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• Challenge 9: Where Are the Leaders?
  
  The people who fill the positions of leadership in churches today are, for the most part, teachers—good people, lovers of God, well-educated, gifted communicators—but not leaders. They do not have or understand vision. They are incapable of motivating and mobilizing people around God's vision. They fail to direct people's energies and resources effectively and efficiently. For the church to become strong again, we must heed the guidance of the leaders God has called and gifted for that purpose, while growing through the focused teaching of those who are gifted to explicate his Word and its profound implications for our lives.
  
  

—Condensed from Barna's The State of the Church: 2002 (Issachar).

Copyright © 2002 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Also appearing on our site today:

The Third Coming of George BarnaHe believes his ten-year campaign to reform the church has failed. What is evangelicals' most-quoted statistician going to do next?

The official site of Barna Research includes research archives, ministry resources, and more information.

Barna's The Second Coming of The Church, User Friendly Churches, The Power of Vision, Boiling Point, and The Habits of Highly Effective Churches are available at Christianbook.com. Frog in the Kettle is available at Amazon.com.

Reviews of Barna's books in Christianity Today sister publications include:

Barna's Kettle is BubblingAfter ten years, this frog is well done. (Leadership Journal, Spring 2001)

Barna & BaileyThe Greatest Research Show on Earth? (Books & Culture, May 22, 2000)

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August 5 2002, Vol. 46, No. 9