Andy Stanley
From northpoint.org:
North Point Ministries is the parent organization of North Point Community Church, Buckhead Church, Browns Bridge Community Church, North Point Resources, and several strategic partners. Our mission is to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. We do so by creating environments where people are encouraged and equipped to pursue intimacy with God, community with insiders, and influence with outsiders.
Andy Stanley is the son of Charles Stanley, the well known pastor of First Baptist of Atlanta, who eschewed the shadow of his father and denominational pastorship, creating North Point Community Church (NPCC), serving 20,000 people on any given Sunday. Since its founding in 1995, NPCC has grown to three campuses, several partner churches, and a ministry program that offers a wide range of tools, aimed to equip other churches in their ministry.
North Point ministry includes unique and specialized environments: the Foyer, the Living Room, and the Kitchen. The Foyer, like a foyer in a home, is the welcoming space. Sunday service is one example at North Point of a welcoming, Foyer space. The Living Room is where people gather to talk and connect. Everyone has a comfortable sheet. At NPCC, the Living Room is a series of gatherings aimed at providing opportunities to begin friendships. Finally, the Kitchen is the small group. It is the place where people can really connect and share in a safe place. These environments are unique in purpose and placement in an effort to uphold NPCC’s mission and vision. North Point offers a place for everyone, but especially for families. Andy Stanley’s vision for the church is driven by the kitchen, beginning in small groups, which are highly encouraged. In fact, the goal of the small group is to travel some life together, and then to break up and multiply into more groups.
Stanley has written a dozen books in addition to his sermons and conference talks. He serves a leading authority on leadership and the emerging church.
Communicating For a Change (Multnomah, 2006) (ISBN 1-59052-514-0)
Next Generation Leader (Multnomah, 2006) (ISBN 1-59052-539-6)
It Came From Within! (Multnomah, 2006) (ISBN 1-59052-510-8)
The Best Question Ever (Multnomah, 2004) (ISBN 1-59052-390-3)
Seven Practices of Effective Ministry (Multnomah, 2004) (ISBN 1-59052-373-3)
Creating Community (Multnomah, 2004) (ISBN 1-59052-396-2)
Louder Than Words (Multnomah, 2004) (ISBN 1-59052-346-6)
How Good Is Good Enough? (Multnomah, 2003) (ISBN 1-59052-401-2)
Choosing To Cheat (Multnomah, 2002) (ISBN 1-59052-329-6)
The Seven Checkpoints: Student Journal (Howard Books 2001) (ISBN 1-58229-178-0)
Visioneering (Multnomah, 1998) (ISBN 1-57673-787-X)
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Treading Water
Treading water is the first fundamental swim skills a new swimmer learns. Mainly, treading water is important as a holding pattern: even if you can’t swim, if you can manage to keep your head above and tread water, your chances of surviving in water are good. And so treading water is taught as a preventative measure for when one is in over her head.
I’m feeling like I’m treading water. I’m embarking upon a semester long adventure into the big wide world of leadership studies. Talk about biting off more than one can chew! People go to big name graduate schools for fancy sounding degrees, spending years of time and energy on this subject. What will I possibly be able to accomplish in a mere twelve weeks?! My first tendency is to view this project as an exercise in survival: Can she manage to walk away from twelve weeks of study having made any progress in understanding or synthesis? Oh, I hope so. But I also hope for more: I hope to push the conversation surrounding the relationship between leadership, leadership development, and the church. My aim is not to walk away from this semester with perfectly identified and completed answers, nor is it to be more confused by the ambiguity and multifaceted nature of leadership. Rather, my aim is to have explored and struggled, yet established a series of understandings that place parameters on the discussion of leadership and its role in the faith community, and provide boundaries for it.
I hope to make progress beyond treading water. The shore, while distant and illusive, is out there. And the journey to it is so more exciting and full of adventure than simply trying to stay afloat. Here’s to learning to swim.
I’m feeling like I’m treading water. I’m embarking upon a semester long adventure into the big wide world of leadership studies. Talk about biting off more than one can chew! People go to big name graduate schools for fancy sounding degrees, spending years of time and energy on this subject. What will I possibly be able to accomplish in a mere twelve weeks?! My first tendency is to view this project as an exercise in survival: Can she manage to walk away from twelve weeks of study having made any progress in understanding or synthesis? Oh, I hope so. But I also hope for more: I hope to push the conversation surrounding the relationship between leadership, leadership development, and the church. My aim is not to walk away from this semester with perfectly identified and completed answers, nor is it to be more confused by the ambiguity and multifaceted nature of leadership. Rather, my aim is to have explored and struggled, yet established a series of understandings that place parameters on the discussion of leadership and its role in the faith community, and provide boundaries for it.
I hope to make progress beyond treading water. The shore, while distant and illusive, is out there. And the journey to it is so more exciting and full of adventure than simply trying to stay afloat. Here’s to learning to swim.
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