Andy Stanley, Pastor of North Point Church opened Catalyst. His message really make an impact on me. Follow Andy: http://twitter.com/andystanley. Here are some of my notes:
I want to talk about Make in the context of leadership. God, life, and circumstances make leaders.
Information and insigth alone do not a leader make. No matter how much good content you consume, it doesn’t make you a great leader. Leaders never really talk about podcasts, articles, books, etc.
What makes a leader is how they handle 3 things:
– Unexpected Opportunity – Leaders are rarely the first person see an opportunity, but they are often the first person to seize the opportunity.
– Unavoidable Adversity – How a person responds to adversity is what makes a person a leader.
– Unquestionable Calling – This is that untangible.
These things don’t make them a leader…it is how they respond to them. This is important because right now you are bumping up against one of these 3 things.
It’s a leader’s response to opportunites that makes a leader a leader.
Think about your favorite Bible story or business story. Aren’t these elements part of those stories?
These are part of your story right now. In the middle of these situations, you need to live a story worth living – respond well! The yonger you are the more important this is but the less consequential this feels.
You have no control over any of it except how you respond.
Here are moments in my life God has used:
Story 1:
As a kid my parents would tell me often: God has a plan for your life; you don’t want to miss it.
I heard verses like Ps. 32:8 “I will insturct you and teach you in the way you are to go and counsel you with my eye upono you.”
My dad refused to make decisions for me. He would tell me to pray about it. There was a sense of destiny that he spoke over me and my sister. He lived it out.
Speaking over me earlier than I can remember “God has a plan for your life…”
**The greatest thing you do as a leader may not be what you do. It may be who is watching you do what you do. Your son…Your grandson…Your niece….
Actions speak louder than words, sometimes the echo into eternity. What you do has more implications than you could ever imagine.
Story 2:
Sid Hopkins became youth pastor when I was in college. He asked me to lead a Wednesday night Bible study. He told me, “I have a title and a position. You have influence with the students. Influence is always more important than a title of position.”
This was the first time I was thrown into an environment when I didn’t know what to do. I was dependent on The Lord. There is something powerful, shaping and making when we are dependent on him.
God may choose to make you through an unexpected opportunity for which you feel totally unprepared.
Later, I came back as the youth pastor and had an opprotunity to preach on homosexuality. It was something nobody talked about. Nobody preached on any kind of sexuality. But there was a tension inside of me that while we were singing “Just as I am” but not really meaning it, more liberal churches had their arms open saying, “Everybody is welcome to come whorship with us.” It just didn’t sit right with me.
I learned…
**It’s better to make a difference than to make a point.
Pay attention to the tension you feel. Every once in a while you will be disturbed by something. Everybody else will be like “huh” but you will be disturbed. This is how a calling comes about. This is how a calling is birthed. He stirs our hearts, rattles our categories and you feel called to do something about it.
One of the things we say at our church is that we walk toward the messes.
Story 3:
Story about leaving FBA with wife, 2 kids in diapers and one on the way. We were just scared.
God gets more mileage out of adversity than out of any other context.
It’s fun to open your hands and see God put stuff in it. But there is something very shaping when God starts taking stuff out of it. You will become an open handed leader.
You have no idea what lays in the balance of your response. Your response will make you the leader God designed you to be.
Leaders are made one response at a time.