oeuvres  at 6:00pm

Spouses and friends are encouraged to attend!

http://c3leaderskickoff.eventbrite.com/

The Founder Opportunity C3 Leaders

Charitable Investment Opportunity-Become a Founder

Today, C3 is seeking seed capital to move the mission beyond the existing 30 forums.  Money raised will strengthen the current leadership structure, improve forum development systems, and seek to attract additional forum chair leaders.

Since its inception C3 has achieved significant financial goals year after year.  The 2012-13 budget requirement is $204,000.00.  As of this writing, C3 has a financial plan to secure this funding through strategic partnerships with individuals and corporate givers like you.   

The Board of Directors has agreed to fund $50,000 from personal donations.  In recent days a generous donor has also put forth a $15,000 matching gift opportunity. 

The purpose of this document is to ask you to join the leadership of C3 along with other Founding supporters to make a significant gift to the mission growth of C3. We are asking those who would like to be Founders to contribute $2500 or more in 2012 and to let us know that by May 31. Together we can propel this mission well beyond the existing 30 forums and directly impact the leaders and communities in which we live.

Can we count on you to make a gift today?  You can fulfill your gift by mailing a check to "C3 Leaders" at PO Box 17181 Seattle, WA 98127 or by giving online at he National Christian Foundation  for "C3 Leaders".  One-time, ongoing pledges, and appreciated asset gifts are welcomed.

Thank you in advance for your gift.

Sincerely,

Jon Sharpe                  

Jon Sharpe                              

Executive Director

From Generation to Generation

Jeff Rogers (far right) advocates intergenerational relationship

A conversation a few years ago related to seasoned business leaders thinking about how they were going to spend their time after they stepped away from their careers. One of the key topics mentioned was the reality that when they were climbing their career ladder very few mentors were there to help them as they navigated their course. They noted that many senior leaders had moved away to the greens of the desert and that it seemed like a generation of wisdom was missing from the marketplace.                                      

These leaders began to discuss how they would like to change this in their life time as they moved from busy careers to a place of strengthening each other and the next generation.

The obvious questions all elders will ask as they think about helping the next generation are, "What do we have to give?" "Does anyone care that we are still here?" "In a culture that celebrates youth, emerging technology, communication, and entertainment, what does a seasoned leader have to offer?"  "Will my life of planning, executing, vision casting, and accounting have any meaning to  a new generation?"

Yet as seaonsed leaders have been meeting together with their peers and sharing life at a deeper level in forums throughout the Seattle area young leaders are seeking to relate to them. Seasoned leaders are finding that their life does have meaning for others even after their professional career fades away. Younger leaders are looking for wisdom and relationship not just success princples or tactics.  

Recently C3 Leaders has moved to bridge the gap between seasoned leaders and younger leaders. We are now bringing seasoned leaders and younger leaders together in forums to share in a life journey. Our mission, "leaders encouraging leaders to live and lead like Jesus," propels us to think about the next generation and to give them shoulders on which to stand.

Perhaps you would like to be a part of Generation to Generation? Let us know. jsharpe@c3leaders.org

C3 Leaders Changing the way leaders lead

Our world is in desperate need of leaders who lead with integrity and grace. Too often Christian leaders fall into the same moral pitfalls as their secular counterparts. Leaders need peers who share common challenges, joys, and experiences. They also need peers who share common spiritual values reinforcing their own values.  Christian leaders are often isolated and struggling to maintain their integrity without an adequate ongoing person to person support system.  Christian leaders rarely find that their existing relationships offer safe places for them to be real. Leaders are not usually given the same grace that they offer others. If Christian leaders are going to make an impact in the marketplace they cannot walk alone.

C3 provides peer forums for Christian leaders where they can find a safe place to be real. A place where like-minded people share their lives together. Rich friendships are forged when peers encourage each other to live and lead like Jesus. We build forums by recruiting and training Forum Chairs and members to live a great life where 6-12 peers learn how to walk together in trust relationships. C3 helps leaders learn to live a life based on the values of Jesus. Being a C3 Leader changes the way commerce, community, and culture act and interact.

Turning the Corner

Leaders love to turn the corner, make a change, create space, bring inspiration, see things grow, increase profit, build sustainability, and be rewarded for their efforts. The test for leaders everywhere always comes down to the question of, "Is anyone following?"

Actually, many follow your leadership whether you know it or not. People follow what we do and what we say. Leaders are often unaware that their actions and their words lack alignment and people seeking to follow them will  be confused when words and actions are in conflict. If a leader talks about generosity but actually lives a greedy life, people following will typically interpret what generosity looks like through a distorted lens.

We have all been called to lead somewhere, somehow, and in some place. Our lives were created to be significant and to be a blessing to others. God did not create us as robots, simply grinding out our daily existence but as unique people cast in his image. To be created in God's image means that we have been endowed with creative juices and that the blessed creativity motivated by God's Spirit is a clarion call for others, a shining light on the hill.

What holds us back from turning the corner? We are often so captivated by our culture and what we love about it that we miss the Jesus Style creative leadership God wants to do through us. If we love our success, our status, beautiful people,  exotic places, and great experiences, too much and too long, we become bifurcated  leaders not helpful for God's good purposes. Those following us when we are double minded, continually have to work their way through a lot of fog.

Seeking to follow Jesus as a leader means that we are seeking to align our words and our actions in sync with Jesus' words and actions. The one who serves the most is the leader. Jesus taught us that if you seek to be great (have incredible impact) you need to be the servant of all.

The way to turn the corner this year is to seek to live our lives with God's purpose in mind and with our words and actions in alignment.