DEEP WATERS

I've been thinking about one word a lot recently... LEGACY. My thoughts can be traced to a recent event in my life. This past week I spent time in my hometown of Baltimore, Maryland. I traveled home for my Uncle Alvis's funeral on this past Monday. His funeral was one of the most precious I've ever attended. The room was filled with people whose lives have been touched one way or another by Uncle Alvis. Family members, colleagues, neighbors, fellow church members -- we all crammed into his A.M.E. (African Methodist Episcopal) church home to reminisce and illuminate a life fully lived. My uncle spent his life serving college students as a professor in the School of Social Work at Howard University in Washington D.C. (my alma mater, by the way - HU!!!). As the president of Allen University in Columbia, South Carolina for a short time. As a member of the peace corps in Liberia, West Africa (which my family and I visited when I was only 4 years old). As a social activis...

When I wrote my last post a week ago, I had no idea I was about to lose my father. He appeared to be getting better, had begun pulling out from his post operative delirium and had begun talking again. He'd even begun telling others that he wanted my mother moved to his hospital room "to talk business." Well, my Daddy's business now is spending time with Jesus and all the loved ones that beat him to heaven... I wanted to write this post to share just a bit about my Dad and what he meant to me. A dear friend said it so well in a text to me today... "He was a smart, loving, funny, warm and generous man. Oh and good looking!"  Anyone who knew him would have used the same words to describe him. Even the hospital staff adored him. They called him "Mr. Carl", and in a Baltimore accent, it sounded more like "Mr. Cawl." We all loved him. But God loved him more. So He decided to take him Home. I'm so grateful for the 45 years ...

Well, as they say, all good things must come to an end. Today marks my last post on the Global Leadership Summit. Sad, I know... In case you're just getting on board, I'll list my previous posts: Global Leadership Summit: My Takeaways (with a focus on Pastor Bill Hybels), General Colin Powell: Impeccable Leader with Humble Beginnings , Patrick Lencioni's 3 Signs of a Miserable Job and Dr. Brene Brown: Walking Her Talk . Today, I want to share one more talk from the Summit. I'd never heard of this speaker before, but I'm sure I won't forget his message. Pastor Oscar Muriu Pastor Oscar Muriu, Senior Pastor of Nairobi Chapel in Kenya, East Africa, spoke on a topic that I'm excited to close this series on. He spoke on leaving a spiritual legacy . I'll jump right into his five major points. 1. The size of your harvest depends on the number of leaders you raise up. Pastor Muriu encouraged leaders to pour into the lives of potential leade...