Eric Lapointe

Name: Eric Lapointe
Position: Director of Leadership Development.
Education: Biola, B.A in Communications;  Biola, M.A. in Organizational Leadership.
At Biola since: April 2001 (as staff), two years earlier as a student.
Your StrengthsFinder top five? Connectedness, Harmony, Responsibility, Maximizer, Activator.

1. What do you do in your job (briefly)? Develop students in leadership and life skills.

2. The five (or so) most influential books you've read:   
The Road Less Traveled –Peck;
Boundaries  -Cloud & Townsend;
How People Grow –Cloud & Townsend;
Healing the Masculine Soul –Dalbey;
Wild at Heart- Eldredge.

3. An influential person in your life/hero/best example of love? I have never experienced unconditional love from anyone like I have from my wife.

4. A guilty pleasure: Grey's Anatomy.

5. Your testimony (in 200 words or less): I gave my life to Christ in 1997 after a four  year battle with drugs.  The rest of the story takes too long...stop  by and I'll tell you in person (my office is in the lower SUB by the ATM).

6. If God put you completely in charge of creating Heaven, what would it be like?  Why would I want to be in charge of creating heaven?  He's God for crying out loud!

7. What movie/TV/book have you seen in the last year that you wish all your friends could see? Seabiscuit.

8. If you could relive any part of your life, what part would it be, and why? High School.  I missed a lot of opportunities because I didn't have the self-confidence to assert myself.
 
9. What is the most difficult choice you’ve ever had to make? I had to choose to try life God's way instead of my own. What made it difficult? What factors helped you make that choice?  It was difficult to trust that He would take care of me but the alternative wasn't exactly working for me anyway.

10. What is the most risky thing you want to try doing? Skydiving.  It's kind of expensive though.

11. What are five things you are most thankful for in your life right now?
•  My wife
•  My daughter
•  A great job
•  The Farm where we live (in Norwalk!)
•  My faith

12. In difficult times, who would you most want praying for you? My Mom.

13. Do you think it is possible to live with no regrets? I think we have to.  If you live with regrets, you are relegated to living in the past.  There is nothing you can do to change the past.  Why waste the present wishing you could do something that you can't?

14. What is your definition of success? Living out your potential. Do you consider yourself to be successful? I feel that I am a good portion of the way there.

15. How much is your self-worth and identity determined by your job and your success at it? Too much.

16. What are the most important things you look for when choosing a church? Forward thinking.

17. What is the most beautiful thing you have ever seen? Victoria Falls in Africa.

18. What are the 3 questions you most want to ask God? Honestly, I have the “strength” of Connectedness which causes me to firmly believe that everything happens for a reason.  I don't live my life wanting to ask God why something happened.  I am supremely confident that He knows what He is doing.

19. In what areas of your life is it most difficult to trust God? My own weaknesses.

20. What does contentment mean to you? Being confident where God has you.  I think I have a ways to go in this area.