When No One's Looking

Tonight is our next Elder Meeting here at Grace Church. As we enter the 2008 year of ministry, we as an Elder Board will be doing more than the important task of handling church business. We will also be using our times together for deepening relationships with each other and for providing further accountability.

Our Elder Chairman, John Kegarise, will be leading our board through Bill Hybel’s book, Who You Are When No One’s Looking. This is a book that focuses on choosing consistency and resisting compromise. I will be passing out a copy of this 113 page book to each of the Elders tonight and we will begin digging into it starting in January.

We are all at our best when it counts. But what are we like when no one else is looking? That’s where character comes in – being consistent even when it doesn’t seem to matter. Through this book we will focus on ten key concepts:

Character: Preserving endangered qualities

Courage: Overcoming crippling fears

Discipline: Achieving success through delaying gratification

Vision: Looking beyond the obvious

Endurance: Crashing through quitting points

Tender Love: Walking in someone else’s moccasins

Tough Love: Insisting on truth in relationships

Sacrificial Love: Giving without giving out

Radical Love: Breaking the hostility cycle

The Character of Christ

These character qualities are quickly becoming endangered. All too often we hear of marriages falling apart, governments lying, businesses cheating and scandals rocking the church. But with God’s guidance and strength we can maintain character that lasts despite temptations and troubles. So if you want, why not go out and get yourself a copy of Hybel’s book and study it on your own this year as well. If nothing else, please take time throughout the New Year to pray for our Elder Board here at Grace Church that we would be men of character, not only when we are in front of our church and community, but that we would have just as much character even when no one else if looking.