Willow Creek Leadership Summit 2006

For the past 15 years Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago has been training and inspiring leaders with their Leadership Summit. They bring in top notch speakers to expose and help existing leaders become better ones for the kingdom. This year was no exception. I wanted to share with you some major insights from the conference.

Bill Hybels, pastor of Willow creek, shared that people live and die according to our leadership. He shared a story of how folks from his church sponsor 1100 Aids orphans in a village in Africa. He went to help out and his heart was broken by the needs and that if he isnt the leader he needs to be, some people will actually die.

Pastor James Meeks shared with us the enemies of a growing church. He said that churches are born to grow and if they are not growing, they are not healthy. The biggest insight was that Unsure pastors are dangerous. Part of the reason I came to The Beeson program was to be more sure of how to make disciples for JEsus Christ. That will be a major part of my disseration.

Pastor Andy Stanley was next and shared that the best leadership decision he ever made was to Cheat the Church. That meant he gave God 45 hours a week to build the chruch he wanted. The rest of the time he focused on his family and his unique roles as father and husband. He said that Christ promised to build the church and that we are not commanded to do it. We are commanded to love my wife. This was an unpopular decision for some people yet it was his best decision.

THe last presentation for the day was Peg Heuhauser who talked about Tribal Warfare in organizations. What she prompted me to think about is to get a coach as part of my continuing education when I leave the Beeson program to make sure I am doing the best job as a pastor and family man.

Day Two

This was an unbelievable day! All the speakers were amazing. First presentation was a one-on-one interview with Harvard Business professor Ashish Nanda. He shared something which blew me away. As a leader you need to create a place, an atmosphere where your staff or layfolks are successful. THeir satisfaction breeds loyalty. Loyalty leads to satisfaction. Satisfaction leads to growth. That is important for when I get back to working with staff because satisfied staff will do great things for the church.

The next professor was Jim Collins, author of Good to Great. He talked about the difference of leading in business and leading in the church. The greatest insight is that "Greatness is a function of your choices." THat is a good insight, because the choices I make now and for the church I will serve will determine the grwth and health of the church.

Next was an interview with Bono, lead singer of U2. He talked about how he leveraged his fame and celebrity to bring attention to the poor in africa and the aids crisis. Bill Hybels shared how the main purpose as the Body of Christ is to bless the world. We have to do our part to impact the world and help allievate suffering.

The last presentation of the day was by Patrick Lencioni. Patrick talked about how to clarify your vision and set measureable objectives for them. The primary insight was that three churches were spotlighted to do his method and that two of them selected my dissertation topic of how to develop a life-transformation process in the local church to make disciples. This encouraged me that I am on the right track.

Saturday closed out by two insights from Bill Hybels and Wayne Cordero. Wayne said we reproduce what we are . That has major implications to my dissertation for obvious reasons.

Bill shared that my church , perhaps your church, wants the pastor to be clear about the vision of the future. A fuzzy future frustrates them.