Squandering Leadership Potential?
by Lovett H. Weems, Jr.

The Washington Post recently published a series of in-depth stories on each of the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates. The feature article on former Baptist pastor and Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee appeared in the December 15, 2007 edition of the paper. The front-page story giving the narrative of Huckebee’s life began with an eye-catching large-print quotation:

Huckabee’s decision to enter the ministry, announced before his senior year of high school, disappointed a number of admiring teachers and classmates. Why would he squander such obvious leadership potential, they asked, to be a preacher?

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VIGNETTE

Call Me Pastor Amanda
By Amanda Ross

I am a Licensed Local Pastor, 27 years old and in seminary. Being a first-time pastor and learning how to define myself as the pastor in two rural churches can be quite difficult. On the one hand, I think it is important for the congregations to respect my authority as the pastor; but at the same time I understand that these small churches have been around longer than I have been alive. I want to be sensitive to local customs while claiming my pastoral role.

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Leaders do not need answers.
Leaders must have the right questions.

Some find it helpful to use this question at the end of a meeting.

What is the big issue, impression, or learning
that you are taking away from this meeting?

Editors:  Lovett H. Weems, Jr. and Ann A. Michel
Production and distribution:  Joe Arnold

Copyright © 2008 by the G. Douglass Lewis Center for Church Leadership. Leading Ideas material may be freely distributed with attribution (exclusive of material protected by separate copyright).