The Church is not giving rise to many leaders. In fact, we aren't finding enough younger leaders to replace retiring Boomers. Again this week, I got a call from a good friend, a great pastor (age 59) who asked if I knew any young leaders to recommend as his eventual successor. As he put it, "We've talked for years about getting someone to follow me; oops!"

I do NOT believe the current lack of leaders-on-the-horizon is a generational phenomenon. It's not as though pastors have been generating a surplus of leaders over the last 30 years. Instead, they've been praying for God to send ready-made leaders to them. As a pastor whose modest-size church daughtered 37 congregations over 22 years, may I share my perspectives about finding and releasing leaders?

First of all, I never understood church as a place where believers go primarily to worship and be fed. Those are vital components, but church is a training venue to prepare believers for practical and spiritual ministry to people of world (Acts ...