You Have to be There in Order to be There

by R. A. Weigel

This is an article about why I think YOU should sign up and attend the upcoming CCNI eSummit in October. Why? Because your personal learning is a 1) process and 2) journey that happens over time in ways that often come as a surprise as often as it comes via a plan.

For many years I would tell my fellow educators, “Our business is not about teaching — it is about learning.” In other words, if something is taught but nobody learned, then the effort of teaching was in reality, ineffectual. The only true measure of success for the teacher or presenter is; what was learned.

First, learning is a process. It is not something that happens simply because a person says, “I want to learn,” any more than a 5-year old who gets behind the steering wheel is telling mommy that she wants to drive. Learning happens based on a lot of different criteria including but not limited to, rewards, stress, background, relevance, fatigue, environmental factors, physical factors, emotional factions, and mental factors. In other words, your personal learning is a combination of a huge accumulation of personal criteria all coming together at the right time, in the right place, with the right attitude.

What does that have to do with the eSummit? For three days in October you’re going to have an opportunity to listen to and interact with eleven of the best professional Christian coaches in our country. Their expertise has a greater potential to meet the criteria for your personal learning than nearly anything else you might do. Attending the CCNI eSummit will be the right time and place. You simply need to supply the right attitude.

As I mentioned previously, learning is also a journey. I’ve often told my students that learning is hard work and if you’re not uncomfortable with what I am presenting and encouraging you to do, then I’ve not done my job well. Great learning does NOT happen in your comfort zone. Your potential for great learning begins when you are pushed outside your comfort zone and forced, by your own mind, to consider ideas, skills, and perspectives that were, just a moment ago, comfortable. Something has entered your thoughts and suddenly have to think differently, consider something else, reflect on what you want, or make the decision to take an action you had not previously considered. Learning does not take place when you are complacent.

For something to push you outside of your comfort zone, you’re going to have to purposefully put yourself in the presence of someone who is willing and able to make you uncomfortable. Again, we have eleven incredible people who are going to do that for you in the upcoming CCNI eSummit. How their presentations will push you outside your comfort zone is impossible to say. The reality that they will do that – well, I’m pretty sure it will happen because I know each one of them and they all are great men and women of God who listen to the Holy Spirit.

The art of learning is my bailiwick and I could ramble on and talk about how to use what you already know to build the next phase of your learning based on previous knowledge, practice, discrimination, reinforcement, personality, essentialities, note-taking, feedback, measurement, input, contiguity, and so much more. We might discuss the importance of your learning from a business, personal, or professional perspective. We could also take a few moments to talk about personal motivation, peer pressures, rewards, punishment, catalysts, defensive reasoning, learning communities, or even the paradoxes of human behavior. Yet, all of those insights will probably not do as much for you as to boldly state: YOU NEED TO BE THERE IN ORDER FOR GOD TO OPEN THE DOOR FOR YOUR LEARNING TO TAKE PLACE.

In other words, you can’t learn something that God wants you to learn from a Christian coach — unless you put yourself in an opportunity to learn from a Christian coach.

It is highly likely that there will only be few opportunities in your life where you will have the privilege to rub shoulders with some of this country’s best Christian coaches over such a short period of time. Don’t let missing this opportunity become a regret.

From my perspective, I believe that God is calling each of us to be the best Christian coaches in the world because that is how we perform the work that he has called us to perform. So, I’ll be there for all the sessions because I believe that God is going to give me some insight or direction or knowledge that will push me farther than I thought I could go – and that is a journey worth taking.

To sign up for the eSummit check the eSummit page on our website.

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