Live Blog: 2015 Leadership Summit – 34 Leadership Quotes From Brian Houston

In an effort to add value to pastors and church leaders, INJOY Stewardship Solutions has dispatched me to attend the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit.  During the next three days, I will be bringing the top leadership lessons from the incredible faculty the WCA has assembled.

As a special gift to everyone reading these posts, INJOY Stewardship is offering a complimentary downloadable Ebook Discipling Financial Leaders.  Click Here to Download this Free Resource! 

Next up was Pastor Brian Houston.  Brian is senior pastor of Australia-based Hillsong Church, a global family of congregations comprising more than 100,000 weekly attendees.

The following are 34 Leadership Quotes From Brian Houston’s very transparent interview with Bill Hybels from the Global Leadership Summit:

1. I always knew I wanted to become a pastor and preacher.
2. Having clarity was a huge advantage in life.
3. Being the son of a prominent pastor, I put too much pressure on myself.
4. We started HillSong in a very small school hall.
5. The worst day of my life – 1999. We had a complaint my father absued a young person – a male.
6. It was the most horrible years you could ever hear.
7. I probably didn’t handle it well. I went into leadership mode.
8. I’m still working through this even now.
9. I started imploding over a period of years.
10. Our church through the whole storm has continued to move forward. The people with the church just came with us on the journey.
11. The hurt. The shock. The trauma started wearing me down.
12. Slowly I found myself taking sleeping tablets every night of my life.
13. I was having a panic attack.
14. By God’s grace I’ve never had another panic attack.
15. I made big changes. Changes in how I traveled. Stopped taking sleeping tablets.
16. Darlene (Zschech) was a huge blessing to your church. She grew up like a child star in our country.
17. I always wanted a church that helped other people do church.
18. We believe music is an arrowhead for a healthy church.
19. Creativity is what really switched him (Joel Houston and head of HillSong United) on.
20. Through various seasons and transitions, the church is resilient.
21. In most organizations, who you start a church is not necessarily who stays with it. – Bill Hybels
22. Sometimes the people who you expect to be there don’t. And some of those who are flighty are the ones you grow with.
23. It’s smart in leadership to take your time and invest in people.
24. I don’t know if you’re going to be here for 3 years, 10 years, or 33 years. We’re all only here for a season. So let’s give God our best. – Bill Hybels
25. People may move to the other side of the Earth but they never leave your life.
26. Not all your sons and daughters stay with you.
27. You never hold onto people who don’t want to be there.
28. I’ve always been inspired by big cities and cities of influence. And building churches there.
29. People are quick to tell you what a London church looks like. All we’ve done is build HillSong Church in London and be true to ourselves.
30. If you get the right person at the right time, God will bless it.
31. When I’m around you my faith is expanded. You have an anointing in your life that makes people think God can do great things. – Hybels
32. I love what I do. I love the Lord. I love the church. I love people ultimately. That motivation has never left me.
33. I have never ever gotten away from the vision God has given me. You just keep getting up when you get knocked down.
34. Longevity is perhaps the greatest thing you can have as a leader.

Additional Thoughts From Bill Hybels on the power of music:

1. The leaders I know who carry the greatest pressure, who climb the greatest hills, have the closest affinity to music.
2. It is a well-known fact in psychology that people who are in evaluative positions have a hunger in their soul for something else (music). – Dr. Henry Cloud
3. When I’m going through intense times of pressure and can’t access the presence of God by reading my Bible or looking at a sunset, I turn to music.
4. I’m not a fear-driven person.
5. I don’t have to be a slave to fear. I am a child of the Most High God.
6. Leaders really do live a different kind of life than what other people live. We see things before others see it. The problems land on your desk. There’s a unique challenge to leadership that gives way to fear.
7. You don’t have to play and live with fear.
8. My dad had total confidence in my capabilities.
9. He (my dad) breathed huge parts in confidence in me.
10. He (my dad) had a heart attack and died. My heart was ripped out. I was inconsolable.
11. I had a verse to help me. I needed a song.
12. Leaders are always out of sight of land. They are in the unique position of it’s just them and God.
13. Leaders you can’t do this journey without help from above. You can’t do this without the regenerative strength which only comes from God.
14. It’s our job to stay connected with God to help us do this great thing.
15. You can minister to each other, you can cheer each other on by the power of music.

Additional thoughts from Brian Houston:

1. There is not other name but the name of Jesus. I’ve been very aware in my life there is no other name.
2. Songs have such potential to bring healing to our inner-person.
3. Music often itself has been created in pain. The heart at which it has been created is the heart that it affects.
4. So much of ministry is walking on water.
5. Oceans is the most successful song to ever come out of our church. God’s faithful.

This concludes the Day 2 morning session.  First up after lunch is Pastor Sam Adeyami.  And if you have not already, don’t forget to click the image below for your free resource from INJOY Stewardship Solutions.