Some Insights from Catalyst 2008 - Part 3

This may be the last installment in the Insights from Catalyst 2008. That may change when we get the CDs and I have another opportunity to listen … especially to listen to the sessions that I missed because I left at noon on Friday in order to get back home to be a good, involved husband and father. But from my written notes from what I actually heard, this may do it for a while.
Andy Stanley is the one speaker that I consistently learn more from than any other in the conference. I’m not alone in that feeling. That’s probably why they bookend the conference with his two talks. He speaks first and he speaks last every year. His opening message this year was titled Louder than Words, and focused on how it doesn’t matter so much what we say as what we do. Here’s what I wrote down:

• Once we become adults, the people who influence us the most rarely have official authority over us. The same is true for the people we influence. We can’t make them do anything. Our principle authority regarding the people we lead is moral authority … living our lives in such a way that our actions reflect what we say we believe.
• The most important areas in which our Moral Authority shows up are:
• Forgiveness. Our message is the message of forgiveness, and because of that we forgive. As leaders, we all have hurt stories, but we can’t carry the hurts of the past with us into the future. There is no excuse for angry, bitter, resentful church leaders. Forgiveness is not an option. We have to release the junk we’ve been carrying around.
• Family. If my spouse and/or my children feel like the church is my mistress, then I have failed. Personally, this is my area of greatest struggle, not because I don’t love my family, but because I don’t manage my time and tasks well. [Note from Jim Collins’ talk: Work is infinite … time is finite … take time off.
• Finances. My salary is paid out of funds that people have given, therefore I have a moral imperative to be a good steward and manage my finances well. Give. Save. Live on the rest.
• We have to lead by example in all three areas. Our goal should be to live so that people can say, “I don’t know whether I believe what he says he believes, but I know without a doubt that he believes what he says he believes.”

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.