NYLC General Session

In transparent honesty, this message is NOT the way most conferences are opened...much less, most LEADERSHIP conferences. But I'm concerned about an emerging leadership culture that focuses more on our RIGHTS than on our RESPONSIBILITIES. That focuses more on GRACE than it does on GODLINESS. A leadership culture that happily makes people SUPERSTARS if they're good speakers, funny enough, and have enough "cool trappings." A culture where caring for people is marginalized...where being a true SHEPHERD is an afterthought...and where the term "holiness" is usually muffled, for fear of being viewed as LEGALISTIC.

So at the risk of being misunderstood and even a little categorized as "old school, "This message is one of the most FULFILLING, LIFE-GIVING, HEART-THUMPING....BUT DEMANDING PRINCIPLES I have ever found in the Word of God. And I think it's particularly important in today's leadership culture. It's the paradox of the Kingdom: "to be truly FREE, I must first choose in some way, to be BOUND."

This is one principle that I fear is PAINFULLY OVERLOOKED in today's Christian leadership circles. It's taken from Exodus 21: 2-6, simply titled, "I Will Not Go Out Free!"

Lovingly,