Some of the most revolutionary words ever spoken to me by another person took place on a trip from DFW airport to a hotel near my church. I had the privilege of picking up Leonard Sweet and hosting him when he spoke at our Student Ministry conference, “Lift.”
At this point in my life I had resigned from pastoring The Gathering, a young adult ministry I started at our church and I was working primarily as the church and public relations director for Master’s Commission of Dallas. Although I loved my job, I was still confused about how this would all play out in my life. So, I broke one of my own rules about hosting a speaker and I began to unload all of this stuff on him about my past, present and future goals. And that’s when it happened. That’s when he spoke to me words that ended up changing the trajectory of my life. Before I tell you, I must say, sometimes someone says something that is life-changing to one person and to another it sounds ordinary. If this falls in the ordinary category to you then I apologize for wasting your time on this blog.
He said (paraphrased), “Justin, it sounds to me like you are a ‘0 to 1′ guy. The greatest space between any two numbers is the space between 0 and 1. It is greater than the space between 0 and 100. Lots of people can do 1 to 100 but not many can do 0 to 1. The biggest problem with 0 to 1 people is that when they bring something to 1 everyone always assume that they should be the one to bring that something to 2 and 3 and 10 and so on. Every time you bring something to 1 you need to find a way to get back to ZERO as soon as possible. When I find someone who is a 0 to 1 guy I treat them with kid gloves and I don’t let them go past 1.
Needless to say, my eyes were open after this conversation. It was only a couple of weeks later that I began to write a job proposal that would eventual flesh out beyond even what I thought it. I now am the Development Leader for The Oaks which mostly involves starting new campuses for us. It doesn’t get more 0 to 1 than that.
Leonard and I have continued our friendship and I have kept him up-to-date on what that conversation did for my life. That God for people who speak wisdom into your life!
