64 Leadership Quotes And Lessons From Andy Stanley’s Catalyst Closing Session On the Bible

For two days, INJOY Stewardship Solutions has dispatched me to Catalyst ’18 in Atlanta.  Catalyst is a 2-day experience to help leaders build great churches, grow strong teams, and be a catalyst for change.  This year’s theme is Fully Alive and is based on what the Bible says in John 10:10 – “The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy; I have come that you might have life and have it to the full.”

In addition to the content provided, the team at INJOY Stewardship would like to offer you a FREE gift.  As you know, October is Pastor Appreciation Month.  Simply click HERE or on the image provided and download a done-for-you script which you can read in your services to honor your pastor and staff.  Being a pastor can be challenging to say the least.  These words will honor and encourage your pastor and rally your congregation to a standing ovation.  Don’t believe me?  Click HERE.

As is the Catalyst culture, the event’s final speaker was Andy Stanley.  Andy traditionally closes out this event with his thoughts on current church culture.  Let’s just say…. Wow!  Let the debate continue.

The following are 64 leadership quotes and lessons from his closing session:

1. “It’s in the Bible” reflects a flaw in the modern version of our understanding of Christianity.
2. This could be a career-ending statement but I don’t care.
3. You have been part of a historic transition in the local church.
4. You have been the group to help elevate leadership in the church.
5. We have a generation of church leaders who are not only proud to be pastors but leaders.
6. The better leadership you have, the more people you will have, and the more people you can pastor.
7. You were going to fall in love with the mission but not the model.
8. You have elevated the place of women in the local church.
9. We have made church more interesting than ever but fewer people are interested.
10. 70% of people under 35 think the Bible is a fairly tale.
11. It’s time to take another big step. It’s how we preach and talk about our faith.
12. Whatever criticism I receive I’m OK with that.
13. I’m more afraid of people leaving the church in our country more than I am criticism.
14. We must tether the faith of this generation to the event behind the texts.
15. I have never heard a deconversion that had anything to do with the essence of Christianity.
16. Our faith does not rise or fall based upon having 66 non-conflicting books in the Bible. It’s bigger than that.
17. If you leave the church because of pain and suffering, you had the wrong God in mind.
18. Once upon a time a person had to read the Bible to know what was in the Bible.
19. We can no longer assume it is relating to the next generation.
20. You can now discover what else is in the Bible without ever owning one or opening one.
21. Because of the internet, aethiests have an all-access pass to everyone everywhere.
22. Skeptics have exploited a flaw in our modern Christianity – the Bible is the foundation of our Christian faith. Peter didn’t think so.  John didn’t think so.
23. Ephesisians 2:20 Jesus is the foundation of our faith.Not the Bible.
24. Flaw – As the Bible goes, so goes Christianity.This is an assumption shared by skeptics and Christians.
25. The message (Bible’s irrelevancy) has been laid out over and over since 9-11 has begun to take its toll on our culture.
26. When are people walking away from the church – they just don’t believe anymore. Believing what?
27. If you were raised on the “As the Bible goes so goes Christianity” faith, it only takes one of those 66 cards to be removed to bring all those cards down.
28. If one of those books or something in those books isn’t true, then the entire Bible isn’t true. The Bible has never been the foundation of the Christian faith.
29. How has the church responded – plasma screens and skinny jeans! That’ll get ‘em back.
30. The group of people we lost won’t come back to that because in many case, that’s what they left.
31. We continue to preach “If the Bible said it, that settles it.” That doesn’t work with them.
32. Given enough time and interest, you can defend the Bible. But no one is going to give you enough time.
33. Defending the Bible is the wrong place to dig our trenches and mount our defenses.
34. We should not let skeptics choose the battleground of faith for the next generation.
35. The question must wrestle to the ground is, “Did Jesus rise from the dead?” If so, game on!  It doesn’t matter how many days to took to make the earth.  It matters did Jesus rise from the grave.
36. The event, the resurrection, was the beginning of Christianity. Our story does not hang in the balance of if 66 books are true.  It hangs in an event.
37. The whole faith is “Did He raise from the dead?”If so, game on.  If not, game off.
38. The Constitution did not launch our country.Your handbook did not launch your company.  The Bible did not launch Christianity.
39. There were tens of thousands of Christians before there was a Bible… 85-90% were illiterate.  They couldn’t read a Bible if they wanted to.
40. Let’s don’t change our view of the Bible. Let’s step into that more enduring event in the Bible, the resurrection and story of Jesus.
41. Today, Rome is full of crosses…. Today, Jerusalem is full of Christians. Why? Not because something that was written but because something happened.
42. Do you believe the story of Adam and Eve? I do because Jesus did.
43. I’m more convinced than ever that follow Jesus will make your life better and make you better at life.
44. You can follow Jesus before you believe.
45. I don’t know why anybody would not want Christianity to be true.
46. I stopped saying anything that would anchor people’s faith to the Bible.
47. If someone predicts their own death and resurrection and pulls it off, I just go with whatever they say.
48. As Jesus goes, Christianity goes.
49. “Jesus, the only thing we know about Jesus is from the Bible.” Wrong!
50. Do you put gold coins in the vault to make them valuable? You put them in a vault because they are valuable.
51. The story of our faith preceeded the Bible by hundreds of years.
52. Don’t cross-examine the Bible to determine if Christianity stands. You have to start with Matthew and cross-examine Matthew.
53. Then you have to cross-examine Mark.
54. Then you have to pick up Luke.
55. The you come to John.
56. Then James.
57. What would you have to do to convince your brother you were the Son of God. James was stoned because he believed his brother was the Lord.
58. Then explain Paul.
59. You can’t dismantle faith talking about Jesus. The only way to dismantle these witnesses one by one.
60. The most important date to remember as a Christian is A.D. 70.
61. Tether your faith and your people to event that sparked the movement.
62. Not only can we do this, we must do this.
63. When people understand the uncluttered Gospel, they lean and figure it out because everyone needs a Savior.
64. What is the fate of the next generation worth?  It is worth everything and God and entrusted it with us to get this right.

Once again, I want to make it easy to honor your pastor this month.  Click HERE or on the image provided and download this done-for-you script.  Your Board chair or congregational leader can read it in the service.  Trust me, few things will honor your pastor more.