As much as I can’t stand Jimmy Carter, possibly the worst president in our nation’s history, why would anyone protest such a speaker at a “leadership” conference?

This is nothing more than the status quo at these conferences...worldly speakers spouting off their collective wisdom on how to “lead” to what is supposedly a spiritual venture.

It makes one wonder who would Jesus invite to speak on the topic?

Ricky,

Have you attended one of these summits? They are amazingly helpful to me as a church leader (a title which you seem to think is an oxymoron).

Hey guys,

I totally see both sides of this issue.  Jimmy Carter on leadership?  I’d rather just hear Hybels again.  The idea of enlarging our band-width is a good one, but doesn’t it seem slightly polical to have both Carter and Powell speak.  (both huge critics of conservatives) If you are going to go down that path, try not to be so obvious on the real message you are trying to send.

hey, but who am I to critique these guys…

Heath

Ricky,

Since Jesus dined with sinners and even pharisees, I think we’d all be surprised by the people he might invite. And since it is His Holy Spirit that gives gifts, including leadership, which we are commanded to use with diligence in Romans 12, it would make sense that Jesus would applaud our efforts to learn what we can to lead better.

Camey,

McLean’s leaders did the right thing? Maybe but… did they also black out the Colin Powell talk? He’s political. Or is he “conservative enough” for the church. I’m not necessarily blasting their decision, but if they blacked out Carter but showed Powell, it seems a bit of a double-standard to me.

And by the way, neither of those talks was very political.

I remember when Cater made those comments and I thought, “What were you thinking?” And yet, there are times when I get the strange feeling that there are only two litmus tests for what makes an evangelical: being a Republican and never ever criticing Israel.  The move was political by McLean, pure and simple.

I did not attend the Leadership Summit, but I was there last year.

I pastor a church in the home town of Habitat for Humanity. Jimmy Carter lives about 10 miles away. I have a member of the secret service in my church...how cool is that! Anyway, Carter (and HFH) is a controversial figure here, especially among SBC churches, but I think he would have helpful things to say about leadership.

I am surprised that McLean Bible Church calls Carter a “politician.” I don’t see Carter that way. He has been extremely crticialy of the political right and the current president. I see him as a commentator on the political scene, but not a politiican. He is not running for office or, to my knownledge, he is not endorsing a political canidate.

I disagree with Carter politically, but I think it is good to listen to what he says. I guess for me, I tend to respect him, because he is a member of my community. Really. I passed him at Wal-Mart earlier this summer!

Derek

The Summit is about leadership, and the faculty is always comprised of people who lead or led in a variety of venues; education, business, church, non-profit, politics.  Both Carter and Powell gained their leadership experience in the world of politics, as did Karen Hughes, who was a speaker a few years back.  There have often been politicians on the docket, and these have been people whose political biases run the gamut.  This is something I admire about the WCA.

And so actually, I think MBC’s canceling of Carter was a very political move.  By blacklisting Carter and not Powell (or Karen Hughes, if they were a satellite at the time), they made a statement that they were aligning with a particular political bent and against another.  It is evidence that we’ve merged our politics with our faith when we feel forced to make such decisions.  If we can to a lecture and learn something about leadership from anyone; Muslim extremist, political leftist, socialist, gay rights or pro-choice activist, then we can be confident that we haven’t allowed our political preferences to define our faith.

BTW Ricky - I think Jesus might have had these folks on his faculty list:

A Roman Centurion
A converted religious leader (Jew)
An ex-prostitute
A Greek trading mogul (who might not be a convert)
An interview with a Pharisee named Gamaliel
A church planter and business woman named Lydia
The teaching team of Pricilla and Acquilla

And most of the above line-up would have offended the Jewish “insiders.” Note that in Jesus’ parables and even His interactions, it is often the outsider who is lifted up as the teaching example.  Is it possible that some of today’s Western evangelical has more in common with the 1st century Jewish insider than the people Jesus wanted us to learn from.

Wendi

I was at the Summit and thought the Carter interview was interesting.  I didn’t walk away with many leadership action-steps, but I did walk away with a great appreciation for Carter’s integrity, humility, and compassion.

I would echo the question everyone else has been asking here:  Did McLean show the Colin Powell interview?  It would seem a bit biased to show Powell but not Carter.

Personally, though, I agree with Hybels’ philosophy that we ought to have a high “learning bandwidth” and ought to be able to learn from people regardless of whether we agree with them on everything.  Take what you can use and discard the rest.

If anyone is interested I posted notes from the Carter interview on my blog:

http://www.liveintentionally.org/2007/08/11/leadership-summit-9-jimmy-carter-building-humanity/

- Paul

I think of that statement...leadership is influence…

Carter is a man of influence...whether you think it is postive or negative…

I would like to know how he has been able to influence so many…

@ Pete: i do agree with you on MBC...i love that church and having lived in DC while going to school from ‘98-’05, i recognized that politically charged environment

@Leonard: remembering the ridiculous comments Carter made, i have to remember and sympathize with Lon Solomon and the leadership’s perspective on using footage of the former prez.  If I’m Jewish I would have some issues with him and I’m not certain they bought his apologies over his comments either.

I understand they don’t want to alienate the very community they are trying to reach.  If I’m trying to reach my peeps (Black folk), I ain’t inviting Bob Jones to my church.  So I feel that.  But I still have an issue with MBC if indeed their policy is to avoid featuring politians at the church.  It ain’t about judgin’ MBC leadership’s hearts; it’s about that policy of featuring some politicians but not others.

That said, God bless all involved and I really hope that God helps Jimmy Carter repair the damage he did with some careless words that hurt a lot of people.  Peace out.