Andy Stanley on Leadership

Andy launched Catalyst 2008 with a great talk on leadership. Quotable…

• We want our leaders to have consistency between what they say and what they do.
• At the end of the day, everyone is a volunteer. They can quit at any time.
• Authenticity is a powerful leadership dynamic.
• Nehemiah got mad and asked the leaders to stop over-charging the people. They immediately complied. Why? Because for 12 years, Nehemiah had been living an authentic life in front of them. He had moral authority.
• As leaders, we must be the men and women who never carry into the future the hurt of the past.
• Perhaps the boldest leadership move you could make is to get on your knees and let go of your hurts.
• Men: If your wife feels like your church is your mistress, you are part of the problem you are trying to solve.
• If your kids feel neglected because of your time at the church, you are part of the problem you are trying to solve.

[from LeadingSmart by Tim Stevens]

"Vision" by Andy Stanley

[Here are Vince Antonucci's notes on another of the sessions at the Exponential Conference. Andy Stanley is brilliant and makes everything seem so ridiculously simple...]

Vision = Mental picture of what could be, fueled by passion of what should be. Vision begins as a burden, What’s clear in here must become clear out there – or people won’t know how to follow us.

5 Things To Do:

1. State it simply
- Memorable is portable
- We suffer from the curse of knowledge
- People don’t ask stupid questions, they’re just letting us know how poorly we’ve communicated the vision.
- Northpointe’s Vision: “Create a church that unchurched people love to attend.”

2. Cast it convincingly
- Define the problem (If people don’t feel weight of problem they won’t be excited about the vision).
- Offer the solution (Your vision is the solution to a problem.)
- Explain why and why now (Why now in this community?)

3. Repeat it regularly
- Discover the rhythm of your church
- Build vision casting into the rhythm

4. Celebrate constantly
- Problem with vision – no pictures going somewhere that only exists in my head.
- So when we get “pictures” – hold them up – celebrate the win.
- Stories do more to clarify vision than anything else.
- Don’t miss opportunities to showcase examples

5. Embrace it personally (and publicly)
- Share with staff and church when you invite someone, what happened this week in your small group, etc.
- Don’t miss opportunities to showcase examples.