Do For One

 

Last week, our staff made it’s third trip to the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta. Catalyst is two days that pack your heart and mind with all kinds of truth, dreams, and lessons.

 

There are great times of worship, led by some creative and talented people. Last year I came back from Catalyst a new fan of Gungor and John Mark McMillan. This year, I came back a fan of Seryn. You need to check them out.

 

And there are always special guests. This year’s Catalyst included the Sh’Boss Boys and the Russian Bar Trio from America’s Got Talent. Jeff Foxworthy also made an appearance, but not to do comedy. He talked about the Bible study he leads at an Atlanta homeless shelter and introduced us to one of the men whose life has been changed.

 

But the best part of the conference (at least for me) are the great speakers that come in from around the world. These folks don’t just work in the church world, but in business, social justice, and other areas. In the next two or three posts, I’m going to share some of the highlights regarding leadership that I learned this year.

 

The one speaker who is there every year (and, in fact, speaks twice each year) is Andy Stanley, pastor of the North Point Community Church in the Atlanta area. This is fine with me because there are few that I enjoy hearing more than Andy Stanley.

 

Here are some thoughts from his first talk:

 

The more successful you are, the less accessible you become. Refuse to face this reality and face burn out by trying to be accessible to everyone. On the other hand, some use success as an excuse to be more inaccessible than necessary.

 

So the leader faces this dilemma: You can’t shut it all out. You can’t take it all in. What do we do?

 

Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone.

 

We can’t do it all, but we need to do it for some. Otherwise, our hearts will grow hard.

 

To some, this won’t seem fair. But we don’t need to be fair. We need to be engaged. If we follow this principle, we can be engaged without being overwhelmed.

 

To do this, Stanley offered these tips:

 

* Go deep rather than wide.

* Go long-term rather than short-term.

* Go time, not just money.

 

When you do for one, you often end up doing for more than just one.