The world is beset by conspiracy theories. Prominent conspiracies circulating include:

• The QAnon conspiracy centered on a supposed cabal of celebrity sex traffickers and “the deep state.” This conspiracy theory, void of any evidence, is the work of an 4Chan poster named Q who claims to be a government employee with top-secret security clearance.

• The allegation that big box e-retailer Wayfair is engaged in human trafficking by way of home cabinetry.

• The assertion that 5G millimeter-wave spectrum used to transmit internet data to handheld devices interferes with the body’s natural chemistry making people sick with COVID-19.

• The claim that Bill Gates wants to embed microchips into the human body through vaccines.

• Conspiracy theorists like David Icke and InfoWars’ Alex Jones, claim that COVID-19 doesn’t exist but is a plot by the globalist elite to take away our freedoms.

The First Conspiracy Theory

To say I’ve seen a lot in my 95 years is an understatement.

Those of us who are dang-near a century old have a few stories to tell. Just ask us. If you asked me a year ago if I’d seen it all, I would have said yes.

After all, I’ve lived through WWII, the Great Depression, Vietnam, 9/11 and multiple recessions. I’ve seen civil riots, natural disasters and decades of political discord. I watched Americans moon walk (including Michael Jackson) and the evolution of space-age computers. I dodged the Asian flu, swine flu, HIV and Ebola.

As a career educator and coach, I’ve built countless athletic programs, mentored and coached thousands, from college to Olympic-level. I’ve been married for a total of 60 years and outlived both wives. I’ve had my share of loves and losses, to include children.

Despite my challenges, I’m one of the more optimistic people you’ll meet. I carpe diem and encourage others to do the same. (Evan Oswald, 2021)

We need more of Evan’s spirit of optimism! Covid is contagious. So is optimism.

There is too much anger, conflict, cynicism, stress, and fear in our lives, schools, and country. This is not how the Lord expects us to live. As leaders we have the duty to model and cultivate a biblically informed optimistic spirit in our lives and in our schools “for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” — 2 Ti 1:7

Do you know the primary thing that holds you back from accomplishing your vision?

It’s also the very same thing that can really move you forward.

It’s YOU.

The reason why this is true so much of the time is because YOU are often the primary person that God is going to be using to accomplish the great work that you are doing.

I want to share my heart and the reason for writing this long blog post. This political season offers a singular opportunity to teach by word and example what it means to engage the world and to change it for Christ. But changing the world requires that our good ends are accompanied by good means and good character.

We want our young people to care about politics, to wrestle with tough issues. We want them to learn to seek the welfare of the City of Man while they pursue the City of God. This is, in many respects, the heart and soul of Christian education—preparing young people to take biblical principles and learn to apply them with humility and respect to practical day-to-day realities. We want them, by God’s grace, to make a difference in our schools, our communities and our nation by being different from the world around them.

We want them to experience the warmth and joy of Christian community rather than the heat and hurt of tribalism. We want them to care about their character, their Christian witness, and people more than their politics. We want them to embrace the truth that people are more important to God than our politics and that Christian character is more important to God than our party or our candidate.

Setting the Table

How do you flip the switch when you are overwhelmed and anxious with way too many things to do from being busy to being effective?

I want to take you through a process that has helped me and many of the leaders we work with here at Development & Leadership Coaching.

But first, you need to take a breath!

This is something that I struggle with in my own life. I think that every leader does. If we aren’t careful, we can get caught up just going from one thing to the next all day every day. I want you to STOP and BREATHE. Then, ask yourself this important question.

“Am I really doing the things that are critically important for me to do that are going to move our organization forward towards the vision we have for impacting people’s lives, or…am I just busy?”

Keeping Your Vision in Focus

Whenever someone asks me for advice on how to achieve better focus, my question to them is what is your focus on?

Focus is a vision activity. Just like a camera adjusting from blur to blur until steadied, the big picture for your ministry sharpens only after the focal point is established.

What do you see for your ministry thirty years from now?

You must do some searching and praying. What are you wanting to be true for your family, in your ministry, in your business, for your health, and with your own finances? These are big questions. It’s a big process to answer these questions, but it’s worth it.

When you know where you are trying to go financially and where you are trying to go with the impact of your organization – you will be amazed at how things fall into place.

One of the biggest challenges with hybrid or online learning is being proactive. It is so easy as virtual school teachers to find ourselves in reactive mode, simply responding to problems that arise rather than proactively helping our students achieve success.

• How do we flip that on its head and get students what they need when they need it?

• How do we reach out before they check out?

• How do we know who needs help now?

These are questions I wrestled with in over a decade as a virtual teacher, where I worked with thousands of precalculus students. I want to share some of the secrets I have learned, and a few that I picked up from colleagues who have also been successful in this challenging educational format.

The research shows that the key factor in students succeeding in online learning is the quantity and quality of interactions with their online teacher.

You are the key to your students’ success!