Will Mancini declared to a packed room: “God had a dream over your life before you were born.”
He told the Midwest Leadership Summit attenders people often don’t know how to understand what that special assignment is, but his goal is to help them discover it so they can live a fulfilling, God-honoring life.
Mancini is the founder of Auxano, a church consulting firm, and author of five books including, “Younique” and “God’s Dreams.” And, he is consulting with IBSA on a revitalization process called “Denominee.”
“The question,” he said, “is not ‘What would Jesus do?’ It is ‘How would Jesus live if he had my life?’ What has God been preparing you to do?”
Mancini provided this fill-in-the-blank sentence as the answer everyone needs to discover about themselves: I exist to honor God and help others by _____ing _______. He shared his own answer, “I exist to honor God and help others by applying essence.” Examples he gave from others included:
• “I exist to honor God and help others by restoring integrity.”
• “I exist to honor God and help others by activating growth.”
• “I exist to honor God and help others by expressing passion.”
To find out your answer, he suggests:
1. Experience to grow. Experience is not the best teacher. Instead, evaluating the experience is the best teacher. “Ask prior co-workers, ‘What am I great at that I don’t fully appreciate?’ Ask them for ‘brutiful’ honesty,” (combining the words brutal and beautiful).
2. Courage to know. “How much of what I do today is living in and out of some else’s expectation for my life?”
3. Don’t fear the years. “Time is your friend, not your enemy,” Mancini shared. “As kingdom people, your impact line goes up and up and up.”
4. Risk to go. “What has God been preparing you for your whole life to do next?” Mancini said people often get satisfied and comfortable. Would you rather “have the risk of failing than wondering ‘What if?’”
5. I don’t know what I don’t know. “Your worst fear scenario is not as bad as you think. Life is too short, it’s your special calling at stake.”
See more from the Midwest Leadership Summit at mwadvance.org.