A Cup Overflowing - with Lectures

Now, I know that sitting through ten lectures and six sermons in six days is not a compelling thought for anyone. But this was the most stimulating part of the Chautauqua experience for me. Not only did we hear James Forbes every day, we also heard the following people in the morning lecture around the theme, The Ethics of Leadership:

David Brooks, The Weekly Standard chief editor and TV news analyst
David Boren, University of Oklahoma Chancellor
Cheryl Dorsey, Echoing Green president
David Westin, ABC News President
Nancy Gibbs, Time Magazine chief editor
Joseph Riley, mayor, Charleston, S.C.

Needless to say, I was impressed with every speaker, but was especially impressed with David Boren from the University of Oklahoma. His message was that Middle America is the largest group in America, but is not being heard because of the voices on the extremes. He maintains that Middle America does have great ideas and is doing great things.

I was also impressed with Cheryl Dorsey, the head of Echoing Green, an organization that provides start-up capital for Social Entrepreneurs. Social Entrepreneurs are those individuals and groups that have as their primary mission the improvement of lives. Two examples of this are micro-loans and building schools in Pakistan.

Joseph Riley, the mayor of Charleston, SC surprised me. For a person who has done such great things to transform and mend divisions in his city, I found him to be very humble and accessible. Bold! Very! How many Southern mayors do you know that would hire a Jewish Black police chief?

On top of that, at 2pm every day, we heard an interfaith lecture around the theme of Ethical Leadership. We heard representatives from Black Christianity, Fundamentalist Christianity, the Muslim community, and the Jewish community. Every lecture made you think and ponder your own faith.

What the week of lectures did most for me was to give me great hope for the future leaders of our faith and the nation. I am hopeful about the near and distant future and where God can lead us.