Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

<div><b>DR. CRAWFORD LORITTS'</b> ministry has given him the opportunity to travel throughout the United States and much of the world, speaking in churches, evangelistic outreaches, conferences, colleges, and seminaries. He has been a church planter, served for twenty-seven years on the staff of Cru (Campus Crusade for Christ) and for fifteen years as Senior Pastor of Fellowship Bible Church in Roswell, Georgia. He is the author of nine books including <i>Your Marriage Today...and Tomorrow</i>, co-authored with his wife, Karen; and the host of two national radio programs, <i>Living a Legacy</i> and <i>Legacy Moments</i>. As President and Founder of <a href="Beyond Our Generation.com" target="_blank">Beyond Our Generation.com</a>, Crawford is committed to encouraging, mentoring, and helping to shape the next generation of Christian leaders.</div>

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LEADERSHIP AS AN IDENTITY

Moody Publishers

Contents

Another Book on Leadership?....................................9Special Thanks.................................................15Chapter 1: On Assignment from God..............................19Section One: BrokennessChapter 2: A Desperate Need for God............................33Chapter 3: Surrendering to God.................................43Chapter 4: Falling into Sin....................................53Chapter 5: The Strength of Weakness............................61Chapter 6: Seasons of Brokenness...............................73Section Two: Uncommon CommunionChapter 7: His Resources.......................................87Chapter 8: His Presence........................................103Chapter 9: His Direction.......................................115Section Three: Servanthood as an IdentityChapter 10: Authentic Humility.................................129Chapter 11: The Dignity of Serving.............................143Chapter 12: The Power of Sacrifice.............................157Section Four: Radical, Immediate ObedienceChapter 13: Staying in the Game................................169Chapter 14: Enduring the Challenge.............................183Chapter 15: The Legacy of Faithfulness.........................195Notes..........................................................206

Chapter One

All of us have at one time or another been embarrassed because we've made a wrong assumption. For example, when Bryndan, our youngest son, was a teenager, I disciplined him for something that I just knew he had done. In fact I was so sure that he had done it that I wouldn't even allow him to give me an explanation. Based on the circumstances and his past behavior, I couldn't possibly be wrong, and I wasn't about to let him off the hook. So I lowered the boom! I put him on restriction and told him that I hope he learned his lesson.

But as it turned out, I was the one who needed to learn a lesson. Our oldest daughter came to me and explained what really happened and let me know that he didn't do what I thought he did. I was embarrassed, and I had to apologize to my son.

As I look back on this experience, it's obvious that I made a wrong assumption based on the wrong information. I didn't have a clear picture of what was going on-I had the wrong perspective. I disciplined my son because I thought I saw behavior that was consistent with what I had seen in the past. If I had let him give me his explanation and then checked it out, I would have seen it in a different light.

I needed to get a different perspective in order to come to an accurate assessment, a right conclusion.

In the same way, we need the right perspective as we approach the subject of leadership. This sounds so simple, and the influence of our culture is so pervasive that few of us take the time to question just how modern ways of thinking cloud our minds and warp our view of true biblical leadership.

For example, as a young man I had the privilege of meeting a Christian leader whom I greatly admired. I enjoyed spending time with him, but the more I listened to him, the more concerned I became. At one point he said, "When people begin to recognize you and you get to where I am at, there's a lot of leverage in the authority I have."

It rattled me-here was a man whom God had used over the years to lead people into His kingdom, and now it seemed like he was more concerned with exerting his power and influence than he was about following God's priorities. There was a hollow ring to his words-his ministry was focused too much on him. After I left him I prayed, "God, don't let me be like him."

KEY PERSPECTIVES ON LEADERSHIP

As I have watched, read, studied, interacted with leaders, and experienced leadership through more than thirty-five years of ministry, I have come to embrace a few guiding, fundamental perspectives concerning distinctively Christian leadership. These perspectives in my mind represent a starting point that will be very helpful in our approach to leadership. There are five of them.

First, we must fight the encroaching secularization both of Christianity in general and Christian leadership in particular. As leaders we ought to be students of our culture, but we need to be discerning. We must learn to recognize worldviews and approaches that are human-centered rather than God-centered. Yes, by all means passionately search for principles and approaches that will help us advance His cause, but in the process let's make sure that we edit our findings through the grid of the Word of God.

The word "secular" comes from the Latin, meaning nonsacred. To be secular means that you don't believe God is foundational-He is not at the center. It doesn't necessarily mean that you are an atheist or agnostic. It just means that God is pushed out to the edges of consideration, and day-to-day operations are done from priorities and philosophies that reflect a human-centered agenda rather than a God-centered one.

We live in a Western culture that worships materialism and achievement. In our businesses and even in our churches, we think something is wrong if we aren't meeting our quarterly or yearly growth projections. We measure success by how much money we bring in or by how many people fill our worship services and Sunday school classes. This man-centered philosophy cannot help but influence our view of leadership. We look for leaders who can achieve the type of growth we expect, but we don't consider whether or not that growth reflects God's priorities.

There is a powerful, almost irresistible undertow that comes with worldly success. Over the years I've observed an unsettling pattern among many leaders who develop a track record as a "winner." When they hear people applaud them and tell them how wonderful they are ... when high-profile people take and return their calls ... when they begin believing they are something special ... the success puffs them up and makes them into something different and unpleasant.

As leaders we want to get things done; we want results. And we should! This gives us a bent toward the pragmatic. However, we need to make sure that the truths and approaches we import and adopt are not contaminated. They should be consistent with what the Scriptures teach. The Word of God should be the rule, the standard for everything we are and do. What we believe, how we think, and how we act should be governed by our biblical framework.

Second, as a result of adopting human-centered values, we've made too much of leadership. I can hear you saying, "Then why are you writing this book?" and "Didn't you just say in the introduction that nothing of lasting value ever happens without leadership?"

Remember that my purpose for this book is to call us back to what the Bible emphasizes as core to true Christian leadership. And though leadership is crucial, it was never meant to be a status symbol or a personal statement of worth and value. The one who leads is no more important than the person who faithfully serves in obscurity. We have all been created in the image of God and given work to do. It is not the position that adds value to us as people-we were created with value and worth.

In our culture we...