Chasing Elephants Podcast

Student Leadership University’s mission is to develop and equip student leaders to think, dream, and lead. We strive to instill future tense thinking; character-driven decision making; ownership of biblical values; and a commitment to influence through service.

Ten Steps to Your Best Life: Connecting the New Normal to the Ancient Wisdom of Jesus - Brent Crowe
The Ragamuffin Gospel - Brennan Manning
The Furious Longing of God - Brennan Manning

What if we were to invite Jesus into our problems?

This is not self-help. This is the Savior helping us to a better life.

A blue tarp is a temporary fix for something that could be become a lifelong problem.

It's okay to come to Jesus and admit that we're not okay. Jesus responds to us in kindness and tells us to come to him and find rest for his soul.

So we invite Jesus into our mess and he will give us rest.

This is a book for those who have tried souls.

Your best life is not what you do, it's not the highlights of your life. It's who you become in Jesus.

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Student Leadership University’s mission is to develop and equip student leaders to think, dream, and lead. We strive to instill future tense thinking; character-driven decision making; ownership of biblical values; and a commitment to influence through service.

His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope - Jon Meacham and John Lewis
How Christianity Changed the World - Alvin J. Schmidt
A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War: How J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis Rediscovered Faith, Friendship, and Heroism in the Cataclysm of 1914-18 - Joseph Loconte
How Christianity Changed the World - Alvin J. Schmidt
Letter from Birmingham Jail - Martin Luther King, Jr.
5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME - The Imperial War Museums
Mythopoeia - J.R.R. Tolkien

Three ways to read history:

1. Read about events in history
2. Read about seasons of history
3. Read about persons in history

Don't only read literature that you agree with. It is important, as a leader to engage with events and people that you disagree with.

His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope - Jon Meacham and John Lewis

In this section Jeff wrestles with what it means to still be inspired by someone even when you don't fully agree with all of their beliefs.

Just because you loose your role in an organization or movement does not mean you should leave the organization or movement.

Sometimes the people who start with you aren't the one's who end with you.

A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War: How J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis Rediscovered Faith, Friendship, and Heroism in the Cataclysm of 1914-18 - Joseph Loconte

Read more about the Battle of the Somme -> 5 Things You Need to Know About the Battle of the Somme - The Imperial War Museums

Mythopoeia - J.R.R. Tolkien

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Student Leadership University’s mission is to develop and equip student leaders to think, dream, and lead. We strive to instill future tense thinking; character-driven decision making; ownership of biblical values; and a commitment to influence through service.

Time to Get Serious - Dr. Tony Evans
Knowing God - J. I. Paker
Holiness - J. C. Ryle
The Cross of Christ - John Stott
The Mission of God - Christopher J. H. Wright
Life Together - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Spiritual Direction: Wisdom for the Long Walk of Faith - Henri J. M. Nouwen

We need other voices to come along side us to teach us about the truth of scripture.

Psalm 63: "Oh God you are my God..." - A good paradigm for looking for a devotional book that helps you with spiritual growth.

A good devotional book based on Psalm 63:

1. Stirs something inside you.
2. Helps you become more of who you are in Christ.
3. Contributes to a sense of awe and reverence for God.

A pilgrimage is the metaphor through which to understand discipleship.

What you do on the platform is determined by what you do in the prayer closet.

Your private faithfulness will dictate your public fruitfulness.

The Cross of Christ - John Stott

The Cross is undeniably at the center of human history.

The Cross of Christ is at the center of the Mission of God.

This is a book that can be read by a 15 or a 50 year old– and they will both get something good out of it.

A good book helps you grow in your faith and should be read more than once.

Spiritual Direction: Wisdom for the Long Walk of Faith - Henri J. M. Nouwen

The Five Core Questions of the Spiritual Life:

1. Who am I?
2. Where have a been and where am I going?
3. Who is God to me?
4. Where do I belong?
5. How can I be of service?

The practice of unceasing prayer:

1. Cry out to God our all our needs and requests
2. Turn our unceasing thoughts into a conversation with God
3. Learn to listen to God in our hearts through meditation

We must push away from the business of life.

We must always and continually go back to the basics.

Everyone you read has flaws, brokenness, and personal struggles. And this will either help or hinder their writing.

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Student Leadership University’s mission is to develop and equip student leaders to think, dream, and lead. We strive to instill future tense thinking; character-driven decision making; ownership of biblical values; and a commitment to influence through service.

Winning the War in your Mind - Craig Groeschel
Linchpin - Seth Godin
The Leadership Challenge - James M. Kouzes, Barry Z. Posner
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen R. Covey
A Game Plan for Life - John Wooden
Servant Leadership in Action - Ken Blanchard

Leaders are readers.

Reading helps develop critical thinking skills that are applicable in every area of your life. Because, if you can't think critically, you'll never make wise decisions.

Reading helps you expand your vocabulary and imagination.

There is something amazing about taking a deep dive into the stories that are around us.

There's a lot of content but few great storytellers.

Benefits of Reading:

1. The ability to engage perspectives from diverse mindsets
2. Constant development of critical thinking skills
3. Serves as a catalyst for creativity
4. Expands our vocabulary
5. Prevents you from having a prideful heart
6. Gives an appreciation for the history of ideas

The Negatives of not Reading:

1. When we read only things we agree with, it can create an echo-chamber of our ideas.
2. You're less intelligent than those who make reading a life long habit.

Winning the War in your Mind - Craig Groeschel

We often perceive ourselves based on what society sees as successful. What is often sold to us as success is not what is best for us. But our lives can be driven by our most powerful thoughts.

Your thoughts are going to set you forwards or backwards, so we must work hard to keep our thoughts pure and praiseworthy.

Who you become in the future is in part determined by what you think today.

Linchpin - Seth Godin

How you can become an essential ingredient to your organization.

Don't endure your job, become essential in your job by balancing emotion and energy.

If it doesn't ship, it doesn't count and done is better than perfect.

Excellence does not equal perfection.

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The Four Loves - C. S. Lewis

Marriage is the original covenant between a man and a women to go on an adventure for a lifetime.

In the creation narrative, God addresses aloneness well before he address sinfulness.

Practice being the type of spouse you want to become now.

When you are saying your wedding vows, you are making a declaration not a promise.

Loving your spouse with a familial love prepares you to grow your family.

A family's capacitiy is only bound by its ability to love.

Loving your family well has generational impacts

You must love your spouse as an image bearer of God.

All loves make sense under the authority of God's kind of love.

Before you can have healthy horizontal relationships you must first have a healthy vertical relationship.

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Student Leadership University’s mission is to develop and equip student leaders to think, dream, and lead. We strive to instill future tense thinking; character-driven decision making; ownership of biblical values; and a commitment to influence through service.

The longer you put off responsibility the more devastating it will be to your life over the long term.

The more responsibility you have in life the more purpose you will have.

Making it from college to adulthood is navigating the chaos that is out of your control.

One: Get dressed for work everyday. Develop a rhymn of getting dressed for work every day. Even if you work from home everyday.

The Intern - Brent references a scene from this film.

There is a capacity that comes with compartmentalizing in a heathly way.

Two: Stay healthy through diet and exercise
It’s about being healthy and functioning for the glory of God.

Life is a marathon, not a sprint.

In this season of life your developing disciplines will last a life time.

These disciplines not only contribute to physical health, but mental health.

Find what is best for you when choosing a diet plan. Consult your doctor or nutritionist. Consult the experts.

Diets die, rhymes live.

Three: Build in healthy community
Build in community in the workplace.

Avoid communities of gossip.

It’s easier to lose community in adulthood than anything else.

Life is the law of compounding interest at work.

You want tpo make sure you have a community full of assets not liabilities, full of people who have been where you desire to go snd people who have the same worldview as you.

Four: Try new things

Go to that cooking class.
Try that new club.
Join that running club.

There’s something healthy about new things.

Stockpile experiences.
In this we expand our worldview and find things we did know we liked.

The Tough Mudder

Trying a new thing gives you the appetite to try more new things.

Sit in the moment and don’t worry about next.

A Long Obedience in the Same - Eugene Peterson

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Student Leadership University’s mission is to develop and equip student leaders to think, dream, and lead. We strive to instill future tense thinking, character-driven decision making, ownership of biblical values, and a commitment to influence through service.

Graduating high school is like walking through the wardrobe into Narnia. It opens up a whole new world of possibilities.

Nugget 1: Don’t wait till the fourth quarter to make the decision that you want to win the game.
Living beyond the yearbook starts before your Freshman year.

Nugget 2: The next chapter of life isn't a break from the rest of your life…it's simply the next step in your pilgrimage toward your heavenly home.

Nugget 3: You can lose yourself in the meaningless... OR become captivated with the source and beauty that is behind, and the cause of, all meaning.

Nugget 4: In addition to studying, social life, and part-time work...generously give yourself away in service to a particular cause or ministry.

Nugget 5: The people you surround yourself with reflect the person you are becoming...so surround yourself with friends that will continually build you up.

Nugget 6: Most of us have spend most of our time around people who look, act, worship, and think like us. Befriend and learn a lot from someone who is different from you.

Bonhoeffer came to the US and found a different version of Christianity than where he came from. This impacted his courage to go back to Germany and have the courage to die for what was right.

Diversity is good, intentional diversity is even better.

Nugget 7: There isn't a substitute for the local church…so find one and commit yourself to it (except during spring break, summer break, and Christmas break; during that time go home and see your parents!).

Being involved in a local church is not an option for the college Christian.

Make sure you doing church visits when you do college visits.

You don’t graduate from church when you graduate from high school.

Nugget 8: Don't take yourself too seriously…so rebel against trying to be a pretend version of yourself that you think everyone will find attractive. In other words, laugh when you trip over nothing while walking to class, choose being kind over being cool, and at the end of the day be a goofball!

This is one of the best moments of your life. When college is gone, it’s gone.

Don’t have regrets, but don’t be reckless.

Want more encouragement for graduating seniors? Brent wrote a blog digging into this topic. Read it here!

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Student Leadership University’s mission is to develop and equip student leaders to think, dream, and lead. We strive to instill future tense thinking; character-driven decision making; ownership of biblical values; and a commitment to influence through service.

What is a transition?
A transition is a key moment in our life where a decision is made that impacts all other decisions.

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