Ron Ball Association and Marriage seminars

Yesterday I had the privilege of being part of a Pastor's Oasis with Ron Ball held at the Good News Center in Utica. Ron is an outstanding communicator and shared a great deal of wisdom about leadership and communicating effectively in a pomo world. Ron spoke about 12 challenges that executives face: Expansive Ego: Business leaders often fail for cockiness and greed. Exhaustion of Omnipotence: exhausted from being the "know it all" Logistical Frustration: overwhelmed by having to operate systems they didn't create and are not good at. For problem solving, he promotes the FIXIT solution: F - FACTS. Make friends with all the facts, not just the ones you want to hear. I - INVENT. Invent a plan based on those facts. X - EXTERMINATE negative spin. I - INVITE support. T - TRACK results. Hidden Anxieties: Promotional Disappointment; Financial Frustration; Recognition Diminishment. Unresolved Anger Team Sabbotage: sabbotaging one's own team through neglect or domination. Mechanical Relationships Exclusionary Resentment Back Burner Families Artificial Spirituality Emotional Flatness Authentic Burnout Of particular interest to me was his talk on Logistical Frustration where he addressed problem solving. He was quoting someone else when he said, "We need to take full responsibility for every situation we find ourselves in. If there is a problem here, I caused it." He also said that many major corporations when doing problem solving go with an 80% solution because aiming for 100% paralyzes them and costs too much. His talk on the post-modern mind was fascinating. Much of it I had heard in other venues. But I was surprised at how much I learned despite having been a student of this stuff. Modern Modernistic Characteristics Cultural Liberalism: weakening of boundaries, marriage, sexual ethics, etc. all leading to a feeling of entitlement of pleasure. Discovery of Subconscious: unexpected result being the belief that we are just products of our subconscious thought and early childhood experiences leading to the idea that we are less responsible for our actions. Industrial Development: idea that by working for a corporation they will provide for and protect you. Socialist Economics: Let the state take care of you when you are in need. Realism in the Arts: evolved to cheapen life and the removal of dignity. Respectability in Religion: leading to the belief that the most important thing is that one is a decent person, cheapening the belief in spiritual transformation and power. Tolerance as a Primary Virtue Modern Characteristics Deconstructionism Disintigrationalism Existentialism "Me"ism Immediatism Reductionism Globalism He also talked about Julian Strauss and mentioned some of her findings regarding the 21-39 generation ... Cult of "I" Multiple choice culture Devastated by the unexpected results of divorce Devastated by the unexpected results of feminism "Why suffer?" mentality Celebrity standard & influence Media dominance Ron mostly speaks to business communities but was also an associate pastor with tele-preacher Charles Stanley for a couple years. I listed most of his talks in bullet points but he did an oustanding job of pulling it together and making it relevant for pastors. If you get a chance to hear him sometime it would be worth your while.