For a marriage relationship to flourish, there must be intimacy. It takes an enormous amount of courage to say to your spouse, 'This is me. I'm not proud of it - in fact, I'm a little embarrassed by it - but this is who I am.
Bill HybelsLife is too short and the world too compassion-starved for you to keep subsisting in situations that drag you down and curtail your potential to help advance the Kingdom. There's just too much at stake.
Bill HybelsJesus is not directing the angelic choir, taking long naps, or doing crossword puzzles. He is completely focused on building his church, the hope of the world.
Bill HybelsGod didn't make you a leader to respond to stuff all day. He made you a leader to move things forward.
Bill HybelsThe mark of community is not the absence of conflict. It's the presence of a reconciling spirit.
Bill HybelsIt's incredible to realize that what we do each day has meaning in the big picture of God's plan
Bill HybelsIt's a huge responsibility to have influence and to steward it in a way that leads to God-honoring leadership.
Bill HybelsIf the request is wrong, God says, No. If the timing is wrong, God says, Slow. If you are wrong, God says, Grow. But if the request is right, the timing is right and you are right, God says, Go!
Bill HybelsTen years ago, 15 years ago, I think the church would have been asleep at the switch. This level of activism and engagement with the needs of society by local churches I never thought I'd see it in my lifetime.
Bill HybelsVisionary people face the same problems everyone else faces; but rather than get paralyzed by their problems, visionaries immediately commit themselves to finding a solution.
Bill HybelsReligion is spelled 'D-O', because it consists of the things people do try to somehow gain God's forgiveness and favor. But the problem is that you never know when you've done enough. But thankfully, Christianity is spelled differently. It's spelled 'D-O-N-E', which means that what we could never for ourselves, Christ has already done for us. To become a real Christian is to humbly receive God's gift of forgiveness and to commit to following His leadership.
Bill HybelsMore than anything, people want the reality of the discussion at hand. If what is going on in that building is the real thing, if the transforming love and power of Jesus Christ is being experienced, you can sit on a metal folding chair or in a plush theater seat.
Bill HybelsIf you’re a serious minded leader, you will read. You will read all you can. You will read when you feel like it, and you will read when you don’t. You will do whatever you have to do to increase your leadership input, because you know as well as I do that it will make you better.
Bill HybelsWe made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become 'self feeders.' We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between service, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.
Bill HybelsYou can never underestimate the amount of energy and frequency you must give to vision casting. You can never underestimate it.
Bill HybelsOne of the greatest joys of leadership is assembling and knitting together teams of fantastic people.
Bill HybelsPrayerless people cut themselves off from God's prevailing power, and the frequent result is the familiar feeling of being overwhelmed, overrun, beaten down, pushed around, defeated. Surprising numbers of people are willing to settle for lives like that.
Bill HybelsReligion is spelled DO. Christianity is spelled DONE. One endlessly works to earn love. The other simply receives it!
Bill HybelsEffective leaders do not fear passion. They welcome it. But from time to time passionate discussions digress into personal attacks, and real people get really hurt. In my view, leaders must head that off before it happens.
Bill HybelsThe nature of human beings is such that we tend not to drift into better behaviors. We usually have to be asked by someone to consider taking it up a level.
Bill HybelsThe Church will never reach her full redemptive potential until men and women with the leadership gift step up and lead.
Bill HybelsDestructive fear must be stopped in its tracks or it will undermine the life God invites us to live.
Bill HybelsThe more varied the environments in which you exercise your leadership gift, the stronger that gift will become. You will become a far more effective leader.
Bill HybelsAuthentic Christians are persons who stand apart from others. Their character seems deeper, their ideas fresher, their spirit softer, their courage greater, their leadership stronger, their concerns wider, their compassion more genuine and their convictions more concrete.
Bill HybelsYou can live and lead small, live and lead safe, live and lead selfishly, or you can pursue a grander vision.
Bill Hybels