Defying Gravity

I want to interrupt the "Transformational Church" series to bring some great leadership lessons from Andy Stanley, who spoke at a special leaders event tonight at Elevation Church.

Drawing on the story of Acts 15 and the "problem" of Gentile believers, Stanley talked about the tension of what church should and could be versus the gravitational pull of culture and the world.

• There's always a gravitational pull toward insiders and away from outsiders
• Application: You must continue to create empty seats at optimal worship times for those far from God
• There's always a gravitational pull toward law and away from grace
• Application: Have as few policies as possible and as many conversations as possible
• There's always a gravitational pull toward complexity and away from simplicity
• Application: Do what you do well and do it better than anyone else
• There's always a gravitational pull toward preserving and away from advancing
• Application: Remain open-handed

3 Closers

1. You must be a raving fan publicly
2. You must be an honest critic privately
3. You have to be extraordinarily generous

Short.

Simple.

Powerful.

Visioneering

Andy Stanley, senior pastor at North Point Ministries in Atlanta (and one of the co-founders of the Catalyst Conference) wrote a book in 1999 entitled "Visioneering." Stanley calls it a new word, an old concept, and a familiar process.

The book weaves the story of Nehemiah and his leadership in the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem into leaders today who want to find a clear, God-ordained vision for each of the roles they play.

While the book stands alone on its own, I find it an appropriate launching point for the next few days of blog posts. I'm headed to Catalyst X in Atlanta tomorrow, accompanied by my wife, our 21 year old daughter, and 17 year old son. We've been looking forward to this for months. We're expecting powerful moments of worship. We will hear men and women bringing clear messages from God. We will meet new friends. We will be challenged to move beyond where we are to what God has planned for us.

We will be visioneering.

Visioneering = Inspiration + Conviction + Action + Determination + Completion

Catalyst X begins tomorrow morning...stay tuned!