Obama and McCain on Abortion

If you missed it, this past August, Pastor Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life hosted the Saddleback Faith Forum and interviewed both Senator McCain and Senator Obama. 

Here is what they had to say about it.

Obama:

McCain:

Though this issue isn’t currently getting much press during this election season, it is in my opinion, THE most important issue. The Bible clearly teaches that we are made in the image of God. When we start treating that which is made in His image as garbage to be disposed of at will, that is a very serious offense. 

We need to know where the candidates stand on this issue and weigh very heavily the sanctity of human life when we head to the voting precinct. 

God is in control. He can use righteous leaders as well as unrighteous to accomplish his purposes in the earth. (And I am not saying that any of the present choices are fully “righteous”.)

Yet still, each of us will be held accountable before God for what we did with our vote.

What are you doing with yours?

 

 

 

Good Intentions Don’t Necessarily Lead Anywhere

Somewhere at the Catalyst Conference (either in my conference packet or at one of the booths) I picked up a black card with white text on it which reads,

“Your direction not your intention determines your destination” – Andy Stanley

True words. And well said.

I decided to tape this little card up on the wall above my desk as a reminder to continually maintain the right direction.

Catalyst Recap – Andy Stanley on Moral Authority

Andy Stanley, senior pastor of North Point Community Church in Atlanta church spoke several times at the Catalyst Conference this year. 

HIs first session he spoke out of Nehemiah 5:6-18 on the importance of a leader having “moral authority”. 

“Moral authority is what we get when people percieve that there is agreement between our creed and our deed”, said Andy. “Most of our leadership comes from this.” It’s easy to

Here are a few other key thoughts from this talk:

- “All the leadership tricks in the world won’t compensate for a lack of moral authority.”

- “Everyone [including paid staff] at the end of the day is basically a volunteer – they can leave at any time.”

- It is important not only to have alignment between words and deeds, but “public alignment”. People need to see the alignment of your walk and your talk.  

He emphasized integrity and modeling in three specific areas:

1. Forgiveness

- Forgiveness is at the epicenter of the gospel. We must not carry bitterness and offense, but instead lead the way in forgiveness.

2. Family

- “If your wife feels like the church is your mistress, you are part of the problem.” 

- “Prioritize the role that no one else can play over the role that someone else can plan”. 

3. Finances

- “Give. Save. Live on the rest.”

Do you have moral authority with the people you lead or merely positional authority? In what areas do you think that your moral authority has been waning? What are you going to do about it?

Catalyst Recap – Jim Collins

 At Catalyst 2008, Good to Great author Jim Collins spoke on a topic that will not surprise you – Going from Good to Great. (He’s still working that content seven years after the book’s release, but why not, it’s good stuff!)

Here are a few of the statements that he made during his talk which I found most interesting and helpful:

- “Not all time in life is equal. If you are young in life you have a long runway ahead of you.” (The audience at Catalyst was a younger crowd.)

- “If we got better ‘whos’ we would get better ‘whats’.”

- “You have to prepare for what you cannot ultimately predict, so your most important decision is who”

- “The question is not if you are a leader or not, but if you are a level 5 leader or a level 4 leader.”

- “The signature mark of these [level 5 leaders] was humility”

- If it is about you, you will not build something great.”

Collins also talked abou the culture of discipline that truly great companies have saying that “most overnight success stories are really about 20 years in the making“. We don’t see much of the process, or usually hear about it, but this is the discipine of the flywheel – that pushing and pushing and pushing when no one sees, and no one knows that ultimately builds momentum and can lead to greatness.

One of the most interesting things that Collins discussed was the concept of “overreaching”. While it is good to push and good to strie for excellence, the momentum of the flywheel has to build up gradually. One should not try to go too fast, too quickly or they could easily ruin everything. This is the leadership sin of overreaching.

“Overreaching born of hubris is how you fall – derailing the flywheel“, said Collins. I wonder how many pastors, missionaries and church planters, who ruin their marriages, ministries and families do so as a result of overreaching.

As a motivated twenty-something with a type-A personality and a deep love for God I know I need to be careful to not overreach.

What about you? Which of these quotes stood out most to you and why? Are you in danger of overreaching?

Catalyst Conference Recap

The Catalyst Conference 2008 was fantastic! It was definitely the best conference I have ever been too. The planning and attention to detail that go into this annual event are amazing. Everything from welcome bag with a sharp looking conference notebook to having a real live elephant brought in during one of the transitions to talk about “the elephant in the room” made this production success. 

But of course, what mattered most wasn’t just the extras, but what was communicated by the conference speakers during the main sessions.

In an attempt to recap some of those insightful talks here, I had thought about trying to jam a quick recap into one or two posts like I did a couple months back for the Willow Creek Leadership Summit. But honestly, that would hardly do this conference justice and would make the whole feel like more of a homework assignment and suck all the fun right out of it. So, I am going to take the next however-many-it-takes blog posts to recap what I think is worth highlighting from the main sessions. (And there is much, worth repeating.)

So as we enter the world of Catalyst I’ll let you see what everyone saw who entered this event through the main doors at the Gwinnett Center in northeast Atlanta… 

In my next post I’ll let you know what Good to Great author Jim Collins had to say to church leaders…