Exponential 2 :: Andy Stanley

Andy Stanley spoke on Making Vision Stick in session 2 @ Exponential.  A few quoteables...

"Every Student Pastor is just buying time until he starts his own church..." (funny poke at SP's as Andy told thestory of North Point's beginning - he was the SP on his dad's staff at FBC Atlanta)

"'You're the Christ, the Son of the Living God...' - that is the glue that holds us all together.  We may not agree on anything else, but we can agree on that."

Vision always begins as a burden.
The challenge for those of us in leadership is making what's clear 'in here' has to become clear 'out there' or people can't follow us.
Making vision stick is central to leading people.

5 Keys to Making Vision Stick:
1. State it simply

• Memorable is portable
• The Curse of Knowledge - you know so much about everything you're doing, but the people you're leading don't know. It's your responsibility to make it clear.
• What do people show up at work everyday to do?
• If you can't communicate it simply, it won't stick.
• Is it any advantage to have an incredibly well though out plan that no one knows about or understands.

2. Cast it convincingly

• Define the problem
  • what must be done in our environment?
  • what could go undone if we ceased to exist?
• Offer a solution
• Explain the why and why now
  • this is where the passion comes - this is what motivates people to act

3.  Repeat it regularly

• Discover your rhythms and cast vision accordingly
• Vision doesn't naturally stick..it leak.  You have to repeat it.

4. Celebrate systematically

• There are no photographs to show people if you're taking them to a place they have never been
• When you catch someone living out the vision, make them a public example
• Stories do more to clarify the vision than anything else
• People need living illustrations

5. Embrace it personally and publically

• When you do, it's obvious that you really do believe it
• When you share your own stories, you're not bragging, you're letting people see your commitment

Andy Stanley talking about vision is like throwing him a slow softball pitch - it's a home run every time.  The greatest part of this talk was how frank, open and honest Andy was at the beginning about his personal story and how North Point began.  For more, check out his book by the same title.

Comments

[jason]

thanks for the notes my friend.

[JD]

Jay,

What is with the first Andy Stanley quote about student pastors? That kind of left me scratching my head. What is the context of that statement and is it good or bad?

[jay hardwick]

j.d. - my bad on this one...just have noted that it was a joke. he was sharing the story of how north point got started and that he was the student pastor on his dad's staff at fbc atlanta. then, he made the side comment that i quoted...hope it didn't freak you out too much!

[Nick Blevins]

Jay, correct me if I'm wrong because I wasn't there. But, I would imagine Andy really does think that far more often than not, student pastors pastor their own church eventually. In the last 5 years, I would say they plant them. Before that they took a job as pastor at and established church.

I only know of a couple student pastors that never ended up in the lead pastor role somehow. I think Andy also believes student pastors inherently create relevant environments, which often times leads them out of irrelevant churches until they're frustrated enough to start their own.

[jay hardwick]

nick - cant really speak for what andy thinks...but, your statement is often true. i do know that in the early days of crafting north point's strategy, a motivating thought was, "let's do youth group for adults." kinda fun...but speaks to your hunch that sp's maybe have a better understanding of what a relevant environment looks like.

thanks for your thoughts and comments, nick!