Friday and Saturday I attended a Willow Creek Association UK video cast at St Peter’s in Bolton,of the GL summit which was held at WC a few weeks back. Wow! Some great presentations and
wisdom from Bill Hybels, Andy Stanley, James Meeks, Wayne Cordeiro (l to r above), and others, interspersed with some good worship, prayer and discussion, made for an inspiring, thought provoking, focusing and challenging two days!
I especially found Andy Stanley and Wayne Cordeiro challenging. Both talked about their own personal situations and how they had to take stock of the lives and ministry and how it affected their familes and their health. They talked of how the church had taken over their lives at the expense of their families.
Andy Stanley quoted Matthew 16:18 where Jesus say “I am going to build my church” and also Ephesians 5:25 where Paul tells husbands to love their wives like Jesus loves the Church. He said he used to pray that God would look after his family whilst he was giving all his time to church. However he realised that those two verses actually told him he had got it the wrong way round. He should love his family and put them first and pray that God will build and protect his church, which is what he says he will do. Andy said that he had ‘cheated’ his family but now he ‘cheats’ the church and works a set week and actually says NO!
Wayne Cordeiro’s presentation, called ‘Dead Leader Running’, was in a similar vein and talked about getting the balance right between family and church. He listed 5 points to consider for sustainable living:
Know what fills and drains your tank
Understand balance in life: your family is your ministry; they aren’t separate
Lead out of rest: schedule rest points, sleep on the ‘right side’ of the clock . The day begins as it says in Genesis, evening then morning.
Find a lightning rod: someone to sound off to - but not your spouse!
Be disciplined in daily devotions
He finished by saying that the goal is to go at a speed which keeps the flame alive. Not to run too fast and risk blowing it out.
I was really challenged by these two speakers, and resolved to change my ways in favour of my family who I know I ‘cheat’ in favour of work/church activities!
There was a brilliant interview with Bono by Bill Hybels which every Christian should see! Aparently it will be available to WCreek particpants soon - but it really should be more widely available.
He talked about Grace and the difficulty of grasping the concept.
He said that he has “no problem with Jesus but finds ‘Christians’ difficult.” I wonder why that is?
He called Aids the Leprosy of our age and reminded us that Jesus walked with lepers. He talked about Make Poverty History (One in the US) and told us that there are 2003 verses in the Bible which refer to the poor!
There is a DVD set of all the presentations available from Willow Creek which every leadership team should see. Some useful links below.
Willow Creek US www.willowcreek.org
Willow Creek UK www.willowcreek.org.uk
Andy Stanley www.northpoint.org James Meeks www.sbcoc.org
Wayne Cordeiro www.enewhope.org
MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY www.makepovertyhistory.org ONE www.one.org
