Bill Hybels - Final Leadership Summit session

Bill Hybels closed the Leadership Summit with a final talk called "The Power of Clarity":

  • Bill started by talking about the history of the trumpet.
  • I Corinthians 14:8 - if the trumpet does not play a clear sound, who will get ready for battle?
  • If there is one thing a leader owes his followers, it is clarity.
  • If we aren't clear, we frustrate our people into oblivion.
  • Winston Churchhill said, "We will never give up."
  • Martin Luther King, when told to chill out and just wait, said there will be no more waiting.
  • A church must be absolutely clear about its vision.
  • Not being clear about the vision is simply pastoral malpractice.
  • Too many times, staff members, elders, and associate pastors have no idea what their job is. No one has made it clear.
  • A clear vision lets people decide whether to get on or off the train.
  • Hybels spent the raminder of the session declaring a clear call about the centrality of our message.
  • The core of our message: "Substitutionary Atonement."
  • In every other religion, wrong doers must pay. For Christians, we understand that Jesus paid the price.
  • In the Garden of Eden, the life of an animal was sacrificed to cover their shame.
  • With the 10 plagues, a lamb was sacrificed to save the life of the oldest child.
  • On the Day of Atonement, every sin from every person was transferred from the violator to the head of the scapegoat.
  • John the Baptist, upon seeing Jesus, pointed at Him and yelled, "There is the Lamb of God, who came to take the sins of the world."
  • When Jesus hung on the cross, He said, "It is finished." He had paid the substitutionary atoning price for the sins of the world.
  • Future - there is a day of reckoning. Many people think the question is, "How badly did your sin?" That's not the question. The only question is, "Who will atone for your sin?" There are only two options: You can self-attone. But you will live in eternal regret.
  • Only other option: Jesus will attone for your sin.
  • Bill's question: Was there a time in your life when you rejected your own plans for atonement, and you accepted Jesus' plan for atoning for your sins?
  • What are we doing as churches to make sure this message is as clear as it possibly can be?
  • The session ended with scores of Willow people telling the story of their life change through words on a poster board.

With that, the Leadership Summit session concluded. Another great year -- I'll be here again next year.

Guest User