{"id":10660,"date":"2010-04-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-04-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/2010\/04\/01\/youronlyauthority\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T22:26:58","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T22:26:58","slug":"youronlyauthority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/youronlyauthority\/","title":{"rendered":"Andy Stanley: Your Only Authority"},"content":{"rendered":"

That fact is, says Andy Stanley, people can leave whenever they desire. We have no way of forcing them to do what we want. Our only real power is the influence they grant us in their lives. And that influence will be destroyed if we live without integrity. That is why “moral authority” is so central to spiritual leadership. When people see a gap between what we say and what we do, it erodes our moral authority and ability to influence their lives. And once it’s gone, there isn’t a leadership principle in the world that is going to fill the void.<\/p>\n\n

This video clip is from our friends at Catalyst. You can view all their videos at the Catalyst Vimeo Channel<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That fact is, says Andy Stanley, people can leave whenever they desire. We have no way of forcing them to do what we want. Our only real power is the influence they grant us in their lives. And that influence will be destroyed if we live without integrity. That is why “moral authority” is so Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"tax_ctp_authors":[841],"tax_ctp_books":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[154],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[174],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[413],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[156],"tax_ctp_tags":[3458,3613,3761,4164,4264,4354,4498,4604,4606,4608,5046],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-10660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tax_ctp_authors-andy-stanley","tax_publications-leadership-journal","tax_ctp_tags-authenticity","tax_ctp_tags-church-leadership","tax_ctp_tags-dependence-on-god","tax_ctp_tags-honesty","tax_ctp_tags-integrity","tax_ctp_tags-leadership-styles","tax_ctp_tags-motivation","tax_ctp_tags-pastor","tax_ctp_tags-pastors-role","tax_ctp_tags-pastoral-care","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-formation"],"acf":{"scripture_references":null},"yoast_head":"\nAndy Stanley: Your Only Authority - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\""Everybody is a volunteer." Since anyone can leave at any time depending on the authenticity of our moral authority, that is how we should see those we lead - even the paid employees.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/youronlyauthority\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Andy Stanley: Your Only Authority - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\""Everybody is a volunteer." Since anyone can leave at any time depending on the authenticity of our moral authority, that is how we should see those we lead - even the paid employees.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/youronlyauthority\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-04-01T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-26T22:26:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/ogimage.png?resize=1200,628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andy Stanley\" \/>\n<meta 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