Willow Creek - The Leadership Summit - 1997

Session 1 - Leadership: It's a Life or a Death Deal with Bill Hybels

Bill Hybels has pastored Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, IL for the past 21 years.

Fred Frank was a military leader written about in a novel by Tom Clancy. He lost a leg in Vietnam. Fred Frank has all kinds of philosophies about war: in war, you go for the jugular right off because the stakes are so high.

I. Prepare the troops.

Be clear about your mission. Generals have to fill out a "Commander's Intent" before every battle. Unity--Soldiers fight for their friends. Build strong teams; community.

Pay attention to logistics---don't run out of food, fuel. Not having these things turns the tide of a battle.

II. Know and respect the enemy

Know strengths and weaknesses. Consider him cruel and resourceful

III. The commander should lead the troops into battle

He should be anexample to the troops. He must be in the middle; get in the fight. He must be visible; soldiers feed off his courage.

IV. Thank your troops after the battle

Only one of Fred Frank's commanding officers thanked him after he lost his leg. Honor them.

• Eph. 6:12---our battle is against the spiritual forces of evil.
• Jesus saying to be scared of those who can hurt your soul not your body.
• I Peter 5:8

Our stakes are much higher---eternal life and eternal death. We must believe it. Our battlefield extends to every end of the globe----Jesus asks us to bring the gospel to everyone. Our calling is a life-time challenge. He expects us to get up every day and endure in the battle. We are in the highest stakes battle ever fought on the broadest battlefield ever and we fight it every day we live. Peter Drucker---We need to know our reality.

I. Prepare troops for battle.

Bill will sit down with leadership teams and get it clear; what are we trying to do? We are turning Christ followers into Kingdom builders. Are our people clear on this?

Are people ready to go into a real battle? At WCCC, they took their staff through Becoming a Contagious Christian all together in one day (regularly a 6 week training deal) They broke down into small groups to practice doing the bridge gospel presentation or whatever they wanted to use. Bill asked a staff member in his group to give him the goods, but the staff member fumbled around. He didn't know what to do. Our staff is not trained and prepared to go into battle. I wonder how many of our New Community aren't ready. We are going to raise the training level up. Our people are not prepared for the conflict, and I (Bill) am responsible for that. I am the leader.

You are responsible for your troops.

II. Understanding and Respecting the Enemy

Folks with leadership gifts like challenges--"Bring on the enemy" These strengths can be our biggest problem. Zech--"Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit....." It is the only power capable of overwhelming the enemy. No mistake whose power changes the heart, & that rejuvenates churches. We must pay attention to the heart factor. We need to read as many books on the "Christ Factor" as we do about the "Leadership Factor" Fred Frank says to gain every advantage as soon as possible. Overwhelm the enemy. For us: get on your knees; prayer should saturate the life of every leader. Also sharing the gospel. We defeat the enemy one life at time as we present the gospel boldly.

III. Leaders must be examples to the Troops

Don't ask the troops to do what you won't do. The 2 most powerful words a leader can say: Follow Me. Imitate me. We should long for the day when we can say to our troops, live as I live, endure hardship as I endure hardship. Fight as I fight. Every soldier who saw Fred Frank limp, resolved to fight harder. When team members see our willingness to enter community --they will gain a fighting spirit. They get a sense as to the stakes, consequences & eternity of it. People join in the fight. Count me in. I'll follow you as you follow Christ.

Leaders set the example for tenacity, endurance.

IV. Thank, Honor and Affirm the Troops

Every soldier deserves it, and craves it. Bill saw the blessing it is to people to be thanked. It deepens their resolve to be faithful one more day; The power of the word of affirmation---inspires to serve yet another day. Fred Frank was asked: Why do you want to be a soldier? If the sound of the national anthem and the sight of the American flag . . . . then you ought to be a soldier. If the though at the end our your life is that you served your country, then you ought to be a soldier (Bill went on with this deal out of the book)

• If the sight of a lost person opening up their heart stirs your spirit, then you ought to be a leader (in the local church)
• If the sight of people being baptized stirs you heart, then you ought to be a leader.
• If helping move a believer from the bleachers to ........... you ought to be a leader.
• If finding a wayward lonely believer and ............ you ought to be aleader.
• If the knowledge that your church is using its resources to feed and cloth the poor......you ought to be a leader. (I missed a bunch, but you get the idea)
• If when you come to the end of your life, it is enough for you to hear the words of Jesus, "Well done good and faithful servant". ..you ought to be a leader.

What battle would you rather be in and who would you rather be in it with?

I know my answer, and I hope you know yours!

Session 2 - The Way Leadership Works with Bill Hybels.

• Bill journaled these ideas
• He was answering some questions: How do people discover they are leaders? etc...

Origins of Leadership

I. All leadership can be traced back to an idea in the imagination of an individual.

Leaders can think back in their life where they thought they were normal and then a mini crisis came up: Are we going to play here or there? Do this or that? All of the sudden, an idea comes to your mind. "Hey, maybe I could suggest something. Maybe I have the solution." We are prompted to try our leadership wings to see if they works. When we do, we find a surge of inner affirmation ---- maybe I am a leader, and I could provide direction.

Bill's earliest memory of this:

Second grade and North Christian Grade School in Kalamazoo, MI. They always did a devotional followed by 3 hymns before recess. They would have different students from within their class play the piano each day. Generally a second grader played horribly, and it was a painful experience for everyone involved. One day before class he heard Carol, a classmate, playing a hymn really well. She mentioned to another friend that it was her favorite, and that she played it at home everyday after school. It came that day for hymn time, and it so happened that Carol was the piano player of the day. It was also suggestion day, which meant any kid could call out any number, and Carol would need to turn to it and play it. This was again a disaster. Verse after verse they sang and she plunked along. Another kid suggested another number, and they went for number 2. Recess should have started already, but they still had another hymn to sing. Inside Bill's head, he says, a la Popeye "That's all I can stands, I can't stands no more." "Think, think, you have to do something. I then remembered Carol had smoked that one song. I looked feverously for the number, and found it" Who would like to pick the next hymn? Billy. #195. I still remember that number to this day. It was a moment of leadership in my young life. Carol saw the hymn, and gave me a look like, "I love you, and the mother who bore you". The rest of the class had no idea what was about to happen. I loved being ahead of the action. Carol cruised through the intro., and then we rocked that hymn. On the way out to recess everyone was giving me high fives, I got a marriage proposal from Carol (this story seems to be growing as I tell it). That event was cool. The challenge; I like putting my mind in a high gear. I like the discernment part; I like the risk part; there were consequences, I liked the look from Carol----empowering someone. Yes, now we're going somewhere; the rallying of the kids together. It was the first time I recall the idea of leadership coming into my imagination. It gave me new thoughts and feeling. From then on, I recognized opportunities for leadership. Our leadership started somewhere. It comes from God who put it in you, and helps it grow. Here's a great team exercise: go around the table and talk about your earliest leadership recollection. Why was it significant; confidence builder? Stop making excuses for not getting in the game. Act on leadership promptings. What would our world look like if Winston Churchill, the Apostle Paul, Peter, or Moses hadn't reacted to the leadership prompting? Get in the Game; don't snuff out the promptings; don't meander. Thestakes are so high and the church so desperately needs leadership.

Once leaders get comfortable about being leaders:

II. Leaders are forever inviting people to join what they are leading:

It's just true; we are helpless without a team; we achieve mission in community. We want others to get committed to the vision. Extraordinary leadership is required to motivate volunteer organizations. It requires a lot of vision casting. Quality leadership. The Principle of the ASK. You can't get much done in a volunteer organization without asking folks to do things.

• Jesus asked 12 people to drop everything and follow him.
• Paul asked folks to help plant churches.
• We have to have humility and the verve to ask.

When Bill was a camper in WI at first he was:

1. Asked to be a cabin leader---first time he was asked to be in a position of leadership.
2. Lodge leader---leading cabin leaders
3. Program director.
4. In his early 20's----he was asked to lay down his life to build a biblically functioning Acts 2 church. by Dr. Gilbert Bilezikian---Bill's mentor and teacher at Wheaton.

"Every time I have been asked to take on a new challenge, it's been an honor. A good deal of leadership is saying , 'I need you , your help, your money, etc. This church was built on asks."

• Regularly ask seekers to come to church
• Ask seekers to repent of their rebellion
• Ask Bench sitters to get off the bench
• Ask leaders to lead
• Ask administrators to administrate

Ask folks who focus on money to invest in eternity. Not much will happen if you don't ask. Bill recounted a bunch of asks he did to build his staff team and board members. The Willowcreek Assoc. leader was a Harvard MBA. It was a big ask when Bill asked him to join them. The head music guy was singing on commercials and professionally, Bill asked him to come and sing for God. Another big ask. In Management Team Meeting: Do you think people are going to show up, give 110% for the glory of God if you don't ask them? They need leadership. Spirit-filled discernment is required , community development is needed.

III. Leaders must do that constant clarifying work of mission, values, and strategies of what you are leading.

I am amazed at how often team members need to hear why we are doing what we are doing. Are our values the right ones? What would success look like if God were to give it to us? Bill took his leadership team for a one day retreat. These are very humble, sharp, talented people. Before they got into the strategic planning, Bill brought up something that had been plaguing him. What are we asking Joe ministry director to do these days? If he were miraculously successful, what would happen? They sat there silently. He said this isn't a trick question, I just want to know. They spent 3 hours on it. At the end, we were dazed and confused. It is extremely difficult to keep mission clear. It is a moving target, because everything changes, but don't let your mission drift. Bill has been working toward every person knowing the mission, values, and strategies, and how their effort functions toward them. They have never functioned on all 8 cylinders at WCCC only about 5. Alignment, focus, and a spirit of intentionality are needed. "This is one of my greatest challenges." Does your church see its mission clearly? Is everyone in your church using everything they are to achieve mission?

IV. Trouble comes knocking: Leadership is problem solving

• Someone sleeps in the wrong bed
• Associate pastor tries his hand at sleighing people in the spirit.
• Largest donor decides he's not getting fed

The inability of a church to problem solve can take it under. Luke 16: The shrewdness of the bad money manager-- at least this much was commendable. He knew he had a problem (he was about to lose his job) He came up with an answer. So few people have the internal fortitude to do such things.

For 10 years, Bill has circled the globe letting people know how to deal with problems.

• Very few people are reaching the lost.
• teaching the word
• providing community
• dealing with the poor.

The problems don't get solved unless they get faced The local church is the hope of the world. If we don't face our problems we'll never fix them. Get the best people around the table. Take home a mustard seed of courage from this conference. Don't try to hide your dirty laundry. You'll make mistakes as long as fallen people lead redemptive communities. Admit the problem, and put your best people on answering the problem. People with other gifts aren't going to solve the church's problems, you are (those with leadership gifts). They may not even know there are problems. You have to sniff them out.

V. Leaders elevate the performance, motivate, and celebrate with team members.

HR reports folks operate at 50% of their potential. It's about vision----they don't know why they are doing what they are doing. They don't feel believed in. Do you know what happens when people feel believed in? Breath hope into people; inspire them. By doing this, you are fulfilling the very heart of your calling. Don't just give them the standard. Get under it with them. Believe in them. Bill honored Dr. B who has mentored him for 25 years during New Community. At this point they are mutually encouraging each other.

Session 6 - One on One with Jim Collins & Bill Hybels

Jim Collins is the Author of Built to Last. 29 months on the best seller list. He was a Prof. at the Stanford Business School--7 years. Spiritually he is a seeker. (Bill did a great job relating to him making it clear that he wasn't a believer, but one who was seeking truth.) Bill asked the questions and made some comments.

Q: What first got you interested in Leadership?

• I wanted to know what accounts for the sustained success of an organization.

Q: Do you consider yourself a leader?

• My own form of leadership is to shape people's way of thinking. For example, I'm a big rock climber----In 1978 in El Dorado Canyon near Boulder. I wondered how could I change my mental thought about climbing. I knew that 15 years from then, 15 year olds would do climbs that we wouldn't even try, so I pretended that it was 1993. I wrote it in my daytimer. I set a standard to show what can be done and let others follow it.

Q: Why did you write the book?

• Curiosity. I wanted to know the answers to why some organizations endure and others don't. We did 6 years of research with 18 companies who had been around for 80-150 years. I.E. Motorola, Citibank, Disney, Boeing, Proctor and Gamble. 3600 years of combined history.

Q: What did you find?

• Clock builders could last long after the time teller. Clock builders would build an organization, time tellers were really good at it, but when they perish, so does the organization.

• Tyranny of the OR: You always have to choose between A OR B; high productivity OR quality. The Genius of the AND. The truth is you don't have to choose, you can both and.

• Preserve the core and stimulate progress. Fix the stake in the ground; fanatically preserving the core values in the organization. Being available to change absolutely everything else!!!!!!!
  • i.e. P & G since 1837, has had to change everything, think of how much the world has changed since then. There are things going on in the church that you hold as core that ought not to be (this came from a pagan and he's right)

• Consistency in alignment:
  • The companies that knew what their core values were did much better. It doesn't really even matter what the values are, just that everyone in the company knows what they are.

Q: Tell us about the exploding of the myth of the charismatic visionary leader.

• It is a liability to recover from, not an asset. Zenith and Motorola---both in the same business in the 50's. They sold radios and TVs. Commander Eugene McDonald (only his mother didn't call him "Commander") Very high control, self assured, charismatic leader of Zenith. Paul Galvin: subdued, didn't come up with the big ideas but ran Motorola. Both of these guys died within 18 months of each other near 1958. (We call this a "natural experiment") Zenith bumped along. Motorola took off. Galvin was a clock builder. He built an organization that didn't need him.

• Disney: The company languished after Walt died because he was so high control. He had trouble letting go. He made videos that were shown at his staff meeting after he was gone. 1982---Disney almost got dismantled and sold off. Everyone had kept asking, "what would Walt do?"

Q: What would you tell these leaders to do to prepare for sustained growth?

• Pattern of rise and fall with comings and goings of pastor. There is a question of what type of leadership. Get clear on what the core values and purpose of this organization are and make sure others know. Imbed them in as an institution of the organization. This is what the organization stands for not what the leader stands for.

• Set huge goals:

• Goals that will extend beyond the pastor/leader. When I am gone, the goals are still legitimate.

• Moon Mission. You think of Kennedy as the leader who got it going, but when he died in '63 the goal continued to motivate. Succession development: Ask what would happen in this organization if I got hit by a bus tomorrow? Cultivate the membership to say it is our collective responsibility to deal with core values.

• Look inside yourself, and decide, do you want the organization to succeed after you are gone

• Pan Am--the leader wanted Pan Am to go under after he left, and it did. How would you feel if it totally grew after you left?

Q: Explain the Tyranny of the OR and the Genius of the AND.

• People think they have to go with this OR that, but it can be this AND that. Seemingly 2 contradictions that can CO-exist.

• Hear this: It doesn't mean being all things to all people

• Merck: Pharmaceutical company. They have a value that medication is for the patient, but that doesn't mean it has to contradict with their value with making a profit. They decided that they are not just out for profit, but there is a principle that profit will come. They were faced with a dilemma where people were getting "river blindness" they lived out in the sticks and had no money. Should Merck develop the drug knowing they would not get paid for it. They decided that since the patient was first that they would develop it. They then distributed it free of charge because of the need. Simultaneous to that they developed another drug that deals with cholesterol. They are making buckets of money on that which helps balance out the first drug. They didn't have to choose either OR, but could do both AND.

• "Without even knowing you, I know that you are getting tripped up on some practices that you hold as core, that should not be. They must be separated.

• BILL: This is the future of the church. We are talking about the future of the church. Our core is Jesus Christ, the gospel and the scriptures. That's it, everything else is negotiable"

• Jim: An example in the academic world. Intellectual freedom of inquiry--a core value in academia. We cherish it. Academic institutions need to change just like other organizations. Academic tenure exists also---this was put in to give people freedom to think with out being afraid of losing their jobs.

• Tenure now = job security no matter if you do your job or not.
• Some will equate tenure with a core value instead of the freedom of intellectual inquiry as the core value.

• IBM: In the late 80's--> early '90s they confused their core values which are:
  • Customer service
  • Respect for the individual
  • See, superiority in all we undertake.
  • Not: White shirts, and main frame computers. The Main frame was a strategy, and they held it as a value.

• Jim: What for you is tenure, white shirts and main frame computers? Do you know the difference. What practices can we innovate with

Q: (Jim asked Bill) What have you changed that some have thought were part of your core values but weren't?

• We haven't changed this, but I'm certain that 1/2 of our church would freak if we left the seeker oriented service. That is not our core. We feel these are our best way to share with people at this time. If we stood up in front of our congregation and said no more seeker service they would wonder what happened. We are about reaching people with the gospel. Given who we are, and where we are, how do we live it out for the kingdom.

Q: Big Hairy Audacious Goals (B-Hags) How can we have them?

• After reading your book, the church decided to go for a 5 year strategic plan that we pray toward, hire toward, staff toward.

• Let's say you set a goal to get yourself physically in shape. What would you decide to do? Change your diet, exercise, etc. . You would spend some of your time differently, wouldn't you? But, let's say you set a goal that before you die, you want to win your age group in the Hawaiian Decathlon Iron Man. What would you decide to do then? How would you change how your spend your time? The B-Hag will stimulate progress---You have to crank it up to reach the goal.

• Pick B-Hags that will get you going, but not kill you.

• Bill: We have to change a whole bunch of stuff if we are serious about that goal. I.E. 4th weekend service. That was painful, but we were serious. You do things with a whole different sense of urgency. By the mere establishing of the goal---way more people get into it.

• 1940 Britain was on the edge of annihilation. France and Eastern Europe had fallen. Hitler was going after them. The question the world asked: can Britain survive? How? Churchill says its the wrong question. Our goal isn't to survive, it is to prevail. Reject the question. How do we decide what it is to prevail?

• A B-Hag isn't enough--it just helps your define what to do, but very importantly what not to do or what to stop doing.

• Jim set a B-Hag of reading 100 books a year. In one hand he held War & Peace in the other the remote for Monday Night Football. He had to stop doing something in order to reach his goal. He had his brother come over and pick up the TV. His reading productivity skyrocketed.

• Bill: If you as a church stop doing a ministry, you will take major grief. When WCCC stopped something's, they were questioned as to if they cared about people.

• Jim: I want to leave you with a grain of sand that may irritate you, but may someday turn into a pearl.

• You are from an organization that does good. How do you say no to things that are good? Go back with a commitment to clarifying your core values that are connected to your religious stuff you all share, but what are your reasons for existence in your specific church/organization. What makes you distinct.

• Question to ask: What would the world lose if our particular organization would cease to exist?

• (After this session Bill and Jim went to Bill's office for a while. Jim said, "You've treated me so well in that interview, it was the best speaking opportunity I've every had. I was wondering if we could begin some kind of correspondence?" Bill was excited to be able to so he can continue to share with him.)

Session 7 - Leaders That Last with Rick Warren

Rick recounts the story of how much trouble they had building their building.

Duet 11:2 "Remember today what you have learned about the Lord through the experience with Him".

"For I know the plans I have for you , says the Lord, they are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." Jer. 29:11 (NLT)

"But these things I plan won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, do not despair, for these things will surely come to pass. Just be patient! They will not be overdue a single day!" Gal 6:9 (LB)

What I've Learned While Waiting on God:

While God Guides, God Provides

• Followed God to Southern, CA.
• 15,000 letters sent out before Easter.
• $6,000 in debt by credit card; hoping it would be paid back by folks in that service. $1,000 was given by one guy.
• God brought the right people along to give leadership in the church.

God's Timing is Perfect

• We used 79 different buildings in the first 15 years.
• We finally decided to build a church building, but would need to build the church body first. We wanted 50 acres. We started looking, and 5 years later we had 500 people in our congregation.
• In 1985, we gathered 13 people who knew something about real estate, and said go find the 50 acres. Found 17 acres for $7.2 mill. Put $10,000 down kept having to make payments. 1 1/2 years later lost the land and $150,000. A shopping center bought it the day after we had to make it available because we didn't have enough of it paid for.
• 200 acres land located. $6 mill. Back 100 acres worthless because it was up a hill. Got 1/2 a million together to put down, and the guy raised the price to $8 million. People sacrificed like crazy; they sold wedding rings, sold big homes and bought small ones and give the profit. They got 2nd jobs. It was incredible. Didn't end up with that land either.
• 113 acres $3.5 mill. Cheapest piece of land in the area. Certainly the people didn't have any more to give. In the month of October, 1.2 million in cash was given over their normal offerings. The day before they were to close, a banker, a man who had denied their lone earlier, gave them ¼ million of his own money and put them over the top so they could get the land.

You Cannot Out Give God

• Dec. 21 1987 the guy gave the $ 250,000. The bank gave him a bonus of $750,000. He'll bless you back.

God's Plan is Unique

Don't look to critiques;

• Kay Warren came up and talked about how frustrating it was not to be able to get land for those 15 years. John 21: Feed my sheep....When you are old someone else will dress you...follow me.....Lord, what about him? If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you. What If I never give Saddleback a building, what is that to you?

There is a big difference between no and not yet.

God is in control

• After they bought the land (113 acres), they were told they could only build on 9 of them, and they would have to give the other back to the county as a park. 150 oak trees from the back of the land would have to be moved to the front of the land to cover up a 60 foot burm that they would have to build so the church would not be visible from the street.
• They would need to put in a charcoal filtration system so water that comes off the parking lot would be pure before it goes in to the gutter.
• 2,200 names were on the books at that time. They ended up swapping that piece of land for a better piece.

The greatest churches are not yet built.

The harvest is riper.

• 3100 new believers baptized in the past 31 months at Saddleback.