You've seen the man. Amid his regalia of red, white, and blue, he points a bony finger directly into your line of vision, shatters your complacency with his piercing stare, and shouts his message without saying a word: "Uncle Sam Needs You." Compelling figure that he is, his lavish guarantees of seeing the world, on-the-job training, and career security do not move more than a handful of people to cross his threshold and sign on the dotted line. Lack of patriotism? Uninformed about the needs? Faulty recruitment? Who knows? But somehow, despite his panorama of persuasion, Uncle Sam often fails to recruit.

The church and Uncle Sam face a common dilemma-enlisting recruits. Although there are any number of reasons why Uncle Sam has to work hard at it, one cannot help but ask why the church, of all places, suffers from an acute case of manpower anemia. Why is it that recruitment is often listed as the number one source of frustration for the Christian education director? Why do many leaders ...