Catalyst Scribbles (Part 1)
Andy Stanley is pastor of Northpoint Community Church in Alpharetta, GA. Ever since Catalyst last year I have been listening to his podcasts, which have been a great resource and encouragement to me.
Andy is usually the guy Catalyst looks to to start off the conference, and I can see why.
"Leading in Uncertain Times" was the title of his talk and the premise was how uncertainty is not something that is supposed to go away. In fact, it is the arena in which leadership is developed.
"I will always be uncertain... I am certain of it." - Andy Stanley
He remarked how responsibility and uncertainty are directly correlated to one another-- the greater the responsibility, the greater the uncertainty. Leadership is not formed, but it is developed within this context of uncertainty, where those who are able to be clear and flexible will undoubtedly be the source of confidence for others to turn to. But ultimately, every leader knows that nothing is ever under their control.
"Life is uncertain, but God is not uncertain." - Andy Stanley
So what are we to do in these troubled economic times? How do we handle uncertainty? He mentioned a few things, but I would like to mention the most obvious one which is most often neglected: Prayer.
Pray like crazy.
There is a sense in which God leverages uncertainty to remind us again that we are daily dependent upon Him , that it's really all about His will, and how arrogant we are to think that anything depends on us.
Just because we've had some success in our lives or things have gone our way in the past doesn't mean that we are any less dependent upon God now than on day one. We came into the world dependent and uncertain, and we will always be. We just mask it in different ways.
