Saturday, January 13, 2024

Nexus Summit

4 years later... we're back at the San Jose Sheraton.  Same concept... different name.  LEAD Summit in 2019 and NEXUS Summit today.  A conference on Leadership... and in reality... a means to build relationship to bring people to Jesus.  I was blessed to be invited to MC again.  For some rhyme or reason... I've built a reputation for being a 金牌司議。 I have no idea how that came to be.  

Still remember in the St. Mary Chinese school days... Mother's Day performance was a big deal and I was also asked to speak.  Maybe cuz I had a loud voice?? I dunno.

At SSPP... I MC'ed another Mother's Day event... which bombed.  I was totally unprofessional and not close to be funny. 

Then I started to have my break... the first one was Mission High's spirit rally in Senior Year.  I think that was the first time that I got accolades for my humor and performance.  Then slowly and surely... there were other speaking engagements.  And the one event that truly put me on the map... was Ken and So Chi's wedding.  I was initially invited to be the English translator.... but I captivated the entire audience.  And that launched me into a whole new stratosphere of a career.  For various events here and there... I continued to have the opportunity to sharpen my tools... including that fateful day 4 years ago where I was totally buttered up. Today...  after just 1-2 opportunities to speak... one of speakers came up to me and said, "You have a calling to be a stand up comedian."  She may have done it out of courtesy... but I can also tell... she was genuinely entertained. 

But the Summit isn’t about me… it’s about leadership, learning about ourselves, finding our faults, repairing those injuries and taking that next step towards our North Star. Of all the anecdotes and sound bites that I heard today… the one that stood out to me the most came from Jo Vitale… who answered a question about her biggest Mentor. In her case it was her father who was a Pastor that preacher on the pulpit and lived it at home. She shared that there were times she’ll be walking to the kitchen at 4AM to get a glass of water and she’ll see her dad on his knees praying and spending time with the person he loved most. She commented that whenever there was a disagreement… he would always be the one to make the first step to reconcile… not because he was wrong, but because that’s how you show love and grace… and he’s so secure in his being, he needn’t worry about being emasculated for unconditionally loving his daughter. That reasonated with me more than all that passion and drive and defining moments stuff. It’s my fatherly relationship with my Daughter.

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