I Am a Follower: The Way, Truth, and Life of Following Jesus

by Leonard Sweet

“FOLLOW ME.”These two words echo the heart-defining call of our Lord Jesus Christ to his disciples. Sadly, this life-changing invitation has lost much of its original meaning. Immersed in a society that worships success, we have succumbed to a trendyfixation with leadership. In I Am a Follower, author Leonard Sweet explains how Christians in a twenty-first-century corporate-obsessed culture have shifted away from a Jesus art of following toward a popularized form of leading.Through a colorful mélange of practical applications, imaginative metaphors, and probing biblical exposition based in gospel truth, Sweet reveals that the summons of Jesus and the message of the New Testament point clearly to an emphasis not on imitation but on incarnation, not on leading but on following.Join Sweet on an exciting and intentional journey from leadership cult to followership culture. Discover for yourself the way, the truth, and the abundantlife of following Jesus Christ and what it truly means to “Follow Me”!“At times I felt like I was reading Jeremiah, challenging the shepherds of Israel. This is a much needed and long overdue book.”—BOB ROBERTS, senior pastor, Northwood Church“If there was ever a leader who could convince me that it’s really never been about leading, that would have to be Len Sweet. May we all, like Len, become followers.”—MARK BATTERSON, lead pastor, National Community Church

Genres: Leadership, Theology, Christian Living, Nonfiction, Christian, Discipleship, Church

306 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 3, 2012

About the author

Leonard I. Sweet is an author, preacher, scholar, and ordained United Methodist clergyman currently serving as the E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Drew Theological School, in Madison, New Jersey; and a Visiting Distinguished Professor at George Fox University in Portland, Oregon.

Reviews

[Daniel Schwabauer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic, provocative, enlightening and entertaining. Sweet uses stories, quotes, anecdotes, reason, conscience, and most importantly, the words of Jesus, to challenge the cult of leadership and call believers back to life-changing followership.

[Adam Shields · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short review: The basic thesis is simple. The church should be teaching people how to follow Jesus, not how to be leaders. I like Sweet. He is one of the smartest, widest read Christian thinkers out there. His books are always very quotable and I almost always think his thesis is basically right. But he needs an editor to cut out some of the fluff (30-50 pages here). And I think he has a tendency to over play the point. But I really do think that he is right about this. His prescription is that we need to be more focused on intentional discipleship within community, on the process of becoming sanctified and not on the event of salvation, and more on the organic nature of Christianity and less on the technology/organization of the church (those are all my words, not his).

My longer review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/follower/

[David Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

This post has been way too long in coming. I read the new book by Leonard Sweet called I am a Follower the week it came out, but I have had a lot going on and I am just now getting up a review. Sorry Len!

My above the fold statement about this book is: if you are a church leader, seminary student, or wanna be church leader, get this book and mark it up.

I have seen too many pastors adopt a corporate CEO mindset. They have to in some cases. Megachurch pastors have a staff the size of a small or medium-sized church and are running the equivalent of a corporation. Others just adopt the mindset because the megachurch pastors have done this. Since we define success by size, and we all want to be successful, we adopt their mindset. It only makes sense, right? And yes, my tongue is firmly planted in my cheek.

Sadly, this model of church leadership elevates the church’s CEO to rock star status. Rock stars have groupies. Groupies hang on every word and follow all instructions given and buy everything the rock star puts out. I’ve been a groupie myself, so I know how it works. The problem with being a groupie is that you spend so much time adopting the thoughts and actions of the rock star, you forget who you are. It’s hard to be an organic and contextual pastor who is a groupie of another pastor.

The ministry of Jesus was not about him being a rock star. It was not even so much about his God-ness, though He came to be the tabernacle of the most high and the one who exegeted God. He set that aside for a season to show us what it meant to be truly human, to be the person we were designed to be in the Garden. It was to be a servant, a suffering servant for that matter. And he reminded all who followed him that not only would he suffer, but if they wanted to follow him, they would suffer. And they would need to set their interests aside and let Christ live through them.

The disciples would follow in this path. They were not the star of the show, God was. Jesus modeled and reminded them that they would be the folks in charge of the hose and rags that would remove the mud from people’s feet. Not only would they be servants of the Most High but they would also be servants of the most low…valued men and women and children who are broken and need the touch of the Master’s hand, the taste of the Master’s food, and the love from the Master’s heart. They were to take their directions from Jesus just as He took directions from God. They would not be the leader, but they would live that children’s game of Follow the Leader. And we must as well.

Christians need to be First Followers of Jesus, someone who choses to follow Jesus even when no one else does. The first follower is the one who sees Jesus working and takes the initiative to not only join him but to give others the freedom to join in because they took the risk first.

When we move and take the risk to follow Jesus and do what he tells us to do, we often find ourselves among a community of people who follow the lead of Jesus, not us. That is the importance of the term First Followers: the first follower doesn’t point to himself, but to the true leader – Jesus.

Though in the corporate world, everything may rise and fall on influence and leadership, in the church, everything rises and falls on the penetrating and transforming life of Jesus. We just need to find Him and follow Him and do what He tells us to do.

Unfortunately, pastors have adopted a leadership style of “do what I tell you to do” instead of a life that models leaving everything behind to follow Jesus. The result is that everyone is trying to get everyone else to do something, but little actually gets done. In addition, people are following the wrong leader. They are not listening to the Christ and doing what He tells them to do. They have become fans of the pastor, not followers of the Father.

Sadly this seems to be the dominant leadership style in churches today.

Unfortunately, this makes us no different than the culture around us. We enable celebrity-worship. We esteem those who make it to the top, to the largest churches and the biggest ministries. But, as we are finding in our churches and in our culture, this kind of leadership can be oppressive. It is not always indicative of someone who has left everything to follow Jesus but someone who is good at getting people to follow him or her.

Len, in only a way that he can, takes Jesus’ statement that he is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and places followership in an expansion of that statement. He leads the reader always back to the primacy of being in a relationship with Jesus because He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The only way to the Father is to follow the Father’s son, to follow in his footsteps, to be a first follower and to be a servant.

My only complaint about this book is that the kindle version severely limits the number of notes you get access to. There is so much great content here, but the publisher’s limits make me wish I had purchased the book in print. But that’s really a publishing issue, not a content issue.

Thanks Len for another challenging and inspiring book!

[Jennifer L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a Follower: The Way, Truth and Life of Following Jesus by Leonard Sweet makes some great points about how in the twenty-first century we find focus on leadership. Jesus didn't call us to leadership, He called us to follow. This book explores that theme. The author has some fantastic quotes in this book, and I often found myself reaching for a pen and notebook to jot some of them down. At the same time, I also felt the book was aimed more at those in church ministry positions than those of us who are just members of the church. While I realize this is to emphasize they should be followers and not focus on leading, it still felt a bit more like church leadership material than I would have liked.

That said, I did really enjoy this book. The quotes were fantastic. There were a lot of ideas that I will be thinking about for some time. This would make a great group study for a church board or group of pastors, especially from different churches as it would bring the focus on Jesus and not on denominational differences.

This book is divided into four parts: The Place, The Way, The Truth, The Life. After each section are "Interactives" (commonly known as discussion questions in other books) The other thing I didn't like about this book is the sections within these four parts were somewhat short and I am a reader who will sit down and read for an hour or more at a time, and this made the reading not flow quite as well for me. However, I realize others would very much like this because it allows for it to be digested in short bits.

Overall, I did very much enjoy this book and would recommend it to anyone in a church leadership position.

[Kj Gracie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've been really sick recently, and whilst I have been released from the hospital, the antibiotics I'm on make it really hard to stand up without falling over.

On the plus side, that means I've finally gotten around to finishing reading 'I am a Follower' by Leonard Sweet.

Jon Acuff says Christian books never have any content in the last 40% that hasn't already been summed up in the first 60%. It's a harsh statement, but honestly this book didn't have anything that hadn't been summed up nicely on the back cover.

I genuinely had high hopes for it when I asked booksneeze for a copy, but it was a real let down. Painfully basic, with far too many tenuous examples of every point. It seemed like it had been written especially to give as many snappy sermon quotes as possible with no consideration for how the paragraph would read as a whole.

I know I've been quite negative with my reviews recently, which is partly why I've been reluctant to post them, but I'm really hoping to hit that gem like 'Why God Just Won't Go Away' again.

[Werner J. Swart · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an awesome and refreshing take on the leadership-culture we have produced as the Church. Sweet hits the nail on the head when he argues for the abandonment of a CEO/Top Down-Leadership culture towards the embracing of a culture where all of us, no matter our "position", are following only One Leader Namely Christ. I think the former cripples us in such a big way and the latter is a much more Biblical approach since it requires true humility and creates earth-changing movements. The challenge remains: can Christ, through His Spirit truly and practically lead the Church through us or will we always need a substitute leader?

[Gretchen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good - I appreciate the message that Jesus wasn't necessarily looking for outgoing, social leaders.....He was looking for lost people, and people who would follow Him.

[D Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the Greatest Books I Have Ever Read!

Len Sweet is a futurist, sage, and shepherd of the soul. His words are timeless and his heart full of compassion. His writing inspires and nurtures the human spirit and brings us from where we are to where Jesus is calling us into. This book has radically altered my view of leadership and has made me a first follower, open to the winds of the Spirit trusting my Lord and Savior to lead me where he wants me to go. I had to repent as I was following copy Cat ideas and pasting stuff from gurus and others. Instead of radically pursuing the heart of God. Thank you Len for this treasure. I am eternally grateful.

[Christopher Cole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leonard Sweet pulls no punches

Celebrity is something that is celebrated in our culture all too often,and sometimes celebrities become leaders we look to. It even happens in the church. What Leonard Sweet does is call us back to our response to the invitation that Jesus gave all those who follow Him, and that is we follow Him. He is the leader. Business models don't provide relationship building or discipleship forging that helps form the basis for our faith, at least what it ought to be. This book makes it clear that the idea that anyone else can truly be the leader aside from Christ diminishes what the new life He offers is about. Excellent book, definitely recommend.

[Lee]

This is such a good book. I honestly think every Christian should read it, or at least discuss the concepts on a much larger scale. But there are some parts of the Christian culture that are more and more discussing and considering these ideas, and I honestly think that's going to be vital if we're going to have any sort of revival in the American church, even if it is eliminated as part of the culture.

[Bill Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first experience reading this author. This book strikes me as an extended meditation on John 14:6 with a chapter each devoted to the way", "the truth", and "the life". To me, each chapter can be read independently of the others because this book is more a montage of insights and reflections rather than a sustained, developed exegesis.

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book. The references to Trump had me looking at the publication date. I was surprised it was before he was elected. This guy sure doesn’t seem to like him. I felt those jabs at a real person were unnecessary and took away from the message some. I did like the overall message though.

[Tim Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another great book from Leonard Sweet. He explains how the church is looking for leaders, when they should be looking for followers of Jesus. Sweet does a great job explaining how the church needs to redirect its focus from being leaders, to being followers of Christ.

[Dr. Jason Frazier · Rating 5 out of 5]

A phenomenal book & MUST READ for every follower of Christ. This might very well be the most beautiful gift my leadership-book-saturated generation could ever hope for. Buy this, read it, & let it remind you of Christ’s call to follow Him.

[Vincent · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this author a lot.

[Jordan Gillette · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first book by the author, and I’m excited to read more of his work
Really challenging concepts in regards to how I approach “leading” people while I follow Jesus.

[Alex Burnett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful in the pursuit of a posture of humility where leaders are perpetually in fear of not being strong.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

In general, I have mixed feelings about Len Sweet’s books. A decade or so ago I would have told you to read his books. His books were then in high circulation for those who were ‘emerging’ from the swamp of 20th century mega-church Protestantism. Len Sweet was thoughtfully engaged with some of the trends that were happening in the church, especially in regard to the then buzzword, post-modernity. I loved Soul Tsunami and yes, there is a special place in my heart for Soul Salsa.

And then I completely lost interest in his books. He basically put out a decade of books on Christian Spirituality with suspect titles which didn’t appeal to me (like The Gospel According to Starbucks). Occasionally I would hear from friends tell me something Len Sweet said at a conference which just sounded Bizarre to me. Like when he says Jesus would tweet (Really? We know this?).

Last year I picked up Jesus Manifesto, the book he co-wrote with Frank Voila and thought that the two of them had some great things to say, so I am back to reading Len Sweet with appreciation. I think Len Sweet at his best calls us to creative fidelity to the gospel. He offers a rich engagement with the Christian tradition and the gospel and explores how the kingdom can seep more into our present context. When I don’t like his writing, I find it too slick, too much acronyms and alliteration and it seems like he is trying too hard to be relevant.



This book is Len Sweet at his best. He creatively and courageously takes on the Christian preoccupation with leadership (a preoccupation which he has contributed to, I might add) and rightly points out that the Christian life is more about followership than leadership. This is a sorely needed and overdue critique on the church in USAmerica and Sweet makes some great points. He challenges that the best-selling ‘Christian’ books are about leadership. He indicts the leadership culture for its glitz and chutzpah and glorification of people’s’ strengths when Jesus’s power is made perfect in our weakness. He gives practical advice on how to enter into the way of Jesus.

After introducing the theme of followership, Len Sweet organizes his meditations into three sections which explore what it means to follow Jesus: The Way, The Truth, The Life. The chapters are short and pithy, probably about 50 chapters if you total up the chapters in each section (they are not numbered). As you may expect, Sweet offers some interactive reflections at the end of each section in order for his readership to internalize his message more.

I found myself really liking this book and think it offers a good critique on how we Christians can sometimes want to lead, but are less thoughtful about how to follow Jesus. The brevity of each chapter makes this book ideal for devotional use. It may be an especially good devotional book for your bathroom.

The image that Sweet opens his book with, is this viral video from 2009, of a lone dancing man, another man who decides to dance with him and the impromptu big-crowd dance party which ensues. Sweet suggests that Jesus is the lone crazy dancer, but the one who incites the crowd to join in the dance, was the ‘first-follower,’ not the leader but one who followed. He suggests that if we want to see a new movement of God, we do not need the silver-bullet of leadership, as much as passionate followers.

Good point.

Thank you to booksneeze for a copy of this book in exchange for this review. I was not asked to write a positive review, just an honest one. This review is a little of both and you can decide which.

[Lucy Mills · Rating 5 out of 5]

In his compelling book I am a Follower, Leonard Sweet launches straight into his main thesis: we have believed we are in a leadership crisis, and that the church needs more leaders. Wrong, says Sweet. It’s never been about leading. The first words Jesus says to his disciples are ‘Follow Me’.

Sweet points out the negative associations we’ve placed on being a follower, which is “a second class term at best”. Anyone can be a follower, after all. Leadership is where it’s at, right?

"The cry for leadership is deafening among our social disintegration, our moral disorientation. We have come to believe that we have a leadership crisis while all along we have been in a drought of discipleship. The Jesus paradox is that only Christians lead by following."

Leonard Sweet, I am a Follower

I found the first chapters of this book stomach-churningly good, like gulping air – real genuine air instead of our own manufactured varieties. Sweet calls us away from ‘leadership models’ and instead focuses our attention on followership, Christ is our leader. We can only ever be ‘first followers’ – those who in following Christ create a wake behind them where others can join in – like the video of the man dancing on a hillside that Sweet cites at the beginning of his book. We need first followers. But we need to get away from our ideas of leadership that revolve around our titles and positions. We need to go to followership conferences, not leadership conferences.

He’s not saying that we ditch the idea of leadership altogether, but that we re-define it and place it firmly in the kingdom style, where “first followers are always trying to get out of the way and make others first followers of Jesus as well”. We need to leave behind our flesh-based understanding of leadership, let go of our precious titles, and focus on the following.

After this blast through our cultural immersion, Sweet takes us through three sections: the way, the truth and the life. Because, as he says,

"…to follow Jesus is a way, a belonging. To follow Jesus is a truth, a believing. To follow Jesus is a life, a behaving. It is to have a mission, to be in relationship, to live an incarnate, abundant life."

These following sections reflect Sweet’s poetic style of writing and the depth of his thinking. I was, I confess, still reeling from the first section as I read, so I will probably have to re-read it in order to really appreciate the latter parts. But throughout the book Sweet emphasises the relational, not the hierarchical.

In a world – and a church – where there is so much debate over who gets to be a ‘leader’, it feels like something searing across all our hierarchies and positioning, calling us to get on with the call.

The call to follow.

***



Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Questioning current leadership models and mantras is at the core of Sweet’s work. I found his observations astute, biblically supported and culturally relevant. This book is not for those on the outside looking in at today’s church structures and hierarchies. Church leaders and planters should make this an important source of reference moving forward.

The book is divided neatly into four sections. The opening section establishes Sweet’s ‘first follower’ icon and sets the the foundation, or ‘place’. The following three parts expound upon Jesus words to each ‘first follower’: He is The Way, The Truth and The Life. Each section points to the central thesis and affirms the author’s view. There is a continual sense of “landing where you began” throughout, which I found refreshing.

While reading this book I felt confronted with the raw humility, weakness and depth of the Christian faith. No doubt there are many great phrases to be lifted from the pages of this work which would call into question the leadership slogans of our day. But Sweet left me with this one haunting thought. “There is no art in solitaire, no conversation in an echo, and solos have their limitations.” This author is aiming for the bleachers. Beyond slogans and short-sighted thinking, real community is his intention. Real community: with Jesus as the leader of our team.

As I read and reflected on Sweet’s examples, ranging from Grandma’s home cooking to apps for my iPad. I realized this author is writing about a timeless dynamic. His observations will churn deeply in me for a long time. In the call to real and deep life, bumper sticker one liners just won’t do. This book goes on my shelf with Robert Coleman’s “Master Plan of Evangelism” and Gene Edwards’ “A Tale of Three Kings”. At my core, I am a first follower and as you follow Jesus I hope you will delight in the dance along with me.

Academically strong, very readable and soul level inspiring. You just don’t get any better as far as I’m concerned.

BookSneeze® provided me with an advanced reading copy of this book. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full review can be found at my blog.

In his new book I Am a Follower, Leonard Sweet poses this question with a fairly obvious answer. Early on Sweet argues that we have bought into the myth that to be effective in ministry we need to be leaders. He believes that we should not be trying to be leaders, instead we need to work on being the best followers that we can. In last few decades, the emphasis in ministry is been on how you can be a better leader and how being a better leader will make your ministry better. Sweet, however, thinks that we need to work on being better followers. The life that Jesus called us to was a life of "followership" not a life of leadership. There is only one leader for Christians, that leader is Jesus. We should not be leaders leading Christians, we are followers following Christ and helping other follow him, too.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I would recommend it to anyone who holds a role of leadership in the church. My one warning is this: Sweet seems to overstate things in the beginning that make you question where his is going. Then a few paragraphs or pages later he rationalizes what he says. So while he argues against leadership, I don't think that he would say there are no "leaders" in the church. There are people who fill the role of leader in the church, but they need to fill it as a fellow humble follower and not as a extremely well-qualified and potentially prideful leader. Read this book, let it challenge you. There are some places that I disagreed with a little, but overall I found that this book that challenges me not to try to make myself better, but instead to make myself more like Jesus.

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

[Frank Peters · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is all about following Jesus, with a sub-theme relating to getting rid of the cultural baggage that tells us to follow different leaders, whether politician, evangelist or pastor. The author, Leonard Sweet was passionate about the subject and gently argues and persuades the reader that our only leader ultimately should be Jesus. In addition he provides ample examples and stories to ensure tha the book was not merely theoretical. Sweet also discusses the importance of discipleship, and the crucial role this has in developing real Jesus followers. He makes it clear that discipleship cannot be a weekly class, but rather needs to encompass every aspect of life. Thus, real discipleship requires the closeness modelled by Jesus and his disciples. It was this part of the book (on real discipleship) that for me was most thought provoking and useful. It made me think about how and in what ways I had been discipled in the past, and made me think about how I should be discipling others now. Throughout the book, Sweet adds many useful quotations and insightful statements. Some of my favourites were the following two quotes: "A faith that is scared to think is scary", but, "A faith that only thinks is unthoughtful". All told the message of the book was outstanding. In spite of this, I found the book overly wordy, with attempts at poetic language, filled with repetition, like a month of non-stop rain, stating the same thing over and over (just like this last sentence). And for this reason I cannot recommend the book, even as I recommend its message.

[Eli Mostrales · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reality check when one is shown how to follow the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The book takes pains to communicate the fact that there is no such thing as a leadership in discipleship... we all look up to Jesus and follow Him! Christ is the leader, the head whom all follow. These followers form a community, "the communion of saints", so says the creed and is affirmed in the book.

excerpts(these are not spoilers, I hope...):

page 200:

Paul's invitation to "follow me as I follow Christ" (1 Cor 11:1) is a fancy way of saying, "Don't follow me, follow Jesus." There is a world of difference between "follow me as I lead" to "follow me as I follow."

page 225:

When Paul said, "Follow me as I follow Christ," he was not implying that he was a perfect man... What he was saying was that Jesus' presence in a follower creates an observably transformed human being. Together, these transformed human beings form an unmistakable Jesus community that is capable of transforming the world into a Jesus kind of place... Such a community is a gift, a divine creation that cannot be forced or manufactured.

[Rob Carmack · Rating 1 out of 5]

There is really nothing new here. In fact, Leonard Sweet -- who I usually enjoy -- spends a lot of time repeating the same ideas over and over and over again. I don't necessarily disagree with the book, I just stopped caring about what Sweet was trying to say. Lately I have noticed that a lot of Christian books tend to repeat themselves exhaustively (presumably to increase the page number of the book), which causes them to become dull. Sweet even resorts to lame cliches such as "We need more cross bearers, not more cross wearers" (this is an exact quote from page 156 of the book). I really wanted to like this book, but I just didn't. I couldn't even finish it. I completed about 60%, and I became so bogged down in the repetition and cliches that I looked at the table of contents to see if the chapter titles offered any hope for the pages to come. They did not. So, for the first time in a long while, I am bailing out on a book early. I'm not proud of it, but there are too many books I want to read to get stuck with this one for one more page.

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love Len Sweet's writings. They are thought-provoking, fresh and challenging. This is the first book of his that I was truly disappointed with. In fact, I couldn't even finish it.

While I agree with the premise that we should make following Christ our first concern, we cannot completely abandon the concept o leadership. Community without leadership will devolve into chaos and individualism will destroy any true connection.

The opening section of the book felt like a constant rant and attack on leadership. Part of this may be a result of the book's blog-like format. Some "chapters" are little more than a page while others drone on and on. I found it to be a tedious and difficult read.

I cannot recommend this book to anyone, especially since I could not finish it myself. If you're looking for something challenging and intellectual, pick up another book by Sweet, and you won't be disappointed.

[Curtis · Rating 4 out of 5]

The way in which Leonard Sweet writes this book requires that the reader take time to reflect on all that is said in the short sections that compose the book. Positively, this slows down the reading and creates a more devotional read than I would otherwise have thought. Negatively, if one does not understand what is being said or doesn't have a good grasp of the theological concepts being alluded to then much depth may be glossed over. I certainly did not 'get' a number of sections that Sweet was exploring but did find many powerful sections to consider and ponder as the days went on. In many ways Sweet reminds me of a mystic in the way he weaves ideas and quotes together to create imagery around a given topic. Again, sometimes this worked for me, other times I felt lost. Overall I'd recommend this book for any who want to ponder/explore the ways in which Christ leads his followers into greater alignment with His own life and call. Don't rush through it. Let it soak in slowly.

[Robbie Pruitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a solid book on following Jesus in a world of "leaders". Leadership is as much, if not more, about following than it is about "leading". We do not need more leaders, we need more followers. Sweet does a comprehensive job addressing following verses leading in this work, "I Am A Follower," and refocuses our attention away from leadership and towards following Jesus, our true and ultimate leader, who models and exemplifies servant and selfless sacrificial leadership for us. This is an important leadership book for all leaders who are leading in this self-promoting and self-absorbed culture of being first and "in charge". We would do well to get back to the roots of leading through following. I highly recommend "I Am A Follower" to anyone interested in learning more about leadership and discipleship.

[Ken · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leonard Sweet crafts words in ways that I wish I could, although sometimes his creativity tends to obscure meaning. It's not all linear, that's for sure.

I agree with the premise of this book and most of the application. The culture and the Church are both over-obsessed with leadership. Meanwhile, Jesus called us to be followers and servants. I believe Leonard has zeroed in on a void in the church. The CEO culture has not served us well, and has burned out thousands of pastors.

I probably need to go through this book again to better grasp and apply it. I wholeheartedly agree that we need to de-professionalize ministry and quit trying to measure everything.

There's too much in this book to recap here. I wish every pastor and every church "executive" would read this book with humility and prayer.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been reading this book by Leonard Sweet for several weeks. It has been a tough one to get through, but not for the reason you might think. He just says so much in this book that it took some time to digest each bit before moving on to the next part of it. I really enjoyed this book as I felt the author was challenging me to think beyond the usual ideal of being a leader and more about being a follower of Jesus first and then a leader.

[Rachel Blom · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has a great and very inspiring central message: that we're meant to be followers of Christ, not leaders. But the book itself is messy, chaotic and lacks much coherence. Also, I didn't like his sharp criticism of for instance Willow Creek. You can disagree with what they're doing, but you can at least do it with love and respect. For a full review, see here: http://www.youthleadersacademy.com/bo...