Bill Hybels is the founding and senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, and the chairman of the board for Willow Creek Association. He convened The Global Leadership Summit in 1995, following a God-given prompting to help raise and develop the spiritual gift of leadership for the local church. Both visionary and passionate about seeing every local church reach its full God-given potential, he speaks around the world on strategic issues related to leadership, evangelism, and church growth. An exceptional communicator, he is a best-selling author of more than 20 books, including the upcoming release, The Power of a Whisper: Hearing God and Having the Guts to Respond.
Notes
- When you make an investment in your own leadership everyone wins.
- Was recently in a leadership slump… lost some confidence in his leadership… was praying and journaling…
1) Leaders move people from here to there.
- Used to think the first step was to describe how great things would be once we all got there.
- Would then get an alarming number of emails from people saying they like it here.
- Response was to crank up the vision even more.
- I’ve learned something… the first play is not to make there sound wonderful but to make here sound awful.
- Examples… casting vision for moving food pantry and cars ministry… we cannot stay here.
- Before MLK gave the “I have a dream” speech, he gave hundreds of “we cannot stay here” speeches.
- “We must let our hearts be broken by the things that break the heart of God.”
- Your God-given job is to figure out what God wants to get done, what role you play in it, and move people from here to there.
2) It takes fantastic people (to move people from here to there)
- You can’t do it alone.
- One of the greatest joys of leadership is the assembling and knitting together of teams of fantastic people. Take that away and I don’t want to play.
- Hire for character, competence, chemistry.
- I’ve been playing with the idea of adding a 4th c, culture.
- How do we work? What’s our style?
- Willow culture is high challenge, fast-changing, results-oriented, sacrificial to the core.
- Recently went through every single staff person and rated each.. if they left would we say “whew,” “ugh,” or vomit. Sat down with each person who would make them vomit if he/she left, told them how valued they were, and they wanted to invest disproportionately in them.
- Are there some sensitive conversations you need to have with “whew” people? Or those who would make you vomit if they left?
3) Mile markers and celebrations (are important)
- There’s excitement and energy at the very beginning and close to the goal, but in the middle is where people are vulnerable.
- Vision leaks… refill their vision bucket.
- Celebrate every mile marker you possibly can along the way.
- What keeps people on the journey is a sense of hope that they’re going to get there some day.
- There is a 40% difference in productivity between an inspired person and an uninspired person.
- When was the last time you had a party to celebrate not just a destination but progress?
4) Whispers from God
- I don’t think you ever get from here to there in a straight line… without hearing from God in the progress.
- John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice and they heed it.
- The primary way God speaks to us is through the Bible. Every leader ought to be an incurable reader of the Bible.
- God speaks to us directly by his Spirit, not usually audibly, but he put thoughts in our minds.
- Are you following God or the script someone else wrote for you?
- I think God tries to speak to you every day.
- Do you believe God speaks? Will you do all you can to listen to His voice and heed it?
- The smartest moves I’ve ever made as a leader didn’t come from human wisdom but from God’s whispers.
Look at screen at some things God whispers. Are any of them from God to you? … don’t quit… step up… take the risk… apologize now… make the tough decision… get help…stop running from God… slow down… show your heart… let others lead… feed your soul… bless the team… make the ask… do something more impactful… come clean… embody the vision… celebrate the victories… speak the truth… pay the price… count your blessings… end the secret… check your motives… set the pace… give God your best… get physically fit… serve your spouse… humble yourself.
If you say, “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.” It will help you get from here to there in the right way for the right reasons.
What stood out to you in this session?
Thanks so much for typing these up and sharing them with the world!