If you have been in ministry or church circles for any length of time, odds are you have been influenced by these two women. Nancy Beach and Nancy Ortberg have had an amazing amount of influence in recent years and I am so excited about the “Gifted to Lead” workshop that they are hosting at Willow Creek in August.

Gifted to Lead: The Art of Leading as a Woman in the Church is described as:

This event, the day before The Leadership Summit at the Willow Creek campus, is designed especially for women with spiritual gifts and abilities in leadership. This interactive forum encourages intentional development as you interact with and learn from others who also want to develop and use their God-given gifts on behalf of His work through the local church.

I am registered and ready to go! I am so excited about hearing these two influential ladies speak to this issue that I am so passionate about.

I would love to know:

1) How have the Nancys influenced you?

2) Are you going to “Gifted to Lead”?

Yesterday I read about The 40 Day Fast over at Brody’s blog and it got me thinking…

What cause or need makes my heart leap, burn, hurt, bleed? What need keeps me awake at night? What problem do I feel compelled to solve? If I were to pour my heart and soul relentlessly into something, what would it be?

I don’t know.

And then again maybe I do know, but I don’t like the answer?

You see the topics of clean water, starving children, the homeless, the abused, sex trafficking, etc., etc., concern me but they don’t keep me up at night.

Maybe they should. After all “whatever you do to the least of these”, right?

Heartless? I hope not.

My burning passion is to support and equip women to lead well, to lead strong, and to shine in the gifts God has given them.

But sometimes I feel like that isn’t enough. Maybe that’s too petty when there are starving children to feed, deadly diseases to eradicate and the broken and abused to rescue.

What do you think? What’s your burning passion?

Let’s add this to the Watercooler discussion today as well.

She’s witty.

She’s smart.

She’s beautiful.

She loves God.

She’s one of those women you watch from across the room and immediately think ‘I don’t like her – she’s too perfect!’

But seriously,

Brandi Wilson is one of the few women I know that rivals the Proverbs 31 woman in character, integrity, beauty and Christ-likeness… and I am blessed to call her a friend.

And this is a friendship I hold most dear.

You see, Brandi has plenty of reasons not to like me. Three years ago I took the job as Executive Director at Cross Point and on most days I probably spend more waking hours with her husband than she does. I attend meetings with him, travel to conferences and other churches with him, and work alongside him to lead Cross Point.

For many women this relationship would be difficult to accept, jealousy would rule and tensions would be high. Not with Brandi.

I feel incredibly blessed to have her trust, support and encouragement!

As a woman of influence, Brandi:

• displays a quiet confidence
• doesn’t need the spotlight
• maintains the Wilson household allowing her husband to focus on his calling
• speaks into the lives of the female staff and the wives of staff members
• is an amazing mom of three fabulous boys
• is a true friend

There are rare relationships in life that you form and don’t even realize just how significant they are for quite some time. This is how it has been with Brandi and me…

and I am blessed!

** This is also part of Brody’s Positive Post Tuesday

Today’s Woman of Influence epitomizes the power of relational influence.

Anne is one of those people that I would categorize as a blog celebrity (she’ll hate that I said that!), so when she first commented on my blog I was ecstatic.

But what I’ve grown to admire about Anne is her genuine warmth and love for people. From her responsive, engaging nature with her readers to her passion for the children of Uganda, Anne’s influence radiates because of her love for others.

It has been an honor to get to know her and I’m especially honored that she was willing to contribute this week!

Here’s what she had to say about being a woman of influence:

Being a woman in leadership is exciting now more than ever in time. There are so many opportunities. I am learning that influence requires focus. There are so many pursuits and challenges I want to tackle. Instead, I think in order for my life to have the greatest impact, I must listen and align my heart to where the holy spirit directs…and realize that being obedient in the small things will have the largest impact in my life and my calling to love.

Anne Jackson

Ok, I think she was preaching at me a bit…

I have such a tendency to try to pursue the biggest and best and I feel like God is constantly reminding me to lead where I am, to be obedient to the places, the people and the things that he has called me to right now. I tend to get caught up in all my grand plans and I miss the influence that God has given me in this moment.

How about you? Where is the Holy Spirit directing you? Are you listening?

Continuing with our Women of Influence Week I thought it would be good to get the male perspective. Scott Hodge recently did a cool series at The Orchard entitled “That’s What She Said” where each weekend they focused on a specific quote from some great women in the Bible.

Here is what Scott shared about that series and our topic of women of influence:

We launched the series by diving into the life of Esther and highlighting her infamous quote, “I will go to the king and if I die, I die.” This was such a refreshing reminder of how God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things! Esther simply recognized God’s call and responded with unforgettable courage. What a great story…

On Mother’s Day, which landed in the middle of the series, I interviewed four amazing moms from The Orchard who shared some of the challenges, struggles and stories of how God has guided them through their journeys of motherhood. This was a HOME RUN weekend for The Orchard! Their authenticity was truly inspiring and the response was powerful! You can take a listen here. Beyond giving us all practical life lessons, this series also stretched, challenged and empowered the women in our church community in a powerful way!

THAT’S what she said….

Scott Hodge | lead pastor | orchard valley community church

Where do you need to recognize God’s call and respond with courage?

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I’m focusing this week on Women of Influence and what some different influencers have to say on the subject.

We’re starting things out with Mandy Thompson. Mandy is a worship leader and great blogger that I love following. I love her wit and I love her heart for worshiping God and connecting with others. She was one of the first women bloggers to welcome me to blog land.

Be sure to check out what Mandy is up to at Just a Girl as well as at MTTV where she and Tam will keep you in stitches.

Here’s what she had to say about what it means to be a woman of influence:

“An element of femininity that is as intrinsic as estrogen is a woman’s ability to influence. We were created, as helpmates and relational creatures, to influence mankind. I think this is a primary reason that both wisdom and temptation are personified as feminine in the early chapters of Proverbs. There are a number of examples of womanly influence throughout the scriptures, but we can easily find women that use this ability for harm, such as Sampson’s Delilah and Isaac’s Rebekah. The one qualifying factor of becoming a woman of influence is birth. The real question is will we use this ability to influence as a blessing or curse to others.”

Mandy Thompson

How are you using your influence?

When I started this blog a few months ago, I really wanted to create a place where women in leadership, especially women in church leadership could connect. I have been amazed to discover how important this topic is right now and how much we need to keep the dialogue going.

I’ve received many emails and read many blog posts from women across the country who are finding their influence with the audience that God has given them.

So I asked several people – women AND men – to share with me their thoughts on what it means to be a woman of influence.

I’ll be sharing those thoughts each day this week. Please tune in and share your insights as well!

Oh and guys… don’t check out on us! We need your voice too. (That’s kind of the point.)

I believe we hinder the work of the kingdom when we stay in our own corners of the ring. There is a reason why God created two genders and I think both voices are important. To exclude one or the other from ministry is dangerous in my opinion, so please chime in and keep the discussion open!

Los posted a blog yesterday putting the call out to find women in church leadership. Go HERE and make yourselves known ladies and start connecting with the other women on that list!