I returned home late Sunday night after nearly missing my connection in Memphis. We were late from Amsterdam for some reason and customs was ridiculous to get through. I made the flight by less than five minutes. You know how we all laugh at the people running through the airport to catch their flight? That was me. I didn’t even stop to put my shoes or belt back on. I just grabbed everything (laptop, backpack, shoes, belt, phone, ticket) and started running.

Here’s a shot from our last day in Cape Town at Cape Point. It was extremely windy. Bennett had not been down there before, so we decided to take the trip.

We finished the second day of the Million Leaders Mandate Conference in Cape Town. It turned out very well. Bennett gave a great message about making tough decisions and shared some of the history of our church and the challenges he has faced. Mario’s session was on the great commission and how that is really the basis for our leadership.

My session was on coaching. I put together a little piece at the end on coaching young leaders because the majority of the time you are coaching someone, they are younger than you. Here were the five points I had:

1. Mentor Them

The number one disappointment from young leaders is a lack of mentoring. It just doesn’t happen.

2. Create Laboratories

Give them space to EXPERIMENT. Create some labs where they can test their theories and thoughts.

3. Give Permission to Fail

Don’t let them carry around baggage. Each day is new. Take the competition out of it.

4. Coach the Differences

You can’t lead everyone the same. You have to coach or lead by feel -from the heart.

5. Celebrate With Them

The journey is a lot more fun if you take others with you. Average people don’t celebrate the success of others.

We had a good first day in Cape Town: A late breakfast followed by a nap in a hammock; a trip through the country to Wellington to run some errands. We stopped by the church to finish the set up for the conference tomorrow and then ended the day at a seafood restaurant (Cafe Orka) on the Atlantic Ocean.

I remembered how much I love Africa.

I was reminded of how amazing God is.

It’s a strange thing: I think I live life in such a way where I rarely stop and stand in awe of God. Then I come to a place like Africa and am overwhelmed with how amazing He is. It’s just so obvious by looking at the mountains and the huge skies that He is in control. I can’t remember how long it’s been since I felt that way. Probably the last time I was here.

I have some last minute adjustments to my session for tomorrow and then it’s off to bed.

Bennett, Mario and I are just chillin at the CMH waiting for our flight to Detroit. We have an hour layover before our all-nighter to Amsterdam. From there it’s 11 hours to Cape Town. There’s nothing like 20 hours on a plane to start your week off right.

If you get a moment, pray for us. Our conference is Thursday and Friday and we have the opportunity to spaek to hundreds of pastors. These are the guys influencing the spiritual climate of the western cape. We’re prepared, but we want God to show up and speak to their hearts.

My second session in Africa is dealing with the subject of coaching. I’m going to develop a sub-section of that on leading young leaders. There’s a stat that says 85% of people coming right out of seminary and into ministry leave the ministry within 5 years. I think the majority of that problem could be corrected with good leadership and coaching.

So I need some feedback from you. If I were to ask you…

How do you lead young leaders?

What would you say?

Some of the things I’ve thought about already were:

1. Opportunities to broaden skill base.
2. Freedom to fail.
3. Constant feedback or coaching - not just once a year at review time.
4. Appreciate their differences. Encourage the uniqueness.

Just think of some things that maybe you wish you had or you wish someone had done for you.

Throw some things at me.

One of my sessions in South Africa is about time management. Time management is somewhat odd because time really can’t be managed. It doesn’t stop. You can’t save it or waste it. Everybody gets the same amount of time each day, each week, each month.

So one of the guiding principles in time management is Pareto’s 80/20 Principle. For the most part, 20% of your week produces 80% of your results. If you can focus on that 20% (your natural strengths and talents), not only could you get more done, but you would also have extra time left over.

So trick is to get yourself in that strength zone. Anyway….

Bennett, Mario and I leave one week from today for South Africa. I’ve got two sessions I’m studying for. One on time management and one on coaching.

I’ve got a busy week until then. We are starting a new series on marriage and we are installing new video screens, cabling and a projector to take it to a HO - NOTHA - LEVEL.

Here a few shots from Cape Point. Now technically, it’s not the southernmost point in Africa, but when you’re down this far, who’s really keeping track of that anyway? There is nothing between you and Antarctica from here.

You can view the complete photo gallery from my recent trip to South Africa on my photo gallery page. Just look to the left at the toolbar or click here.

We drove back from Cape Point around False Bay (southern side). Our tour guide for the day, Pastor Sean, lives in Fish Hoek, which is close to Boulder Beach. Sean was extremely knowledgeable about the area and was a great guide for the day.

Fish Hoek

Boulder Beach

We spent the last day in Cape Town taking a scenic drive down the Cape Peninsula and out to Cape Point. I didn’t think there was anything that could top Table Mountain, but I was wrong. I know I keep saying, “this was the most amazing view,” or “this was the most spectacular….” It just kept getting better and better. Casey and I both decided that there is no where in the United States that you can experience everything like what we have in Cape Town. We both agreed that this was the most scenic drive in probably the whole world.

Here’s a shot of Huat Bay from Chapman’s Peak. This is the first bay past Table Mountain.

Long Beach was next. Known as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. And notice there are no high rise hotels or resorts. Just blue water and white sand.

The Cape of Good Hope is right next to Cape Point. Check out those secluded beaches.

Sorry for the overload of pictures. I don’t think I have been any where else with such spectacular scenery.

Here’s a few shots of the Big 5 out on safari. There’s me, Casey, Mario, Dirk Jobert from Johannesburg and Christo Lues (pronounced Lewis) from Cape Town.

Casey and Mario and I just landed in Amsterdam. It is 5.38 am Ohio time. We still have another 8 hour flight to Detroit, 3 hours layover there and then a 1 hour flight home. Casey got us into the Northwest Airlines Lounge. He’s a gold member or something. So we have kicked back and pulled the laptops out.

Man I ready to be back home.

Here’s a cool shot I took from Cape Point yesterday. I wish there was a direct route from there to Columbus.

Cape Town has an amazing mountain right in the middle of the city called Table Mountain. It’s about 1000 meters high or 3300 feet up. We took a ride to the top this morning in a cable car. The view was spectacular. Definitely one of the most breath-taking sights I have ever seen.

Downtown Cape Town and Table Bay - the main harbor of the city.

The cable car station we rode up to, Lion’s Head is the peak on the right and the Atlantic Ocean in the back.

Looking off to the right into the mountain range that runs down into Cape Town.

Giraffes and zebras are not part of the Big 5, but we saw a lot of them. We even had 4 giraffes wander up on us when we stopped to have coffee.

The morning we arrived, the lions had attacked and killed a baby giraffe. There was a couple that was staying at the lodge with us and they video taped the whole thing… up close. He copied it to a DVD for us, so I’ll have to put some screen shots up for you. It was awesome.

We spent the last few days on an African safari at a reserve called Shumbalala. We had four game drives while we were there and these are some pictures I took from our Land Rover. The Big 5 is the elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion and lepord. They’re called the Big 5 because they are the 5 most hunted animals in Africa.

My wife told me to be safe on this trip and don’t do anything risky… like swim with sharks or try to shoot animals or whatever. I saw this and just had to do it.

Sorry for the long absence. We have been without internet for the past few days. I’ll post some pictures and updates shortly.

Here are a few shots I’ve taken from Northeastern South Africa. Close to the border of Mozambique.