#5 – I was known more for what I attacked rather than what I built up!
#6 – I boasted in the knowledge that I possessed and looked down on those whom I perceived did not know as much as me.
#7 – I could not acknowledge anything that the Lord might have been doing that did not fit into my system of the way I believed God should do things (read Matthew 28:11-15, these guys, after hearing about the resurrection by eyewitnesses, tried to suppress the story rather than being amazed by it!).
I can literally remember a group of guys I was hanging out with in the mid 90s who were always bashing Bill Hybels, so I joined in and began to talk about this church up in Chicago that was “compromising the Gospel.”
Then I went to a conference and heard him live, then I read some books by him, and then I made a discovery that Bill Hybels had more people in his restrooms between services every Sunday than all of us had in our churches combined…and then I discovered that God worked outside of the framework of my mind!!!
That was one of the most sobering realities I’ve ever had to deal with…and I am so thankful for Bill Hybels and what the Lord has used him and Willow Creek to accomplish! If you are a church planter, you should know that Bill Hybels and Rick Warren took some bullets years ago that we do not have to take today because they were willing to endure the pain!
#8 – I did not mind throwing out false accusations against those whom I felt were not getting it right! (John 8:48-51)
