Courageous Leadership - Lead With Your Life

Compiled by Chuck Olson

Title: Courageous Leadership

Author: Bill Hybels

Copyright Date: 2002

Book Description:

The book you hold resonates with this conviction: that leaders such as you have the potential to be the most influential forces on planet Earth. Yours is the staggering responsibility and the matchless privilege of rallying believers and mobilizing their spiritual gifts in order to help people who are far from God become fully devoted followers of Christ. Life transformation and the eternal destinies of real people depend on the redemptive message entrusted to the local church. Are you willing to do whatever it takes to lead your church effectively so God’s message of hope can change the world? Then this book is for you.

BILL HYBELS serves as senior pastor at Willow Creek Community church in South Barrington, Illinois. Willow Creek’s outreach to spiritual seekers in the Chicago area has made it one of the most attended churches in North America. Hybels has authored many books, including the award-‐winning Descending into Greatness, with Rob Wilkins; Fit to Be Tied and Rediscovering Church, both with his wife, Lynne; and Honest to God?

Book Quotes:

The local church is the hope of the world. (15)

There is nothing like the local church when it’s working right. Its beauty is indescribable. Its power is breathtaking. It’s 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. (23)

What flourishing churches have in common is that they are led by people who possess and deploy the spiritual gift of leadership. (24)

The local church is the hope of the world and its future rests primarily in the hands of its leaders. (27)

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. (27-‐28)

Vision is a picture of the future that produces passion. (32)

I can only imagine what this does to the heart of God. Visions are priceless. They are holy entrustments from God that must be taken seriously. To squander a vision is an unthinkable sin. (37)

After a leader receives and owns a vision, the next challenge is to communicate it to others. What good is a vision unless a leader can help others to see it? But how? How does a leader best communicate a vision? By embodying it. By personifying it. By living it out. (38)

There’s a huge difference between visionary leadership and getting-‐it-‐done leadership. (52)

Namely, that at a certain point people need more than vision. They need a plan, a step-‐by-‐step explanation of how to move from vision to reality. (55)

I believe that the great tragedy of the church in our time has been its failure to recognize the importance of the spiritual gift of leadership. It appears to me that only a fraction of pastors world-‐wide are exercising the spiritual gift of leadership, organizing the church around it, and deploying church members through it. The results, in terms of church growth and worldwide spiritual impact, are staggering. (67)

The church must come to grips with the fact that the gift of leadership is the catalytic gift that energizes, directs, and empowers all the other gifts. (68)

My selection process is based on “three Cs”: first character, then competence, and finally chemistry with me and with the rest of the team. Character. Competence. Chemistry. After experimenting with different selection criteria through the years, I have landed on these three in the precise order in which they are mentioned. (81)

Each team needs a top quality leader who will: • Keep the team focused on the mission • Make sure the right people with the right gifts and right talents are in the right positions. • Maximize every team member’s contribution • Evenly distribute the load so that morale stays high and burnout stays low • Facilitate communication so that all team members remain in the information loop • Assess and raise the level of community within the team. (86-‐87)

When leaders manifest traits like trustworthiness, fair-‐mindedness, humility, servant hood, and endurance over a long period of time, and when they prove themselves to be unwavering in crisis, that’s when leaders are at their best. (121)

Potential leaders always have a natural ability to influence others. Even if they have no conscious intention of leading people, they automatically exert influence. (127)

My definition of “people skills” includes sensitivity to the thoughts and the feelings of others, and the ability to listen—and I mean really listen—to the ideas of others. I’m looking for people who genuinely care for other people, who view others as more than a means to an end. (128)

These five leadership indicators—influence, character, relational skills, drive, and intelligence—do not form an exhaustive list. But they provide a good framework for an initial evaluation. (130)

10 Leadership Styles: 1. The Visionary Leadership Style 2. The Directional Leadership Style 3. The Strategic Leadership Style 4. The Managing Leadership Style 5. The Motivational Leadership Style 6. The Shepherding Leadership Style 7. The Team-‐Building Leadership Style 8. The Entrepreneurial Leadership Style 9. The Reengineering Leadership Style 10. The Bridge-‐Building Leadership Style (141-‐154)

He calls it “emotional self-‐control.” According to Goleman, this form of self-‐control is exhibited by leaders when they persevere in leadership despite overwhelming opposition or discouragement; when they refuse to give up during times of crisis; when they manage to hold ego at bay; and when they stay focused on their mission rather than being distracted by other people’ agenda. (184)

Then they said words I’ll never forget: “The best gift you can give the people you lead here at Willow is a healthy energized, fully surrendered, and focused self. And no one can make that happen in your life except you. It’s up to you to make the right choices so you can be at your best.” While they were talking, the Holy Spirit was saying, “They’re right, Bill. They’re right.” Because I know what’s at stake, I now ask myself several self-‐leadership questions on a regular basis. • Is my calling sure? • Is my vision clear? • Is my passion hot? • Am I developing my gifts? • Is my character submitted to Christ? Leadership also requires moral authority. Followers will only trust leaders who exhibit the highest levels of integrity. People will not follow a leader with moral incongruities for long. Every time you compromise character you compromise leadership. (189) • Is my pride subdued? • Am I overcoming fear? • Are interior issues undermining my leadership? • Is my pace sustainable? • Is my love for God and people increasing (185-‐195)