What do you think?
Rate this book
Leaders That Last: How Covenant Friendships Can Help Pastors Thrive
Thousands of ministers burn out every year; others fall prey to sexual temptation. With piercing honesty, Leaders that Last dismantles stale stereotypes about pastors and offers hope for handling their recurring, daily struggles. Co-authored by a minister who admits to struggling with periodic bouts of depression, this practical resource offers a hopeful message for pastors of every denomination.
Serving a church is a lonely business no matter how big the congregation. A pastor is expected to be nearly perfect, modeling holiness, generosity, and kindness. In need of moral and emotional support, pastors often try to go it alone, satisfied with a collection of acquaintances but no true friends.
Starting a Pastors in Covenant support group changes all that. Struggling leaders can throw each other a lifeline when they agree to communicate with caring and candor. Geared primarily for those in ministry, Leaders that Last is an important message from two authors who understand the difficulties that come with ministering 24-7 . . . with no Sundays off.
Serving a church is a lonely business no matter how big the congregation. A pastor is expected to be nearly perfect, modeling holiness, generosity, and kindness. In need of moral and emotional support, pastors often try to go it alone, satisfied with a collection of acquaintances but no true friends.
Starting a Pastors in Covenant support group changes all that. Struggling leaders can throw each other a lifeline when they agree to communicate with caring and candor. Geared primarily for those in ministry, Leaders that Last is an important message from two authors who understand the difficulties that come with ministering 24-7 . . . with no Sundays off.
- GenresLeadership
173 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2003
11 people are currently reading
26 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 23, 2015
Leaders That Last, by Gary D Kinnaman and Alfred H. Ells, exposes the thoughts of those in ministry in a way that unleashes the most potential in church leaders in organizations of any size. Other leadership books are important, and many church growth strategy books are crucial reads, but none of them will come into reality in the healthy lifetimes of a pastoral leader without leaders who will examine and apply the strategies explored in this book. Leaders That Last is a marriage of personal discipleship and pastoral leadership strategies that is simple, practical, and backed up by scripture over and over again.
This read goes by quickly, particularly because it is so interesting and resonates so greatly in the personal application of this reviewer. After sharing some parallels that the church has with a corporate setting, the authors present church culture as a very separate organism from that of a secular company. Perhaps the most humorous example was in chapter three where they talk about the “God told me” statement that a lot of church leaders use to justify their own desires. They say, “If you don’t work in a church, try this one on your boss—or on your commanding officer if you’re in the marines” (43). This is an important parallel to draw because it highlights the things that some people can get away with at church and only at church.
This book maximizes the statements of Paul in II Corinthians 12:9-10 which says, “‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (ESV). Kinnaman and Ells craft their book in a way that expounds upon the idea that it is okay for pastors to be weak and embrace their need for community.
The authors also give emphasis to the issue of conflict in a church setting. They believe that it is right to confront it rather than avoid it. They say, “There’s always someone upset about something” (50). Their remedy may evade the careful reader, but this reviewer agrees that running away from conflict is more disastrous than the fear of it being present in the church in the first place.
An appreciable topic that was also covered was the short section on pastors being recognized in the community. It is humorous to point out the phenomenon that happens when people realize that pastors are human, eat dinners, see movies, and drive cars just like the rest of the world. However, this does highlight one of the reasons that pastors develop a lofty separation from people. They realize that folks think of them in that way and over time they begin to have unrealistic expectations of themselves and add on unnecessary pressures to be better than the general public. They forget that Jesus was human, too.
When the book talks about personal failure, the authors describe personal experiences that show just how flawed they are. One chapter talks about modeling failure for your congregation. This is interesting because usually pastors think of modeling success. However, more people fail than succeed. How many times have mothers reminded their children of the try, try again strategy? Enough for everyone to realize that failure is bound to happen to all of humanity—even pastors. Learning to model failure can be a healthy thing for leaders to do personally, because the mission of teaching how to fail gracefully and biblically is a challenge that good leaders can accept without taking any real blows to their own self esteem, and it can even strengthen their self value.
The remaining third of the book focuses in more on what to do with this information and challenges strong leaders to get involved in a group. This is something that has been missing from staff meeting rooms and is often un-discussed. Surely all pastors have somebody to talk to. However, the numerical evidence is stacked against this claim. The authors share a 1991 statistic from the Fuller Institute of Church Growth: “Seventy percent of those in ministry report they do not have someone they consider a close friend.” (40) In the experience of this reviewer, that has been true of at least one third of his prior church staff team, where only another third had clearly invited accountability partners and close friends to speak into their lives. There was a noticeable difference in how these groups of staff members handled stress and structured their time. This is perhaps the most important focus of this book; but the relationships do not happen automatically once a minister has accepted a job at a local church. The authors quote Bill Hybels saying, “Leaders have to invite accountability” (87). This invitation is the key to unloading the stress of trying to be perfect.
Overall, Leaders That Last is a pleasant, refreshing read that gives some specific personal takeaways to people in ministry. It is a reminder that ministers are real, sinful, fallen, broken, imperfect people with a professional tendency to act like those bents are not present in their lives. This book can help reestablish healthy norms for real friendships and accountability within a church family and community, as well as give direction to related ministry challenges that can arise in the imperfect Christian world.
This read goes by quickly, particularly because it is so interesting and resonates so greatly in the personal application of this reviewer. After sharing some parallels that the church has with a corporate setting, the authors present church culture as a very separate organism from that of a secular company. Perhaps the most humorous example was in chapter three where they talk about the “God told me” statement that a lot of church leaders use to justify their own desires. They say, “If you don’t work in a church, try this one on your boss—or on your commanding officer if you’re in the marines” (43). This is an important parallel to draw because it highlights the things that some people can get away with at church and only at church.
This book maximizes the statements of Paul in II Corinthians 12:9-10 which says, “‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (ESV). Kinnaman and Ells craft their book in a way that expounds upon the idea that it is okay for pastors to be weak and embrace their need for community.
The authors also give emphasis to the issue of conflict in a church setting. They believe that it is right to confront it rather than avoid it. They say, “There’s always someone upset about something” (50). Their remedy may evade the careful reader, but this reviewer agrees that running away from conflict is more disastrous than the fear of it being present in the church in the first place.
An appreciable topic that was also covered was the short section on pastors being recognized in the community. It is humorous to point out the phenomenon that happens when people realize that pastors are human, eat dinners, see movies, and drive cars just like the rest of the world. However, this does highlight one of the reasons that pastors develop a lofty separation from people. They realize that folks think of them in that way and over time they begin to have unrealistic expectations of themselves and add on unnecessary pressures to be better than the general public. They forget that Jesus was human, too.
When the book talks about personal failure, the authors describe personal experiences that show just how flawed they are. One chapter talks about modeling failure for your congregation. This is interesting because usually pastors think of modeling success. However, more people fail than succeed. How many times have mothers reminded their children of the try, try again strategy? Enough for everyone to realize that failure is bound to happen to all of humanity—even pastors. Learning to model failure can be a healthy thing for leaders to do personally, because the mission of teaching how to fail gracefully and biblically is a challenge that good leaders can accept without taking any real blows to their own self esteem, and it can even strengthen their self value.
The remaining third of the book focuses in more on what to do with this information and challenges strong leaders to get involved in a group. This is something that has been missing from staff meeting rooms and is often un-discussed. Surely all pastors have somebody to talk to. However, the numerical evidence is stacked against this claim. The authors share a 1991 statistic from the Fuller Institute of Church Growth: “Seventy percent of those in ministry report they do not have someone they consider a close friend.” (40) In the experience of this reviewer, that has been true of at least one third of his prior church staff team, where only another third had clearly invited accountability partners and close friends to speak into their lives. There was a noticeable difference in how these groups of staff members handled stress and structured their time. This is perhaps the most important focus of this book; but the relationships do not happen automatically once a minister has accepted a job at a local church. The authors quote Bill Hybels saying, “Leaders have to invite accountability” (87). This invitation is the key to unloading the stress of trying to be perfect.
Overall, Leaders That Last is a pleasant, refreshing read that gives some specific personal takeaways to people in ministry. It is a reminder that ministers are real, sinful, fallen, broken, imperfect people with a professional tendency to act like those bents are not present in their lives. This book can help reestablish healthy norms for real friendships and accountability within a church family and community, as well as give direction to related ministry challenges that can arise in the imperfect Christian world.
May 27, 2013
Very good call to accountability, authenticity, and friendship for lonely leaders.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews