Quotes from Andy Stanley

What does God's love for me require of me? Remember

personal shortcomings is often rooted in some sort of insecurity. This can be easy to see in others but next to impossible to see in ourselves. It takes a certain amount of personal security to admit weakness.

If we all got kicked off the staff and the board, and an outside group (a group of leaders who were fearlessly committed to the mission of this church) took our place, what changes would they introduce?68 What's the first thing they would do? Who would they replace? What would they refuse to fund?

make today's decisions in light of tomorrow's hopes and dreams. The future is what brings today's choices into proper focus. Making choices with the end in mind goes a long way toward ensuring a happy ending. Today

Circumcision was invisible to the public. A once and done. All male. Decided by parents. The mark of the new covenant is visible and public. It involves daily decisions. It's not gender-specific. It's an all-skate. And while it doesn't require surgery, it's painful. Love requires sacrifice, and sacrifice is always a bit painful.

What have we fallen in love with that's not as effective as it used to be? What do we love doing that's not really working? What's off limits for discussion? Do we have any "old couches" that need to be thrown out?

Nothing hinders morale more than when team members with separate agendas are pulling against one another. When this happens, it's usually because those in charge have not taken the time necessary to clarify the win for their team.

Actions don't only speak louder than words; actions should be used to interpret words.

Intimate relationships are not built on obedience. They are built on trust. Walking by faith, again, is simply living as if God is who he says he is and that he will do everything he has promised to do. As a person's confidence in God grows, he or she matures.

the minute you decide to get back in the business the church was commissioned for in the first place, you will pray for boldness.

What is the wise thing for you to do? You are a unique blend of past experiences, current circumstances, and future hopes and dreams. Wisdom allows you to customize the decision-making process to your specific professional, financial, and relational dimensions. Don't miss this opportunity. Think

Practical Teaching Private Disciplines Personal Ministry Providential Relationships Pivotal Circumstances

Whatever the case, Paul could not stand by while church leaders became self-righteous reflections of a priesthood that was disappearing. He refused to do nothing as the dual covenant model laid the groundwork for the very hypocrisy his encounter with Jesus liberated him from.

A vision we give to others of who and what they could become has power when it echoes what the spirit has already spoken into their souls. LARRY CRABB Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them become what they are capable of becoming. GOETHE

Churches for churched people obsess over the most frivolous, inconsequential things. It's why you dread your board meetings, your elder meetings, and your committee meetings. You rarely talk about anything important. You're managing found people. I know you care about un-found people in your heart. But do you care in your schedule, your programming, your preaching style, or your budget?

So, leveraging Jesus' teaching on love, Paul gives us the grown-up version of what love really is. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (1 CORINTHIANS 13:4 – 8)

One of the primary reasons we don't seek counsel from the wise people around us is that we already know what we are going to hear—and we just don't want to hear it.

If your desires be endless, your cares and fears will be so too. Thomas Fuller

I once heard John Maxwell say, "You are most valuable where you add the most value." It is vital to the health and success of our organizations that we as leaders discover that task, that narrow arena of responsibility where we add the most value. And once we find it, it's even more vital that we stay there.

If anything has kept me on track all these years, it's being skewered to this principle of central focus. There are many things I can do, but I have to narrow it down to the one thing I must do. The secret of concentration is elimination. (emphasis added) As you evaluate your current leadership environment and responsibilities, what do you see that needs to be eliminated? What needs to be delegated? What would it "not be right" for you to continue doing?

The reason our evangelistic endeavors result in more recycling than actual conversion is that our methods and approaches assume non-Christian rather than post-Christian.

Patience is the decision to move at someone else's pace rather than pressure him or her to match yours. Patience

Are you willing to follow Jesus regardless of where he leads you politically?

The Old Testament does not tell us everything God was doing everywhere in the world. It's not a biography of God's early years. The Jewish Scriptures describe God's activity in connection to one particular people group.