Extraordinary Leaders in Extraordinary Times

Extraordinary Leaders in Extraordinary Times: Unadorned Clay Pot Messengers by H. Stanley Wood

This is one of the best books on leadership I’ve read in along time.  Although the book is an analysis of the responses of 700 church planters to a given survey, the conclusions can be used by any pastor in any situation. The book compares the responses of founding pastors who efforts resulted in large plants to those who efforts resulted in small plants. Although many of findings will not surprise you, it is the documentation of the findings that is important.

Here are a few of the key findings of the study:

• The amount of funding has no correlction to membership size.
• Demographics and location are critical to church size.
• As the church grows, the pastor begins handling-off most of the pastoral care to the members.
• As the church grows, the quality and style of worship improves dramatically.
• The more personally focused the pastor is  on evangelism the larger the church becomes.

Bill Easum
www.easumbandy.com