SOUTH BARRINGTON, Ill. (ABP) — Church leadership grows out of an unrelenting compulsion to follow God, speakers repeatedly told participants in the 10th annual Leadership Summit Aug. 11-13.

Simulcast live from Willow Creek Community Church in suburban Chicago, the conference attracted about 50,000 participants to more than 100 viewing sites across North America. It will be dubbed into other languages and broadcast later this year overseas, where 22,000 more participants are expected.

"When leaders grow and get stuff right, everyone wins," stressed Bill Hybels, pastor of Willow Creek Church and host of the summit. "When leaders in church work grow, the darkness gets pushed back, and people's lives get changed forever. How do you like those stakes? Forever."

Church leadership is so important because "the local church is the hope of the world, and its hope rests in the hands of its leaders," Hybels said to the simulcast audience, which was comprised not only of pastors, but church staff, lay leaders and even some non-churched business leaders.

"Vision is the leader's most potent weapon," he said, acknowledging that assertion raises a vexing question: What precedes vision?

A spiritual leader receives vision from and is motivated by the things that "frustrate heaven and earth," Hybels noted.

To illustrate, he quoted a lightly regarded leader, Popeye, the cartoon character, who always said the same thing before taking action: "That's all I can stands. I can't stands no more."

"That means something to us in leadership at a profound level. We saw something we couldn't ‘stands no more,'" Hybels said.

In service to God, this feeling is "holy discontent," he reported. For Moses, it was "the misery of God's people." For King David, it was the giant Goliath "trash-talking" God. For the Prophet Nehemiah, it was people mocking God.

Hybels' own experience with "holy discontent" grew out of observing "churches who don't care about people who are far from God," he said. That led him not only to start Willow Creek Church nearly 30 years ago, but also to lead the "seeker-sensitive" movement, which presents the gospel to people who are "far from God" in ways that will bring them close to God and eventually to faith in Christ.

"What can't you stand?" Hybels asked. He cited a litany of possible answers for church leaders — "injustice, extreme poverty, racism, homelessness, AIDS, immoral business practices, dysfunctional churches, ... crappy music, crooked politicians [and] young people drifting further and further away from God."

Hybels offered Christians three tips about finding and following up on "holy discontent."

First, "it's not everything you get upset about," he said. "We ought to be looking for that one cause that grabs us by the throat and won't let us go."

Second, don't give up if the object of discontent is not obvious, he added. "Keep exposing your heart. ... Travel more in the world. Visit an AIDS clinic or a Habitat [for Humanity] build." Keep on looking.

Third, don't run from it, he said. "Most of us run from our firestorm of frustration. One of the best things you can do is identify with it. ... When you find it, feed it. Increase your exposure. Stay close to your holy discontent."

Speakers throughout the summit echoed Hybels' theme:

— "We need to get to a point where we are seized by something," said Mosa Sono, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Soweto, South Africa.

"This causes us to live a life beyond ourselves," said Sono, who lead the church to reach more than 8,000 people in one of the poorest slums in Africa.

"Everything rises and falls on leadership," Sono noted, insisting prayer is the key.

"Be burdened through prayer," he urged. "It is the foundation of everything we do. ... The formula for miracles is to start with what you have. Don't wait for a better day. Put it in the hands of God. God is able to do much with a little."

— "God is looking for people to use, and if you can get usable, he will wear you out," advised Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Community Church in Lake Forest, Calif. "The most dangerous prayer you can pray is this: ‘Use me.'"

Warren called Moses a role model, pointing to Moses' two principles of leadership.

"You must see the world as God sees it," he started, noting God gave Moses the opportunity to see the Hebrew people's suffering sensitively, and it broke his heart.

"What's in your heart?" Warren asked. "What disturbs you?"

The next step is self-understanding, he added. "You must see yourself as God sees you. What is in your hand? What are you going to do about it?"

When God called Moses to ministry, the first thing God did was ask Moses, "What is in your hand?" Warren said, explaining Moses' shepherd's staff represented his identity, his income and his influence.

"What is in your hand?" Warren asked the leaders, stressing they need to turn over their identities and resources to God for God's use, not their own security or identity or comfort.

"When you're faithful with what God puts in your hand, he will give you more," he promised.

— A Christian leader must differentiate between his or her "comfort zone" and "gift zone," said John Maxwell, who was a pastor for 25 years before switching careers to become a leadership consultant and best-selling author.

"If we're growing, we're always going to be out of our comfort zone," Maxwell acknowledged. "But know your gift zone," he said, explaining that's the realm of action for which God has prepared his followers. "Never get out of your gift zone."

He quoted World War II-era Christian martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer: "We are not sure where we are going, but we are sure we are following Jesus. As long as you know you are following Jesus, you are safe."

— For Christ's sake, Christian leaders need to quit criticizing each other, leadership author/consultant Ken Blanchard said.

He compared the global church of Christ to a franchised business. But instead of supporting each other, as a reasonable business model would insist of the franchises, churches often do the opposite, he observed.

"Our ‘franchises' never talk to each other. They compete with each other and criticize each other," Blanchard observed. "I don't think we're raising Jesus above the walls of the churches. We've got to stop this ridiculous fighting over rituals and regulations."

— Leaders must follow Jesus' example and the Apostle Paul's advice, advised Kenneth Ulmer, pastor of Faithful Central Bible Church in Los Angeles.

Quoting from the 17th chapter of the Gospel of John, Ulmer noted Jesus said he had glorified God the Father because "I have done the work you gave me to do."

"I glorify God when I do my assignment," Ulmer said. "You have an assignment. ... There's a call of God upon your life. You are where you are on purpose. You must fulfill God's assignment, God's call on your life."

And that must be done by "presenting your bodies as a living sacrifice" to Christ, as Paul taught, he added.

"Put your body — your life — in God's hands. Turn it over," Ulmer urged. "You hold that ministry in your hand, [and] it's doomed. Place your life in his hand, and God will do miracles, because it all depends upon whose hand it's in."

The Willow Creek Association, founded by Hybels and Willow Creek Community Church to strengthen leadership and foster growth in other churches, sponsored the Leadership Summit.

(Associated Baptist Press, 8-18-05)