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Can You Drink This Cup?

We have a leadership crisis. But not the one we think.

When I was nine years old, a missionary visiting our gray Foursquare church put his hand on my head and loudly prophesied that I would become a church leader. I would, he said in a voice that filled the foyer, rise to face the church's "leadership crisis," and grow up to cross oceans, leading many sheep into the fold of God.

I don't remember much more than that (I was young, probably squirming awkwardly in one of my favorite grubby turtlenecks), but those words stuck with me.

Leadership crisis. I didn't understand what he meant, but it sounded like a problem. And I, according to this man from across the sea, was going to be part of the solution.

Break down

Today, I don't know what the heck to think of his words. But I came across them again a little while back.

A new survey from Barna (referenced in "A Missing Link in Christian Leadership") finds that 58 percent of Christians in America identify themselves as leaders, but 82 percent of the ...

March
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