Quotes from Andy Stanley

What you fear most will determine whether you merely save for the future or give for the future.

Our tendency is to pray for miracles. But in most situations, it is more appropriate to pray for opportunities.

But leadership is not always about getting things done "right." Leadership is about getting things done through other people. Leaders miss opportunities to play to their strengths because they haven't figured out that great leaders work through other leaders, who work through others. Leadership is about multiplying your efforts, which automatically multiplies your results.

As leaders, we are never responsible for filling anyone else's cup. Our responsibility is to empty ours.

Delegation—either to time or to other people.… Transferring responsibility to other skilled and trained people enables you to give your energies to other high-leverage activities. Delegation means growth, both for individuals and for organizations.

The people closest to you routinely catch the flak thrown off by the explosive stuff you normally work so hard to keep hidden.

Think about this for a moment. What would happen if you were to begin speaking to people's potential rather than their performance? What if you made it a habit to dispense the same type of grace to others as has been poured out on you? What would happen if you intentionally laced your conversations with notions of what could be true of the people around you?

What kind of vision are you casting for the people around you? Dad, what kind of vision are you casting for your children? Mom, what kind of vision are you casting for your husband? Grandparent, what about those grandkids? Leader, what kind of personal visions are you casting for the people who have invested their time and talents in your vision?

It is next to impossible to hear the voice of wisdom if we are not really listening for it to begin with. The best counsel in the world is wasted counsel if our minds are already made up.

Our nation's challenges do not stem from the church's inability to convince unbelievers to behave like believers. Our challenges stem from the church's inability to inspire believers to behave like believers.

One of our pastors, John Hambrick, has a saying that we've adopted organization-wide. He says, "We walk toward the messes." In other words, we don't feel compelled to sort everything or everyone out ahead of time. We are not going to spend countless hours creating policies for every eventuality.

People who were nothing like him liked him. And Jesus liked people who were nothing like him.