Each year Catalyst gives out a “Lifetime Achievement Award.” This award, coming from the “younger” generation of leaders, is given to a person who exemplifies leadership and outstanding body of cumulative work in the Christian world. Last year this award was given to Billy Graham. This year the Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Chuck Swindoll. What a deserved honor! At 75, he was spry and full of sparkle when he popped up those stairs to accept his award. Afterward, Chuck Swindoll delivered a talk that engaged us, challenged us, and set the bar. The highlights are below, and I should warn you that he loves lists. Lots of lists.
Things I have learned about leadership in 50 years of ministry
- It’s lonely to lead
- It’s dangerous to succeed
- It’s hardest at home (illustrated by a story of changing the battery in his fire detector while being “heckled” by his wife. It ended with a battery being thrown. He was being real.)
- It’s essential to be real (as I said!)
- It’s painful to obey
- Brokenness and failure are necessary to your character
- My attitude is more important than my actions in any given situation
- Integrity eclipses image
- God’s way is always better than my way.
“Perhaps the goal at Catalyst this year for you is to empty your hands.” - Christ likeness begins and ends with humility
“Be willing to leave the familiar methods without disturbing the biblical message. In other words, DON’T MESS WITH THE MESSAGE!”
- With every ministry, a special and unique mercy is needed.
- In every ministry, the same things must be renounced and rejected:
Hiding shameful things
Doing deceitful things
Corrupting truthful things - Through every ministry, a unique style should be pursued.
It isn’t about us.
It is about Him.
We are bond servants
Five statements for the next 50 years:
- Whatever you do, do more with others and less alone. It keeps you accountable.
- Whenever you do it, emphasize quality…not quantity.
- Wherever you go, do it the same as if you were among those who know you best. It keeps you authentic.
- Whoever may respond, keep a level head.
- However long you lead, keep on dripping with gratitude and grace.
Louie is an author and speaker and the director of the Passion Conferences. Recently he has started a local church in the Atlanta area, Passion City Church.
“Leadership is knowing and following Jesus.”
- The theme of Catalyst 09 is “On Your Mark.” To run a race, you need to know where you are going. Where are you going?
- We are all going to a common destination.
- Your life is shaped by the end you live for.
- Our common destination and goal is to see the face of the Son of God.
- His face is what we were made for. We can’t draw our life from anyone else, it is all in the smile of Jesus.
- Find the confidence and courage to be what you need to be.
- “At the end of the day, leadership is not about getting ahead, it is remember we already have one.”
Louie ended with a great analogy. We have all seen the show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. At the end, just before the big reveal, Ty Pennington gathers with the family behind the big bus. As the crowd yells “Move That Bus!” the bus driver moves to reveal the new home while the camera stays fixed on the family and the music swells. We watch the family’s faces. And reflected there is the beauty and awe of their new home. The children whoop and holler, the momma cries, the daddy tries hard not to cry. (I usually do cry!). Only then do the cameras turn and pan the home. Our faces, said Louie, should be a bit like that. We should be reflecting the beauty and awe and grace and unfathomable magnificence of our Lord. People should say, “Wow, I’ve found God on your face.”
Closing Session — The Multiple Choice Team
I. Occasionally, there are gaps between what we expect people to do and what they actually do. This is expected and unavoidable. Sooner or later, something does not live up to your expectations or other’s expectations. This creates a gap.
A. We choose what goes in those gaps.
B. We choose to expect the best or assume the worst.
C. Two things make it difficult for us to believe the best: What I see and Who I am.
“We can choose to put ‘believe the best’ in that gap.
II. Developing a culture of trust is critical to the health and success of your organization.
A. Trust fuels productivity.
B. A culture characterized by trust attracts trustworthy people and quickly surfaces those who aren’t. Will everyone be trustworhty? No, of course not. But choosing to trust them will reveal them quickly so you can move them out of that position before they hurt your organization.
1. You will never know who you can’t trust until you trust them.
“The moment you feel the need to tightly manage someone, you might have made a hiring mistake.” Jim Collins
2. You will never know who you can trust until you trust them.
3. Trusting is risky. Refusing to trust is riskier.
C. Trust enables an organization to move faster.
“Teams use trust as currency. If it is in short supply, then the team is poor. If trust abounds, the members of the team have purchase power with each other to access each other’s gifts, talents, energy, creativity and love. The development of trust, then, becomes a significant leadership strategy.” Reggie McNeal
III. Developing a culture of trust begins with the leader.
A. Trust and suspicion are both telegraphed from the leader throughout an entire department or organization. You may think they don’t know….but they do!
B. When you can’t trust, you must choose to confront.
1. Concealed suspicion poisons the entire relationship.
“The moment there is suspicion about a person’s motives, everything he does becomes tainted.” Mahatma Gandhi
2. The consequences of confrontation are far less severe than the consequences of concealment.
C. To develop a culture of trust, leaders must be trustworthy.
