In the first session of the conference, Andy Stanley talked about moral authority. His text was Nehemiah 5:6-18. He explained how Nehemiah had lived righteously for years and years. So when it came time for him to lead, people trusted him.

When we become adults, most people who influence us do not have authority over us. Bosses & managers might have authority, but most of the other people don't have authority over us, yet they influence us.

In the church world, leaders are to influence people that they don't have authority over. We are trying to influence people who won't work really hard just to keep their jobs. This means that we must have "moral authority" in order to influence. People must trust us. They must desire to be influenced.

We have moral authority when we do what we say. Once they see any discrepancy between what we say and what we do, we lose influence over them.

So I'm asking myselff these questions:
1. What am I asking people to do that I'm not doing?
2. As a church leadership, what discrepancies between "what we say" and "what we do" could be noticed by HP people? Neighborhood people?
3. What would my wife, kids and closest friends say about this?

Here is what I'm going to do on this one (and I encourage you to do the same):
1. Pray & listen about the above questions.
2. Ask some people close to me if they see discrepancies in my life.