Let’s be honest: The average church isn’t usually looking to the youth leader as their trail guide. Sure, we as youth leaders are fun, and we are great at keeping people smiling and laughing during the hike, but we’re not usually the ones out front, blazing the path.

Thanks in large part to the expertise of Dr. Scott Cormode, the Hugh De Pree professor of leadership development at Fuller Seminary, we and the churches in our Sticky Faith cohorts have had a chance to wrestle with the question of How do I lead up? and actually pin down some answers.

The most important guiding principle—the true north of what we’ve learned—has been the power of story. In fact, under the coaching of Scott Cormode, we learned that vision cannot be separated from story, for he defines vision as a “shared story of future hope.” ¹

A shared story. Of future hope. As powerful as research is, stories are more powerful. Stories are more memorable, more personal, and more transformative.

In my own leadership, and as I’ve seen others lead up well, it seems to me that there are two important types of stories to share: those of what God is already doing in your ministry that reflect the trajectory you think God has for you, as well as stories of what you dream for in your church.

So one of the first steps you might want to take in leading up is to identify stories, maybe even working with a team of other leaders to think about which stories are the most powerful. Develop a few ministry values or goals as driving forces behind the story, and be as specific as possible in the story details (without betraying any student’s or family’s confidentiality inappropriately).

Once you have developed these stories, you share them. Often. And broadly. For the power of the story lies not in the story itself but in the story as it is shared.

The next time you get to share about your short-term mission trip with your entire church, make sure you share stories that capture the dreams you have for your church. Instead of only sharing about how great it was to see teenagers interact with children at the Guatemalan orphanage, take a few minutes to share about how the parents who went on the trip loved sharing the experience with their own kids.

When you meet with parents who are new to the church, instead of talking about the fun of the annual amusement park weekend, paint a picture for the way this weekend helps adult leaders and kids have a shared experience that helps them feel more connected in future small group discussions.

The next time you’re asked to give an update about Sunday morning youth group at your pastoral team meeting, instead of mentioning your decked-out snack bar, talk about the kid who shared on Sunday about his anger at God because of his parents’ divorce, and how your youth ministry is now walking through these growing doubts with him.

As youth leaders who have journeyed with us have found, you have more power than you think to bring about change through the stories you tell.

*Portions of this blog post were adapted from Sticky Faith, by Kara Powell, Brad Griffin, and Cheryl Crawford (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing, 2011).

^{1. Dr. Scott Cormode, Sticky Faith Summit, February 2010, Pasadena, CA.}

Rather than tell you about the successes I have had leading up (because I am not sure I have had any), let me tell you what I appreciate in those who lead up to me, as a boss, not necessarily as a better leader. Consider these characteristics of those who effectively influence the way I do my job.

First, people who are effective at leading me are already doing what they are attempting to influence me to do or decide on. If I see in the person what it is they want to see in me, it is much easier to be influenced. I get feedback on my leadership all the time. The feedback I listen to and incorporate into my daily leadership living is feedback that is real in the person giving the feedback and input.

Second, people who are effective at leading me are not afraid to tell me what I am missing. Sometimes those who are managing the details of a project, relating with members of our community, observing the climate of the staff, etc., are much closer to reality. I assume things to be true, and much of the time, the staff experiences reality. If you want to lead up well, speak up. Do so with positivity and generosity, of course. But also speak up with honesty, clarity, and reality.

Third, people who are effective at leading me have the whole community or the entire organization in mind, not just themselves or their interests or to-do lists. Pinpointing the desire for personal gain or advancement in a would-be influencer is easy. If you want to influence me or lead up, you’d have to have the common good of all in mind, not just self.

Fourth, people who are effective at leading me are reliable. If you want to lead me, we have to have a mutual trust for one another. This trust can’t be built on inconsistency, narrow mindedness, or partial truths. Rather, trust has to be built on shared experiences of just the opposite—consistency, open mindedness, and complete honesty. Honesty is the most important of the three listed, in my opinion. You can make mistakes, as we all do. You can miss a deadline, as we all do. You can lose your cool and throw an adult temper tantrum, as we all do. Just don’t tell me you didn’t do what we both know you did.

Finally, people who are effective at leading me hold the respect of their peers. If the people you work with every day on a peer-to-peer level don’t respect you or allow you to influence them, I probably won’t allow you to influence me.

Leading up is increasingly rare. Too many youth workers find it acceptable to take care of their little slice of the ministry (called Youth Ministry Island) and leave big church to fend for itself. They hide behind leadership missives like “laser-focusing” on their areas and having to say no to some things in order to be healthy. And while those are true, letting your church run aground while you’re onboard is a terrible misstep.

Leaders lead from wherever they are. I’ve worked with people who are waiting for the magical knighthood that means they can finally lead. If you are waiting for someone to tell you that you are a leader, it will be a frustrating season of ministry for you. Lead! Push! Drive! Go! Genuine leaders—not posers who wait for status or position—lead from the middle, from behind, from the front. They lead from wherever they find themselves. Leading up will cause tension, but healthy tension brings about better decision-making.

Leading up helps those above see a missing perspective. Here’s why you need to lead from the middle: Your senior pastor isn’t seeing the full picture. He or she has blind spots in areas that your perspective lets you see perfectly. How dare you let them fail while predicting the net failure quietly from the silent middle? I am fully aware of the problem of senior leaders who don’t listen to their people. They exist in every church, and I’m guilty of it too. But that doesn’t mean you should stop leading from the middle.

A few parting thoughts about leading from the middle: It may be interpreted as insubordination at first. In fact, it probably will be. Some people will wish you would take a rowboat back to Youth Ministry Island and never come back. If you bring up problems, you better have some ideas that may work as solutions. Your church will be healthier when you lead up.

Blessings as you lead from the middle today!

How could she complain? I was serving with my whole heart, and the kids were clearly receptive to what the program was offering. They were coming to twice-a-week Bible studies and drama rehearsals. They were in a healthy and positive environment. There were no improprieties. Kids were learning, growing, and having a great time. How could she possibly complain?

I immediately went to my mentor and tearfully pled for him to agree with me and my work and to give me a good comeback to the complainer. He didn’t. He taught me this lesson : “Even if a parent never shows up, never volunteers, or never donates to the cause, and even if what they say is flat-out wrong, you must always give value to their input.” Bewildered, I asked why. His echoing answer was, “Because these are their kids, not yours!”

It’s a message I got early, and it’s also a lesson that taught me that it’s better to prepare for complaints than it is to whine about them. Here are some tips for that:

Know your vision and mission. In the event of criticism, you can at least explain yourself and your choice clearly. Sometimes (many times) people just don’t know what you’re doing or why you’re doing it. Many have antiquated views about what youth ministry is or should be, and their complaints and suggestions aren’t with the understanding that youth ministry has evolved and requires a different strategy than it may have when they were young. When you can’t explain why you do what you do, then it’s probable a confrontation will be negative, not because what you’re doing is wrong but simply because you’re not prepared to explain it or support it.

Ask for input (before, during, and after). As you craft a program, it’s good to ask for input from your pastor (to see if what you’re doing matches the overall church vision); your kids (to see if what you’re doing even matters or is exciting to them); your volunteers ( to make sure you have enough buy-in to pull things off at a high level of quality); and your parents (again, to get buy-in and perhaps a heads up on things you don’t think about in your efforts to just be the cool youth pastor). Now, here’s the hard part: When the majority of input says that your idea has flaws, listen! Don’t just keep plowing ahead. You’re not asking for input just to pacify people’s propensity to propose perspectives (that was fun). You’re asking so that what you’re producing truly meets a felt need and that you meet that need in the best way possible.

Accept correction and criticism as care. Some people are wired to complain or offer unsolicited correction, even when they act like they don’t want to. How many times have we heard Sister Jones say, “I don’t mean to criticize you, but…”? Here’s a skill that I promise will save you lots of aggravation. Train yourself to hear them saying “I correct/criticize because I care.” Then practice zooming in on what the true concern is. Many times in the loudness of protest, we miss the soundness of people’s messages.

For example, an elder woman who was raised on wearing dresses to church may complain about the young girls wearing pants and the boys wearing hats. What she may be saying is that she cares about teaching the kids to respect the house of God, in their actions, activities, and their dress. If you can assure her that that is happening or that it’s being taught, then her complaint is heard, and quite possibly, she becomes your ally with the other seniors in the congregation. But if all you do is complain about her complaining, then nothing resolves.

At the risk of sounding mean, let me say this: Anybody who needs constant accolades, positive reinforcement, or unbridled support should stay miles away from youth ministry. For every person who loves what you do, there will be another who doesn’t and doesn’t mind telling you. In spite of that, I will be the first to say that those of us called to youth ministry get the humbling honor of walking with a population of people through what many would call the most pivotal years of their lives. It would be arrogant for us to think an assignment that great would come without some challenge. Go forth!

But more often than not, who’s wrong is not so cut and dried. The parent has a good point, but there is also some validity behind my actions. For instance, I remember a couple inviting me out to lunch after church one day to talk to me about the youth ministry. It turns out they had a much more specific agenda. They felt like we were drifting away from the Bible because we were introducing more experiential learning into Sunday school. In some ways, they were right; we emphasized actual Scripture verses less than before. But I felt confident that the experiential exercises we were implementing would actually produce greater fruit, especially when done in tandem with particular Scripture passages.

In our Sticky Faith Cohorts at the Fuller Youth Institute, Dr. Scott Cormode from Fuller Seminary has helped churches understand that when they encounter resistance to change, it’s because “people don’t fear change. They fear loss.” So when parents respond negatively, one of the first questions you and I need to ask ourselves is: What loss are these parents fearing?

In the case of this couple at lunch, they feared that the way that they had learned to follow Jesus as teenagers themselves was somehow being questioned or that their kids would deem them “old school.” Part of what I needed to do at that lunch was hear their concerns and try to ask a few additional questions to get at the deeper, more underlying concerns. Only then could the parents and I have a healthy, productive conversation—one in which I was able to share about some shifts in culture and pedagogy and simultaneously show them the way Jesus himself engaged in experiential learning.

We didn’t walk away from that lunch in 100% agreement, but at least we felt like we were on the same side and could trust each other.

I wish I could say I have responded this way all the time, but the reality is that sometimes parents catch me on bad days; days when I’m tempted to lash back at them with some sort of complaint about their parenting, or their children. But what normally helps me bite my tongue and come up with a better response is that I truly like the parents of teenagers. And, as I remind myself, they love (and in general, know) their students way more than I do.

If the complaint comes via voicemail… Listen carefully to the voicemail, then shake it off and go back to relaxing. A voicemail tells you that the person is 50+ years old, and to help them take a technological baby step, you need to delay returning the call for at least 48 hours. Unless, of course, they name-drop a key elder, deacon, or even hint they might go over your head to the senior pastor. Deduct 1 hour from the projected response time for each time they cry or scream in the message.

If the complaint comes via written letter… Don't even open it for a few days. Snail mail, really? Did someone use a Portal gun and drop me back in 1974? After a few days, simply toss the letter in the trash then claim it must have been "lost in the mail," and when you see them across the pews, just say you are so sorry you didn't respond earlier, but you had no idea.

If the complaint comes via text message… Quickly reply with a short apology and promise to make everything right within 24 hours. This is to honor a parent who knows how to text and is also savvy enough to spread some serious thumbs down on social media if you don't jump into action.

Next, make sure you accept absolutely no responsibility for what happened. Always make sure you have a scapegoat handy (a college-age hipster volunteer will typically do), and be ready with some key nonverbal signals to indicate that the situation was out of your hands and that you are totally disappointed too. Here are a few quick excuses to have in your back pocket if you do end up actually meeting with a parent (you must have run into them at the RedBox kiosk; rookie):

"I wish I had been made aware of this on the night of the event." This clever redirection places the blame on the person who is bringing you the bad news only now, more than 48 hours after the event is over. "I'm sure that kid was a bully," or, "I guess we'll never know the truth now" are solid follow-up lines. The haze of overnighter memories after just a few days is a perfect cover to deflect responsibility.

"I'll make sure those people are dealt with immediately." Was it your choice to play the R-rated movie on the bus? Was it your call to duct-tape her freshman son to the ceiling? Who knows? This classic line makes sure the parent will never know either. The straw-man tactic wins more than Jeremy Lin. The parents know someone is going to get hammered for this evil with which the youth pastor sympathizes. Who is that person? No one knows for sure.

Third, be sure to drive a wedge between the parents, their teenagers, and your ministry. Do your best to undermine the parent whenever possible. Roll your eyes when the dad isn't looking. Exchange a knowing glance at the student to show how out of touch their parents are being right now. You know best; just pacify the parents long enough to get them off your back, and then you can move on to planning The Next Big Thing That Will Change The World Overnighter Extravaganza (TM)—TNBTTWCTWOE, for short.

Hopefully by now you get the idea. Do the opposite of everything you’ve just read, and you'll handle complaints well. They are inevitable, a tough but necessary part of your growth as a leader and part of the process of raising teenagers. Jump in quick, take responsibility, and repair the damage. Blessings on the journey.

Context, in the crudest sense, is simply the situation one finds oneself in. There are dimensions to context that play together to help a teacher or facilitator know not only what to teach but also in what ways to teach. Teachers must wrestle with the following three dimensions of context.

First, there is the immediate situation. The immediate situation reveals matters like setting (Is this large-group or small-group learning?) and people involved (What age level/learning style am I teaching? What is the time frame that I have to teach? What is the setup of the room?).

Second, there is the intermediate situation. The intermediate situation provides the teacher with information about the normal environment in which the students learn on an ongoing basis. (Is this the students’ only subject-related formal learning situation? Or is what I am about to teach a supplement to their learning? Are other factors involved in the students’ learning that should shape what I teach? Is there a certain scope and sequence to the students’ learning?)

Third, there is the principal situation. The principal situation is the foremost dimension of context by which both the immediate and intermediate situations are influenced. (What is the common framework in which the students I will be teaching are learning? What is my best understanding of the students’ life perspective coming into this classroom? Are the students predisposed to think any particular way? What are the social and relational dynamics of the students?)

NOTE: You may only need to use the above outline once. For example, I have a small group of senior guys whom I teach each week. The situation outline above was helpful to determine what I would teach each week. I merely go back to it as a reminder since I teach the same twelve guys each week. However, one night I was invited teach at a friend’s church. I taught some high school seniors on the Eucharist. Before I decided to teach on the Eucharist, I used the situational outline above to help me determine that particular topic.

So, to get to the question, I use the simple framework above. I ask questions about the situations (all three dimensions) that help me get the best understanding of what I should teach. I do not start with a topic or theme or subject and then decide how I am going to disseminate information. Rather, I do my best to understand the persons involved in the learning in order that whatever I teach has more of a long-term formational impression. At least, that is my hope.

The reason I start with the context is that, in my opinion, it doesn’t matter what I teach if I can’t take a subject and teach it in a way that my students learn. Then it isn’t teaching; it is merely talking. Talking is about the teacher. Teaching is about the learner.

After determining the unique context I will teach within, I dig even deeper into the immediate situation and ask questions such as the ones below in order to determine what I will teach:

• What would interest the learners in this situation? How can I hold their attention?
• What do I think is important to teach that might enhance or even change the predisposed thinking of the students?
• What expertise do I have that I can most fully inspire others to learn from?
• What do I feel like the students are missing that I think would help shape their lives?
• What are they already learning about that I might be able to go further and deeper with? (For example, is the senior pastor in a series that I could base my teaching times on?
• What can I teach from my own experience that will help them into their future?


How do you determine what you will teach?

Pray for God to reveal the needs of your students. Sermon and series preparation has to start with prayer. My prayer is that God will show me clearly some of the topics I need to cover in the course of the year. Sometimes it will show up in your counseling, sometimes in a conversation, sometimes in the quietness of your own time with Jesus. Either way, be listening for direction in the normal routines of ministry.

Ask them! One time not too long ago, we created a card that listed fifteen topics we could teach on in the coming year. We called it Choose Your Own Adventure and then tackled the most popular topics students wanted to learn/be challenged about.

Create a focus group and run your ideas by them. Every Tuesday during the school year at 4pm, you’ll find me in my office surrounded by a select group of high school student leaders who are my focus group. I run everything by them: rough drafts of sermons, object lessons, ideas, icebreakers, series ideas. They give invaluable insight into what they and their fellow students need to hear and how the message can best be shaped to meet them where they are living. And yes, they have veto power. It kills me when they use it, but I know it is for the greater good.

Be inspired by others. I love nothing more than devouring sermon and series ideas from other people! Youth pastors are creative, so if your idea well is running dry, find some people out there who are killing it. Stolen ideas I’ve had recently: a series on Facebook and a question/answer message where students text in questions to be answered live in the service.

Hit the majors. There are certain topics we are going to cover every year in our youth group. The majors for us would be things like friendship and purity. We make sure that specific perennial topics are being covered, though we might change the number of weeks or the voice speaking so it always feels fresh.

Try to cover a whole book of the Bible sometime in the year. This summer we did a study on a specific book of the Bible (Philippians), and last summer we took five weeks and went chapter by chapter through James. Both ended up being unique and gave us clear teaching topics for over a month. I love the dream that when someone graduates from our ministry, they have a survey of much of the Bible and a command of some specific parts of it.

Take a risk. A few years ago, a student came to me with the idea that we do completely student-run weekends divided up by the five major high schools in our area. I loved the idea, but we had never done anything like it before. A new, risky series called You Own the Weekend was born. It was huge. Students owned the services like never before, they were eager to bring their friends, and it gave me a much-needed break from teaching. Take a risk and try something out of the box; you might stumble onto something incredible.

Follow the adult service’s lead. Once a year or so, we link up with big church and match them week to week for a series they are doing. Pastor Rick did a series on being great parents, so we did How to Raise Your Parents. This January we’ll be going through 40 Days of the Word in adult services as a church-wide campaign, so we’ll create a student-friendly version of that topic as well.

Blessings to you as you pray and search for inspiration on what topics to teach your students this week in youth group.

2. It saves money. We do a lot of ministry purchasing and ordering online. So if we need an earth ball or a bunch of water balloons or books for a small-group teaching series and I don’t want to run around town to fifty places to get the quantity I need, I simply order them and have them sent. But a huge budget killer is paying to have everything rush shipped. When I plan ahead, I can have someone search for the best deal, find it on sale, and pay for the minimum shipping or accept the free shipping without having to stress that it won’t be here on time. And if you’ve ever tried to book a speaker, artist, band, retreat center, airline ticket, or hotel last minute, then you know it’s not only more stressful and difficult to do, it often costs more too.

3. It increases creativity and ownership. My experience says that both of those things take time. If I want creativity to be a team task and I want to pool the best ideas from my team, then I have to gather people together far enough out to give input. When I do this, they also feel like it’s their thing, not just my thing. When we talk about outreach or basic ideas for a teaching series, planning gives a lot more time for input and increases the creativity of what we can do because we now have the time to plan the skit, create the design, gather the people, or prepare something to be really well done with a wide level of involvement.

Annually, in the early summer, I have my student and adult leaders gather for a couple of days of basic skeleton calendaring for the next school year. We spend some time in prayer, and we talk about our mission and why we do what we do. We eat and laugh and share visions. Before they arrive I take a huge whiteboard calendar and mark when school is out, when holidays are, and large, nonnegotiable things, like the annual summer camp we go to or church-wide functions. Then we look at the space that is left and start talking about our dreams. We talk about details like when small groups should start, what other retreats or events we want to do, and some main topics, themes, Bible texts, and teaching ideas we want to cover in the next year. Since we teach in series form, I then begin to then lay out a rough sketch of teaching series, and we start putting them down on our weekends.

Quarterly, I gather some key people to talk about what is coming up. We gather several months before major seasons like the fall kick-off for school, Christmas, spring break, and summer. These meetings are less about overall vision and begin to move into the nuts and bolts of design. We start making lists of things that need to be done, thinking of people we could ask to help, and dreaming about what we’re planning and what it really looks like.

Monthly, I meet with my student leadership, and we plan out the next month’s youth group meetings. We meet after church and over lunch, and we brainstorm the next month based on our previous nine-month plan and any changes we now have to make. We talk themes, pop-culture references, relevant songs or movie clips, brainstorm games and discussion questions, and evaluate and identify anything we learned from the previous month of doing ministry together too.

It is a wise idea to get away for the day and get a big picture of your ministry. Take a break from the pace of ministry and the distractions of email, voicemail, and the persistent nagging of Google Plus and wrestle with an overview of your youth group. August is the perfect time for this!

For some, this is a simple task because they live in the world of ideas and vision. For others, it will be challenging to stick your head up over it all and get a glimpse of the whole.

Key questions to ask yourself at this big-picture stage:

• Where do you think God wants to take students in the next year?
• What worked well last year, and will it work again?
• What annual events would be effective again this year?
• What needs to get the ax?
• Have you blocked out your week of vacation?
• Where are we strong, and where are we weak?
• Is there a good balance of God’s eternal purposes for our ministry (evangelism, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, worship)?

Paint in broad strokes what your youth ministry year will look like at this point. Spend lots of time in prayer. Ask God for discernment. Use pencil.

Once you’ve got an idea of the big picture, it is time to specially plan the next season. There are lots of ways you can do this. I like to divide the year into three unequal parts: fall, winter-spring, and summer. This is the time to start to really firm up specific teaching topics, series, and events. You probably already locked up some bigger things like summer camp, trips, and retreat locations, but now is the time to make final decisions.

Key questions to ask yourself at this stage:

• What needs to be cut?
• Am I keeping this program to satisfy a parent or some vocal students or because it is what is best for our ministry?
• Where do I have momentum naturally, and where is it lacking?
• What are the teaching topics for this season?
• Who is the best person to teach?
• Has my spouse seen this before I go public?

What looked good in the big-picture view might be too much now that you’re zoomed in a bit closer. You are still flexible enough to use the eraser if needed but definitely not on your vacation time.

The closest we zoom in for planning is the current month. You’ve planned everything from a year out, you firmed up much of those plans in your season overview, now it is time to lock everything down and walk into what you’ve planned.

Key questions to ask yourself at this stage:

• What adjustments do I need to make based on circumstances that have come up since we planned the year/season?
• Am I balanced and healthy with this calendar?
• What can we do to make our youth ministry even better next year?

I’m in the thick of planning our spring right now! May God bless you as you serve students and plan your youth ministry calendar too.

Some tools to consider helping you plan your youth ministry calendar: o www.rememberthemilk.com o www.30boxes.com o www.whomi.com o www.franklincovey.com/tc/software-and-applications

Also, please consider these related posts on my blog:

5 Steps to Calendar on Purpose

4 Guiding Principles for Planning Your Youth Ministry Calendar

In this particular community we’ve found that moms are a huge resource in picking out possible conflicts.

When we get this many people involved in our planning process, the calendar stops being my calendar and instead becomes their calendar.

I also try to out-plan parents. If I can get the dates for our events on their radar a minimum of one year out, then they can plan around our schedule. This is particularly important because, in my current community, people tend to disappear for the entire summer months. But, if we let them know the dates for our mission trips and camps, they more often than not adjust their calendars so their students can go.

Long-range preplanning actually helps us be more flexible. When we publish dates a year in advance, occasionally something comes up that we need to change. People in general are much happier when we make changes six months out rather than the week of. Last summer, we planned a houseboat trip with our high school students. Ten months out, I started asking parents what they thought and got a little pushback on the safety of the proposed location. We immediately made a switch, and the trip was a huge success. Because we planned so far out, we weren’t locked into locations and contracts and could be flexible to make changes.

My process of thinking involves a lot of people and dialogue. It’s way more than just grabbing clip art and making copies of a calendar. In the beginning, I spend a lot of time evaluating what we did in the past. We talk about impact, timing, dates, and cost. We try to make sure we always have a good sense of how something met our philosophy of ministry.

At that point, if everything lined up, we start talking about whether we want to do the same trip, activity, or event again. I’m a huge proponent of repetition because it is often our best advertising. I also like change, but in general, we first look to see what has worked before we start talking about what we want to change. This is also the stage where we pray a ton, asking God to lead.

Then we then start having dialogue about all the possibilities, followed by a process in which I write it all out and start looking for conflicts. I think about presence and impact when I do this. Specifically, I look to see how everyone will be impacted by our calendar. I look at the frequency and number of events. I evaluate the downtime between events as well as the prep time needed to pull something off well. It’s a system aimed at making sure all we do has huge impact but doesn’t burn anyone out.

The next step is when we finally talk budgets and money. We purposely wait ’til near the end because talking about budgets and money too early can be a killer to the dreaming process. I want us to dream big first without thinking there will hindrances.

Then it’s time to bring everyone into the loop. This often takes the most amount of time and can be frustrating because I have to explain the reasons behind everything we are doing. After everyone has weighed in and we’ve gotten most people to consent to the calendar, we try to get our communications ministry to get all of our packages for the events done as soon as possible. We have found that planning way out and then promoting way out produces the most success.

I’ve had a bunch of bombs over the years and have had many things not go well. But I’ve learned that spending a lot of time thinking, dreaming, and praying is most beneficial because it gets more people involved. If I could stress one thing above everything else here, I would say that more people involved will only benefit your calendar.