From the Archives: This is the 7th most read post of 201o.
BTW…This is a perfect warm up to Drive 11. You coming?
One of the most common questions I get about working at North Point is
“How is working for Andy?”
I don’t really know how to answer that question…
First of all, I don’t know if “for” is the preposition I would use when describing it. In one hand, when looking in from the outside, there is no doubt who the “bossman” is organizationally. But “working for” is not how to describe it.
That being said, I don’t know which preposition I would use. So, I figured I would take a few days and just let you in on some reasons that I wouldn’t use the word “for”…maybe we can figure out what preposition to use together.
Reason #1: He has no parking space.
Nowhere on the property is there a sign that saves his parking spot or proclaims his awesomeness. Our church sign shows no hint that it’s Andy Stanley’s church and you have to search hard to find a picture of him in the building. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with any of those things at other churches or any other pastors who do these things. I’m saying, as a guy who works “for” Andy…I like that. I’ve learned from that. I try to lead like that.
Reason #2: It rarely gets weird.
If you have led in an organization for any period of time you realize that things can get weird. Every once in a while a decision has to be made and what’s right for the program rubs up against the politics of an organization. All of Andy’s family is in my ministry either volunteering or taking part. If weirdness is going to happen, it’s going to happen in my world. In 4.5 years of working here I’ve only felt like I couldn’t do something I needed to do once. I can’t tell you the details of the decision but I can tell you…It got weird. Then, 15 minutes into that weirdness I ran into him coming out of the office. He must have sensed it so he asked how it was going. I told him I was struggling with it and he let me off the hook encouraging me to keep doing what I was doing. 15 minutes of weird in 4.5 years…I’ll take it.
