Andy Stanley Quotations

Greed is not a financial issue. It's a heart issue.

What people pray for will tell you more than anything else whether they are locked into the vision and priorities of the church.

Leadership is all about taking people on a journey. The challenge is that most of the time, we are asking people to follow us to places we ourselves have never been.

Success means your options multiply. Size increases complexity, and complexity can confuse vision.

Uncertainty is a permanent part of the leadership landscape. It never goes away.

There will be very few occasions when you are absolutely certain about anything. You will consistently be called upon to make decisions with limited information. That being the case, your goal should not be to eliminate uncertainty. Instead, you must develop the art of being clear in the face of uncertainty.

Most of us wake up every day and make decision that will make us happy, and generally decisions that will make us happy right then in the moment or that day. We are not really on a truth quest.

As a pastor, I've spent 30 years talking to people and heard every kind of story imaginable.

When a plan or strategy fails, people are tempted to assume it was the wrong vision. Plans and strategies can always be changed and improved. But vision doesn't change. Visions are simply refined with time.

People pray in one direction but they walk in a different direction, and direction always determines where we end up.

Uncertainty is not an indication of poor leadership; it underscores the need for leadership.

The church wasn't an organization in the first century. They weren't writing checks or buying property. The church has matured and developed over the years. But for some reason, the last thing to change is the structure of leadership.

The issue is: how do you engage the audience? And one of the things I talk to our communicators about is: The outline is great; the stories are great. But how do you engage them? How do you make it feel like we are on a journey, not you are just up there giving me information.

Somehow, what's in our hearts, good or bad is eventually translated into words and deeds.

Guys that preach verse-by-verse through books of the Bible - that is just cheating. It's cheating because that would be easy, first of all. That isn't how you grow people. No one in the Scripture modeled that.

All Scripture is equally inspired, but not all Scripture is equally applicable or relevant to every stage of life.

God is a God of systems and predictability and order, and God honors planning.

People are not on a truth quest; they are on a happiness quest. They will continue to attend your church - even if they don't share your beliefs - as long as they find the content engaging and helpful.

If you're a preacher's kid, you see the church differently.

Preachers prepare with this fear: 'Am I going to be able to fill the time?' The audience never worries about that.

Communicators need to figure out how well do they engage people, and they should not talk one word longer than people are engaged.

You cannot communicate complicated information to large groups of people. As you increase the number of people, you have to decrease the complexity of the information.

Preaching on Sunday mornings is such a simple thing, and by complicating it, I think we all do ourselves and the audience a disservice. It is very simple. Here is the model: Make people feel like they need an answer to a question.

A principle is a principle, and God created all the principles.

It's better to make a difference than to make a point.

Your devotion to God is illustrated, demonstrated, and authenticated by your love for others.

A leader is someone who has the courage to say publicly what everybody else is whispering privately. It is not his insight that sets the leader apart from the crowd. It is his courage to act and speak up when everyone else is silent....are those who would rather challenge what needs to change and pay the price than remain silent and die on the inside.

Giving up something now for something better later is not a sacrifice. It is an investment.

Leaders who refuse to listen, will eventually be surrounded by people who have nothing helpful to say

At the end of the day, God's love for me, for you, and for the world is settled at the cross.

You have no idea the numbers of people that God may want to influence through you

There is no cramming for a test of character. It always comes as a pop quiz.

Blame enables us to smuggle our issues into our future.

Jesus is the hope of the world and the local church is the vehicle of expressing that hope to the world.

Here’s a question every angry man and woman needs to consider: How long are you going to allow people you don’t even like — people who are no longer in your life, maybe even people who aren’t even alive anymore — to control your life? How long?

When happiness points in one direction while wisdom, truth, integrity, and common sense point in another, that's when really smart people start doing really stupid things.

Any fear associated with giving to God's kingdom is irrational. It's on par with a farmer who, out of fear of losing his seed, refuses to plant his fields.

Dreamers dream about things being different. Visionaries envision themselves making a difference.

You have no idea what hangs in the balance of your decision on what to do with the burden God put in your heart.

The Church is a family expecting guests.

Direction, not intention determines your destination.

A good coach will evaluate your performance against your potential. A coach helps you measure your performance against your strengths instead of against someone else's. A coach will know what you are capable of and will push you to your limit.

The value of a life is always measured by how much of it is given away.

There is an appropriate way to use your story, not as an excuse but as a testimony to God's ability to free you from the past.

The most significant visions are not cast by great orators from a stage. They are cast at the bedsides of our children. The greatest visioncasting opportunities happen between the hours of 7:30 and 9:30 PM Monday through Sunday. In these closing hours of the day we have a unique opportunity to plant the seeds of what could be and what should be. Take every opportunity you get.

When I count other people's blessings I lose sight of mine.

If a man can predict his own death and resurrection, and pull it off, I just go with whatever that man says

Two things make a relationship providential: when we hear from God through someone and when we see God in someone.

It takes a habit to break a habit. You can pray every day for a generous heart, but until you start acting in that direction, nothing's going to change.

Good people don't go to heaven. Forgiven people go to heaven.

Here's a scary thought: What if God called you to give beyond your comfort level? Would you be afraid? Would you try to explain it away or dismiss it as impractical? And in the process, would you miss out on a harvest opportunity for which God had explicitly prospered you in the first place?

The Church must stop expecting outsiders to act like insiders while insiders act like outsiders.

Everything now will prepare you for the next step. Don't run from adversity; lean into it with all your heart and God will make you a leader worth following.

Success is remaining faithful to the process God has laid out for you.

Pencil in your plans but write your visions in ink

The starting block for people who are going to stay in love is mutual submission.

Past boldness is no assurance of future boldness. Boldness demands continual reliance on God's spirit.

God often showcases his power on the stage of human weakness.

If you capture someone's heart, you will eventually get his hands and feet as well.

It isn't about who is 'for' or 'against' you, it's about who you are for.

The God of Christianity never claims to be fair. He goes beyond fair. The Bible teaches that he decided not to give us what we deserve- that's mercy. In addition, God decided to give us exactly what we didn't deserve- we call that grace.

If you devote yourself to more than yourself ... you will have more than yourself to show for yourself.

Do you think God can be trusted? Or do yo think you need to take things into your own hands?

T-shirts create a sense of "We". Food says, "We don't mind spending money on you."

Grace is not reserved for good people; grace underscores the goodness of God.

If you see your brother in need, it doesn't matter if you already gave somewhere else. You should be open to the idea of God using you to meet your brother's unexpected need.

Next generation leaders are those who would rather challenge what needs to change and pay the price than remain silent and die on the inside

The greatest motivator of change is a crystal-clear vision of what the future should look like.

No matter how rich or poor you might feel, right now is the time to be generous.

Your friends will determine the quality and direction of your life.

You will never maximize your potential in any area without coaching. It is impossible. You may be good. You may even be better than everyone else. But without outside input you will never be as good as you could be.

The health of your marriage tomorrow will be determined by the decisions you make today.

Celebrate what God has given others. Leverage what God has given you.

In the shadow of my hurt, forgiveness feel like a decision to reward my enemy. But in the shadow of the cross, forgiveness is merely a gift from one undeserving soul to another.

People who blame things rarely change things. Blame is an unassailable change-avoidance strategy.

It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God

As long as you are carrying a secret, as long as you are trying to ease your conscience by telling God how sorry you are, you are setting yourself up to repeat the past.

Grace is inviting to the unrighteous and threatening to the self-righteous

Vision is a mental picture of what could be, fueled by a passion that it should be.

..the best strategy for giving is a two-fold approach: a basic plan combined with a willingness to consider spontaneous giving when unique opportunities arise.

It is when our hearts are stirred that we become most aware of what they contain.

A fool is a person who knows the difference between right and wrong, and chooses to do wrong.

What percentage should you give? I tell people to start with 10 percent because the Bible writers have a lot to say about the tithe, which means, "tenth." For some people, that's extremely uncomfortable. But so is a colonoscopy, and those save countless lives.

Telling someone they're wrong is not the same as leading or inspiring them to do what's right.

Leadership is stewardship, it's temporary and you're accountable!

As a leader it is your job to protect the missional integrity of the Jesus gathering to which you have been called. It is your responsibility to see to it that the church under your care continues as a gathering of people in process; a place where the curious, the unconvinced, the skeptical, the used-to-believe and the broken, as well as the committed, informed and sold-out come together around Peter's declaration that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone.

Peace is a fruit of the Spirit, not the byproduct of accumulated wealth.

Vions are born in the soul of a man or woman who is consumed with the tension between what is and what could be.

We hurt most who we love the most. Bad grammar, painful truth.

Imagine a world where unbelievers were critical of what we believed but envious of how well we treated one another.

Spiritual maturity is measured in terms of persevering faith, not perfect behavior

Knowledge alone makes Christians haughty. Application makes us holy.

A single act of courage is often the tipping point for extraordinary change.

Our fear of not mattering much has the potential to draw us away from what matters most.

As believers, we all have the responsibility to leverage our wealth for kingdom purposes.

Jesus never allowed His theology to get in the way of His ministry.

I want people to help me reanchor the church to undeniable, mind-boggling, culture-shifting demonstration of compassion and generosity. Because, generosity was the hallmark of the early church.

If a volunteer can help us with an immediate need, we can put them in a place to make their greatest contribution.

Appetites have only one word in their vocabulary - MORE. Appetites are never fully and finally satisfied. Even after the most satisfying meal imaginable, we eventually find ourselves rummaging through the pantry for a snack.