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Bill Hybels: A Vision to Die For
Orginally published on Wednesday, August 15, 2007 at 7:05 AM
by Todd Rhoades
I wasn't able to attend Willow's Leadership Summit this year; but here is a report on one of Bill Hybels sessions from The Toledo Blade. I always enjoy hearing Bill Hybels speak, and this one sounded like it was good as well. Maybe some of you who were able to attend come addd more to this writer's synopsis...
Mr. Hybels’ lecture on Thursday, titled “Vision To Die For,” used several Scriptures and historical events to illustrate ways that effective leaders demonstrate their commitment to their vision, which enables them to persuade others to follow them.
He pointed out the difference between being an owner and being a hireling, saying that people who have ownership in their plans will pay whatever price is necessary — even laying down their lives if it comes to that.
Hirelings, on the other hand, consider it to be “just a job,” and when trouble arises are quick to flee.
He cited Jesus’ words in John 10:12, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away.”
Mr. Hybels made several references to the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and how his willingness to die for racial equality inspired others and led to profound changes in American society.
He also quoted Apostle Paul’s statements in Acts, Chapter 21, that he was going to obey God and go to Jerusalem even if it meant being beaten or killed.
Mr. Hybels said that when people know their leader is completely committed to a cause, they are willing to follow no matter the cost, just as those who followed Jesus, St. Paul, and Mr. King.
“Are you willing to die for the vision God has entrusted to you, or are you a hireling?” Mr. Hybels asked summit participants.
He said he has learned a tough lesson in three decades of ministry: that a pastor cannot unilaterally impose his God-given vision on church members, but rather must guide the vision through a team-oriented refinement and consultation process.
It goes against his Type-A, go-getter personality, he said, to slow down and be patient in bringing an idea to reality. He compared it to “swimming in peanut butter.” But consulting church members, giving them a chance to offer input, ideas, and opinions, is a much more effective strategy because the people not only offer constructive comments, but they gain a sense of “ownership” in the project.
“People don’t always need to have their way, they just need to have their way considered. They need to speak and be listened to,” Mr. Hybels said.
He said Willow Creek started planning its $100 million campus, with an 8,500-seat sanctuary, in 2000. As the “vision was cast,” Mr. Hybels said he met with 44 groups of 75 people in church members’ homes.
Those meetings accomplished several things: he honed his presentation, the people felt valued, and the leadership got helpful feedback, he said.
And when it came to supporting the building program, the 3,300-some people who were consulted in those home meetings committed a total of $40 million.
“That is the power of ownership,” Mr. Hybels said.
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Hi... I'm Todd Rhoades. I'm a Christ-follower, husband, father and I love to connect leaders with other leaders. Hopefully you'll find something here at MMI you like and will return often. If you want, you can find out more about me or follow my every step on Twitter.
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Posted by Paul
Wednesday, August 15, 2007 at 1:11 PM
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Wednesday, August 15, 2007 at 5:46 PM
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Thursday, August 16, 2007 at 6:38 AM
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Thursday, August 16, 2007 at 8:38 AM
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Monday, August 27, 2007 at 7:47 PM
Post Your Comments:I attended the Leadership Summit at the satelite site in Tampa, FL with a group of about 25 staff and volunteer leaders from the church where I serve as an elder and 5 of the staff from my company.
The church were we attended had Wi-Fi, so I decided to blog my notes live. You can read the raw notes from each session plus comments on my new blog at:
http://www.LiveIntentionally.org
I’ve been to the last 5 or 6 Summits and to me this one seemed to have more focus on inspiring people towards action (interviews with Richard Curtis and Jimmy Carter that emphasized doing things to address global poverty) in comparison to past Summits which seemed to have a greater focus on information and leadership principles.
My top 3 sessions were:
- Marcus Buckingham. Talked about identifying and focusing on your strengths rather than your weaknesses.
- Bill Hybels. In the last sesion of the Summit he talked about the value of inspiration, how to inspire yourself, and how to inspire those around you.
- Bill Hybels. In the first sesion of the Summit (described by Toledo Blade above) he talked about important it is that people in your church own the vision of the church, and that that can be done by colaberating with others in the formation, refinement, and declaraiton of the vision rather than the “Mount Sinai” approach where the vision is developed by the senior pastor alone.
Excellent conference, though, as usual. I came away filled mentally and spiritually.
Paul,
You nailed it. I agree. Buckingham was great. I’ve just started his book. I think it will be life-changing for me.
Ortberg was great too. I always take gobs of notes with him.
And let’s not forget Kirk Franklin. Talk about ENERGY! Whoah!
From the article:
“He cited Jesus’ words in John 10:12, ‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away.’”
It’s easy to preach this but if Hybels was half the so-called he and others claim that he is he would prove it by walking away from an organization that is personality-dependent...upon him.
Jesus came with a single mission: to die so that others might live.
Unfortunately, we feel that because we start an organization that we have a mandate to stay with it until we die, after which it usually dies, too.
Hybles, Warren, et al, are nothing more than modern-day Narcissists.
Prove what you’re saying, Bill! Walk away into anonymity and then we’ll believe what you’re saying.
Ricky, Ricky, Ricky…
I shouldn’t be biting this time. No one has any idea about who you are or what you mean, because you just throw stones and run away.
You are speaking out of turn about something you know little about. First off, there’s no correlation between the admonition in John 10:12 and your assertion that Hybles must walk away. I have no idea where you get that. Paul and Peter served until they died, didn’t they. I hope Bill and Rick do, too.
Note to all… Ricky has proven again that he is a troll. Hopefully, next time I’m on here, Todd will have deleted his post and mine.
No, Peter, I’m not speaking out of turn and, by the way, as a former “senior pastor,” I do have knowledge on what it means and takes to intentionally “decrease” to the point of purposefully teaching myself out of a position.
John the Baptist is a perfect example, as is Jesus who left after a very short stint, of someone who saw his ministry change drastically upon the arrival of the Master.
But did John try to hold on to what he knew he couldn’t hold on to? No, but he kept on decreasing to the day of his death, that led Jesus to extol him in a way that has been memorialized in Scripture.
Paul spent his entire life knowing that what he did would one day lead to his death and even yearned for it.
My point, Peter, is that Hybels, Warren, et al, know that the moment they would walk away from their fifedoms, they (fifedoms) would crumble because they haven’t been built on the Rock but on themselves.
If you are a “pastor,” I would encourage you to consider taking the greatest ministry risk that you could ever take and walk away from “your” ministry and see what happens.
Wood, hay, stubble.
No troll here, just one who is absolutely passionate about the Body of Christ and it becoming free from the machinations of men called “church.”
Ricky,
Thanks for responding this time. To be honest, it raises my opnion of you since you normally have walked away from a discussion without engaging. Thanks for turning it around this time. And now we know a little of who you are. I feel like I’d really like to know your story.
John the Baptist is not the bibilcal example of a pastor, first off. He was a prophet, so using his example to show us how to or how not to work in ministry is quite flawed, don’t you think?
Paul was a church planter and more itinerant than a “pastor”. It is obvious that he set up pastors in positions to stay there wherever he went. Those pastors were leaders in those churches, and indeed the Romans 12:8 passage that Hybels and his kind regularly refer to instructs those of us with leadership gifts to lead with diligence, not to walk away. Paul has no instructions in his pastoral letters that I recall telling us to walk away from the ministry that God calls us to.
There isn’t really any biblical precedent or exhortation for me to step down from a role that God has called me to in HIS ministry at all. To do so would be reckless misuse of my gifts. I’m real sorry that your experience in church was so negative. Mine has not been. I work in a ministry where we see people reached and lives changed by God’s truth. Is it possible that God would call me to “macedonia”? Perhaps, I’ll be listening for that.
In short, I am exactly where I need to be.
Are you aware, by the way, that both Hybels and Warren have been scaling back their involvement in the day-to-day workings of their churches for years in anticipation of the time that they would need to step down for one reason or another?
From earlier posts of yours, as I recall, you don’t feel that the contemporary institutional church is biblical at all, correct? So perhaps this won’t change your mind.
I attended the summit and was GREATLY disappointed. I was expecting to hear of leadership principles and ways to challenge others, but what seemed to be the theme was fighting poverty. Bill Hybels actually sounded apologetic at times because secular people might be uncomfortable attending this. I guess I was under the MISUNDERSTANDING that this was aimed at being a resource to Church leaders.
I understand that Hybels has a vision, but the theme should have been “My vision, which You should die for.”
I won’t make the mistake of attending another of Hybels “summits.” I have better things to do with my time.
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