One of my favorite things about this Thanksgiving break has been to have a chance to relax and catch up on some reading. I have had a stack of books that I have really been wanting to dig into. One of those books is “Courageous Leadership” by Bill Hybels. I’ve heard a lot of great things about the book and am glad to have a chance to check it out.
Hybels is the Senior Pastor of Willow Creek Church outside of Chicago. Over the years he has written several books targeted towards strengthening the leadership of the local church.
I am not done with the book yet, but here are a few things I have underlined so far…
“The is nothing like the local church when it’s working right. Its beauty is indescribable. Its power is breathtaking. Its potential is unlimited. It comforts the grieving and heals the broken in the context of community. It builds bridges to seekers and offers truth to the confused. It provides resources for those in need and opens its arms to the forgotten, the downtrodden, the disillusioned. It breaks the chains of addictions, frees the oppressed, and offers belonging to the marginalized of this world. Whatever the capacity for human suffering, the church has a greater capacity for healing and wholeness.”
“What flourishing churches have in common is that they are led by people who posses and deploy the spiritual gift of leadership. Whenever and wherever I have found a high-impact, Acts 2, prevailing church, I have also discovered a little band of brothers and sisters who were humbly and prayerfully providing the vision, the strategy, and the inspiration that enabled an entire congregation to bear fruit abundantly. Please understand, it’s not that I believe the gift of leadership is more important than other gift. It’s simply that people with the gift of leadership are uniquely equipped to come up with strategies and structures that provide opportunities for other people use their gifts most effectively. Leaders see the big picture and understand how to help others find their place of service wthin that picture.”
“The local church is the hope of the world and its future rests primarily in the hands of its leaders.”
“People supernaturally gifted to lead must yield themselves fully to God. They must cast powerful, biblical, God-honoring visions. They must build effective, loving, clearly focused teams. They must fire up Christ followers to give their absolute best for God. And they must insist with pit bull determination that the gospel be preached, the lost be found, the believers be equipped, the poor be served, the lonely be enfolded into community, and God gets the credit for it all.”