Andy Stanley on Systems

To be chanted cheerleader-style: "Andy, Andy, he's my man...if he can't make a sermon about systems interesting, no one can!"

Some things I took away from this second session of the DRIVE conference at North Point Community Church...

• If you have system problems, you can't pray them away or preach them away. You need to change your systems.
• Anytime you want to get your people to do anything, you need a system.
• Preaching does not create behaviors--systems create behaviors.
• Anytime you hear, "Well, our people just won't ___________" (fill in the blank), you are listening to someone who doesn't understand the influence of systems.
• The New Testament does not present us with a specific system or model. In the NT, we discover what the early church DID -- not what church leaders are to DO.
• When reading the Bible, we have to differentiate between what is prescriptive and what is descriptive. Is this what we are told to DO, or is this just what they DID?
• Congregational rule is not in the Bible. In fact, the only congregational voting we see in the Bible didn't turn out so well: 1) Joseph brothers' voted to sell him. 2) The nation of Israel voted to make a golden altar. 3) Then they voted to elect a King when God didn't want them to.
• Hiring -- you can't lead people that you don't have the freedom to hire and fire.
• You cannot effectively communicate complicated information to a group of people. That's why every church should empower a leader and a small informed team to lead and make decisions.