The Leadership Baton
An Intentional Strategy for Developing Leaders in Your Church
- Church Leadership & Ministry
- Publisher: Zondervan Reflective (Zondervan)
- Published: 2007
FritzSearch.com earns a commission on purchases made through Bookshop.org links.
Publisher's Description
The demand for quality leaders constantly outstrips the supply. If you’re a pastor, team leader, staff member, or board member, you’re always challenged with a leadership shortage. But what can you do about it? More than you’ve ever imagined. The Leadership Baton equips you with a solution that’s time-proven and right at hand: church-based leadership development. More and more churches are adopting it, and no wonder—the principles that made the early church such a spiritual powerhouse are just as effective today. Leadership was never a matter of institutional learning or professional expertise. Rather, starting with Jesus and his apostles, it involved seasoned leaders passing the baton to ordinary people right within the local body of believers. That same approach can help ensure your own church is never at a loss for dependable men and women to enter the leadership race with wisdom, vision and passion. Drawing on the field-tested expertise of the Center for Church Based Training, The Leadership Baton will help you get the leaders you need up and running, developing leadership qualities they can in turn hand off to other up-and-coming leaders. Part 1 casts a vision for church-based leadership training—not merely a program, but a leadership development culture based on biblical and historical foundations. Part 2 presents a whole-life approach to leadership development that is wisdom-based (through courses), relationship-based (through the church community), and personal (through mentoring). Part 3 describes a comprehensive plan for leadership development, then breaks it down to target the needs of governing boards, emerging leaders, pastoral staffs, and interns. With discussion questions at the end of each chapter, this book concludes with two appendices, including a self-inventory for church leaders to help them assess their personal strengths and weak areas that need development. Put the principles in The Leadership Baton to work with patience, and in time your church will never lack the right people at the right time to help it fulfill its kingdom mission.
Endorsements (9)
“No vision for leadership development proves to be more holistic and effective than church-based training. While many have seen the need for anchoring the training of future church leaders in the church, no one I know has been as dedicated to finding a workable model as this capable team of Forman, Jones, and Miller. This is not a theory that might work but one that has worked in the various churches these men have led. The church worldwide will be stronger as a result of applying the principles of The Leadership Baton.”
“by men who have served alongside me—and each other—in developing what we believe is a biblical and practical strategy for developing leaders in the local church. What they write is not just theory; they are practitioners. Though at various stages along the way I have been their mentor, all three authors have served as key leaders in my own life.”
“church-wise” practitioners place the emphasis for leadership development precisely where it belongs—on the local church! A highly practical, biblically sound approach to what we must be about—the training of church leaders.”
“The Leadership Baton is a manual on developing godly church leaders written by three men who are committed to the spiritual health of the local church. Forman, Jones, and Miller are not “armchair” leaders. Their lives intersect with church life at every turn. This book reflects their passion to help every church leader impact followers by using biblical principles.”
“In one volume the authors have identified and responded to a myriad of leadership training issues. The result is a highly practical and comprehensive blueprint for leadership development in the local church. Inspirational and challenging reading!”
“In recent decades we’ve witnessed the rediscovery of church-based evangelism, community, and spirituality. Now, thanks to resources like The Leadership Baton, church-based leadership development is no longer an idle dream—it is becoming an emerging reality.”
“The Leadership Baton pioneers the much-needed integration of character development, academic studies, and grassroots experience in the formation of leaders for our churches. This is a very practical, helpful book, authored by people who have effectively worked out in their own experience everything they’ve written about.”
“After interacting with the authors for over a decade, I know firsthand their praiseworthy passion, portable principles, and persistent practice related to developing leadership in the local church. Apply the teaching of this book, and you will ensure the maturing of your local church and the expansion of Christ’s kingdom on earth throughout the next generation.”
“This new movement known as church-based training promises to return Christian ministry to biblical patterns of leadership development. The Leadership Baton shows how to develop leaders within the church for ministry in the twenty-first century.”
See something wrong on this page? Report a problem