Catalyst 2012 (Andy Stanley)

I had an incredible opportunity to attend Catalyst Dallas in May of 2012 and it was an incredible event.  There will be several posts with my notes on the speakers who had the most impact on me personally.  Andy Stanley gave a talk called "It takes One to Know One."  He taught primarily out of Luke.

Luke 5:27-28, Luke 6:12-16  - Andy pointed out that Jesus selected his disciples.

1) Defining Terms:
     A. Apprenticing selecting, modeling, and coaching for the purpose of replacing yourself.
     B.  The NT calls this process discipleship.
2) Jesus' Approach:
     A. He began with succession in mind.
     B. He handpicked those to whom he would entrust his mission.  He didn't as for volunteers.
     C.  He rarely did ministry ALONE.
    D. He gave his disciples opportunities to do ministry alone while he was still around to debrief.
3) 'But' Removal
     A. "But I'm not an expert"
           1) You will never feel like you are adequately prepared to apprentice another leader.
           2) You are not responsible for :  knowing everything, or knowing more than anyone
           3) You are responsible for passing along what you know to somebody else.
           4) Your responsibility is to empty your cup!
     B. "But what will I do?"
            1) In a healthy organization, if you replace yourself, you will always have a PLACE.
            2) In an unhealthy organization...GET OUT.
4) Two Outcomes:
     A. You become multi-site leader.
     B. You become a multi-generational leader
5) Application
     A.  Hire for the future.
     B.  Don't Work alone.
     REPLACE YOURSELF.

In general, Andy was teaching about succession.  Many churches with Baby Boomer generation leaders are not in a process where they are training the next generation and as a result, in a few years, after they retire, we will have leadership problems.  If leaders in Christianity didn't believe this, why would there be such a push for leadership training?  I think Andy is right, but the push-back as usual, is sin, this one in particular, the sin of PRIDE.

A kingdom minded pastor willing to swallow his pride and train a young leader to take his place one day. There are plenty of us willing to be trained!