I received an email a few weeks back with an interesting question: "What were some of the significant moments in your life many years ago which had an influence on where you are today?"

That got me thinking about some of the transformative moments as a teen and young adult. The Bible has always been integral to those changes, but God has also used some other events or books along the way, especially in the early days of my leadership. Here are a few that come to mind...

• 1979 (12 years old) - At a camp experience in Clear Lake, Iowa, I made a decision to align my life with God's will and head toward full-time ministry, a decision I never regretted.
• 1982 (15 years old) - I read In His Steps by Charles Sheldon and it rocked my world. I began to ask "what would Jesus do?" in my daily life (this was before the bracelets or T-shirts).
• 1988 (21 years old) - I read the book, Inside Out, by Larry Crabb and God changed my heart. I started realizing that what mattered most was on the inside.
• 1990 (23 years old) - The book Grace Awakening by Charles Swindoll really was an awakening for me. After being steeped in legalism for so long, this book started me on a journey of discovering that God's love for me is not based on my performance.
• 1993 (26 years old) - Injoy Leadership Conference with John Maxwell in Anderson, Indiana - this conference was the first I'd ever attended on pure leadership. God moved in me profoundly, and set me on a course that eventually brought me to Granger.
• 1997 (30 years old) - Faith and I were exposed to some tremendous parenting material from Growing Families International, which has influenced how we've raised and disciplined our kids for the past fifteen years.

I wonder if any of these tools had the same impact on your life?