Leadership Summit Session 1

Bill Hybels is founding pastor of Willow Creek Community Church. His talks are always outstanding. He has taught me as much about pastoral leadership as anyone. His talk is titled "A Vision to Die For".

Main points of his talk:

• Create a prayer mantra as you approach big events. His mantra for this year's summit is "Record Registrations, Record Impact."
• Nothing matters more than the vision. It must be held by significant numbers of leaders within the organization.
• You motivate people to own a vision to die for through process.
• Stages of Vision Development:
• Vision Formation - In the Sinai approach, senior leaders get a vision from God and deliver it to others. It worked for Moses, but it is not likely to work today. A team approach works better. Gather leaders and ask "What does God want our church to look like 5 years from now?
• Vision Refinement - Develop a first draft of the vision and take it to many groups for input, refinement, questions, etc.
• Vision Declaration - Give your talk to a test group to try to refine it. Get feedback. Vision declaration is a team activity rather than a solo activity.
• Remember that vision leaks. Use any and all resources to fill vision buckets back up. Celebrate along the way to accomplishment.
  
• Be willing to die for the mission God has given you. The choice is between being an owner or a hireling. The owner will pay any price. The hireling is interested in fame, career, how high the price might be.