Notes from Willow Creek Conference

"Sky High Stakes of Leadership" - Bill Hybels

Does it really matter in heaven if your church or mine prevails on earth?

OT: God is quite 'touchy' about his glory - is he still concerned today?

a.. God still uses the church for his redemptive purposes b.. What impact does a failing/folded church have on people and God's glory? c.. What impact does a church were God is alive have on people and God's glory? NT: church is a bride

What is at stake at this conference is the glory of God

What a church leader does affects the 'forever' for people

Church leaders are in the highest stake game in town

a.. people's eternity is at stake So we need higher levels of courage, integrity and compassion

Courage: Joe No 1 - Joseph of Arimathea

a.. sincere, secret follower of Christ b.. common attitude among people who have a lot to lose - covert, low risk c.. one day Joseph steps out of the shadows and makes a courageous request. Why? Joseph watched a good man die - with courage d.. the Spirit of God infuses courage e.. agree with the Holy Spirit to do whatever God requires - higher levels of courage f.. [Have you had your bell rung lately? cf. "someday." - talk cannot substitute for taking action!]

Integrity: Joe No 2 - Joseph (OT)

a.. showed integrity (financial, sexual) - took the high road at every intersection b.. died with his integrity intact; had zero-tolerance to any departure from innocence c.. put systems/people in place to protect integrity (see 2 Chron16:9 - 'hearts are fully his')

d.. call to end it decisively Compassion: Joe No 3 - Joseph (NT)

a.. did not want to expose Mary to public disgrace b.. made decisions from a compassionate centre c.. everyone who follows you works out what your centre is d.. compassionate centre - love for God, love for people e.. see what God is going to do - God's gift of leadership (e.g. matching church to inner-city neighbourhood; raising money that is not going to be used on your own campus f.. in today's self-centred/sin-saturated society, nothing will impact people more than showing compassion to those others have written off Are you willing/ready to ask God for higher levels of courage, integrity, compassion?

"The Leader's Edge 2003" - Bill Hybels

1. Motivation

Church leaders can be motivated by community, or cause, or corporate life

a.. enough attention has to be paid to the corporate side to do it well b.. need to institutionalize community and cause to make them both happen c.. the leader sets the relational tone for every leadership team they lead d.. 2 questions for any team you lead: a.. "what is the temperature in this circle?" b.. "what would you like it to be?" 2. Change

Ideas get old/tired - need new ideas/energy

Values don't change

e.g. inner city plunge:

a.. caring for the poor - right value b.. decreasing participation - tired idea If you want to change a church, 'blowtorch' that area by teaching (heat up the value)

Approach: 'rope-a-dope' - don't fight everything with big punches: plant seeds/take flack/ reinforce biblical reality (e.g. racial diversity) a bit at a time

3. Spiritual growth

When you heat up a believer to a certain temperature, they change properties

[You can't change the world through low-temperature Christians]

a.. How do you do this? a.. weekly service: not enough to sustain weeklong b.. spiritual practice/formation - Luke 6:45 (figure out little streams of truth for God to feed into your life c.. develop community between weekends d.. practice radical acts of kindness 4. Spiritual life

As things speed up, you need to do 'soul-full' things, so you don't end up 'soul-less'

The only way to do this is to reduce speed

5. Twin Towers for a Leader

a) "O give me Samuel's ear."

a.. some leadership involves skill enhancement - things can be learned b.. but there's a whole part of leadership that's about listening to God c.. cultivate Samuel's ear - listening to the Holy Spirit and having the guts to obey him b) "I eagerly desire to eat with you."

a.. Jesus chose to eat his last dinner with his tea b.. Team members can take risks together for the Kingdom c.. 'mark the moments' (e.g. stakes in the ground)

"The Y Factor: working with volunteers" - Bill Hybels

X + Y = Z

Paid staff Volunteers Fruit for the Kingdom

® ¯

Equip ®

Can be corrupted:

a.. if equippers refuse to commit b.. if volunteers refuse to be equipped (current consumer mentality in churches)

Volunteer attitudes

a.. bring meaning to life / transcendence b.. opportunity to serve / use spiritual gift c.. keeps people's flames lit, vision clear, passion hot d.. for activating, needs vision-casting Process: vision-casting from leadership

A Attract volunteers

(volunteer acquisition vs. volunteer retention)

a.. hard work: tune up skills b.. start with people you know c.. invite them to join you one time C Connect

a.. can take several moves to find out where people fit, where God wired them up T Training

a.. most volunteers would like to get better at what they're doing (career planning, self-development)

S Sustain

a.. over the long haul by a.. community - glue of retaining volunteers b.. celebration a.. keep free, revitalized b.. create a finish line (annual celebration)

c.. commendation "Jesus Up Close and Personal" - Bill Hybels

Jesus of Nazareth: One Solitary Life

Strength:

a.. carpentry trade - physical b.. stayed on mission - mental c.. despite opposition - emotional d.. overcame every temptation - moral Sensitivity:

a.. rarely co-exists with strength/power b.. attitude to children, sick, grieving, despairing Simplicity:

a.. success usually leads to complexity b.. food, accommodation, clothing, servanthood c.. people matter more than things d.. loving God deeply and loving people radically His disciples can know him as fully as those of this day, and his attributes can infuse our lives - relationship-based faith cf. knowledge-based

Dream of the day for pastors, volunteers, non-churched to know Jesus in this relational way - focused affection, dynamic friendship

What more radical message is there?!

"Building Teams that Last" - Nancy Beach

a.. One is too small a number to achieve greatness (see Warren Bennis, "Organising Genius")

b.. Rare to find a team that hangs together for a period of time c.. Make sure team members don't move on because of your leadership Great teams are:

1.. Driven by mission a.. need enthusiasm, review, clarity 1.. Assembled with care a.. how you select people is more important than how you mange them a.. character - (Acts 6, spirit and wisdom) - no amount of talent can make up for a person who does not walk closely with God b.. competency - may not have experience/skills in obvious areas c.. chemistry - need to be able to 'play well in the sand box' b.. aim high and trust God to come through with the right person 1.. Led with love a.. biblical and most effective a.. create the environment for people to flourish (e.g. Walt Disney - 'bee that pollinates')

b.. treat people like individuals (flexibility)

c.. pay attention to group dynamics (including conflict management)

d.. give from the heart b.. leading with love is mostly just being here when you're needed "Identifying and developing leaders" - Brian Houston

[John 4:37 - 'You have entered into their labours']

Develop a culture where leadership development is embraced - how?

a.. Build an environment where people can flourish Psalm 92:12 ('fat green saps'), 3 John 2

a.. if they can't flourish, will they stay planted? b.. applies to church as well as individuals - both have a soul a.. believe in people - developing leaders b.. build people - be secure in your own role - rejoice with those who rejoice/

weep with those who weep

a.. Build an environment where leadership is modeled Hebrews 13:7, I Peter 3:1-5, I Tim 4:12

a.. give people something to follow - across all of life b.. if you give people something to follow, leadership will emerge a.. Build an environment where the concept of leadership is embraced a.. there is a language of leadership that imparts confidence (cf. negativity, cynicism - foreign language to leadership)

b.. there is a mentality of leadership / wavelength (Romans 12:2)

c.. there is a style of leadership / conduct d.. there is a gait of leadership / way of walking - balance/poise a.. Build an environment where hearts are challenged Proverbs 16:2, Psalm 51

a.. right spirit - never develop a wounded spirit b.. challenge attitudes that clutter people's spirits - strife, contention, competition Every environment is full of potential leaders!

- Grace Thomlinson WVA