Painted on squad cars of many police departments is the motto: "To serve and to protect." The calling for pastors is similarly twofold: to serve and to lead.

Two noble tasks. But those two aspects of the pastoral calling don't always mesh smoothly. Some people want you to be more of a leader—until they disagree with something you've done. Then they suggest you should be more of a servant.

Leadership sat down with three pastors who've had extensive experience in serving, leading, and figuring out how to do both simultaneously.

Leith Anderson pastors Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, has served as interim president of Denver Seminary and the National Association of Evangelicals, and has written Leadership that Works and A Church for the 21st Century.

Erwin McManus, after planting churches among the urban poor in Texas, is lead pastor of Mosaic, a congregation in Los Angeles, and author of Uprising: A revolution of the soul, An Unstoppable Force: Daring to become the church God had ...