For the 12 years I’ve worked at Leadership, I have been asking pastors, “What do you really need?”
Usually near the top of the answers comes: “Trained lay leaders.”
There are never enough of them. Where do you find the time to train potential or existing leaders? What approach do you follow? Are there materials to help—something intelligent, not just fill-in-the-blank?
Thus, Leadership has been on a quest to develop a top-flight resource to help pastors train key leaders.
We launched Lay Leadership, an annual journal, in 1987. Several thousand churches used it during the next three years and liked it. But pastors told us, “A 142-page journal is too much for busy lay people to read.”
In response, we developed an easy-to-read, four-page newsletter, Ministry Team. When pastors began testing the prototype with their boards, they gave it good marks but said, “Give us more choice of topics.”
One day, while talking with two pastors about training lay leaders, I was feeling frustrated over our inability to get the resource just right. So I pressed them: “Be blunt—what do you really want to help you train lay leaders?” They told us. The perfect resource for training lay leaders would:
- give you abundant choice—of the topic, of the format, of the questions
- be thoroughly scriptural, so lay leaders learn to think biblically and strategically about the issues facing the church
- not require a separate, full-blown program but fit into what you are already doing (usually, a monthly board meeting plus an annual retreat)
- give you full ability to customize the materials for your unique setting
- save time and be easy to use.
All of those suggestions have come together in Building Church Leaders: Your Complete Guide to Leadership Training, a training notebook with more than 150 biblically-based handouts for training church leaders. I’ve never been more excited about a new resource for churches.
Building Church Leaders is one expression of our mission at Leadership: to provide you with honest and practical resources that encourage biblical faithfulness and pastoral effectiveness. Ministry is ever more challenging, and we will do whatever it takes to get you the high-quality resources you need. For example, this summer we’re releasing two CD-ROMs, “Today’s Best Illustrations” and “Today’s Best Sermons.” These come in direct response to what many of you have asked us for.
To make sure we (1) grow in our ability to serve you and (2) keep every resource at the highest quality, I’ve named Dave Goetz editor of Leadership Resources. If you have ideas for resources you need in ministry, write to him here).
I’ve also asked executive editor Marshall Shelley, my mentor and friend, to take the point leadership of Leadership. Marshall’s much-appreciated column, now on the back page, will move to this spot; my column will move to the back page.
I’ll still be actively, though less, involved in Leadership—in planning, some editing, and reading cartoons (a tough job). I will give increasing time to Leadership Resources and to new periodicals that strengthen the church and her leaders.
I feel excited about these changes, because they’ll allow us to serve you in new ways, and make Leadership even better.
Kevin A. Miller is editor of Leadership.
1998 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. For reprint information call 630-260-6200 or contact us.
