Thom S. Rainer's Blog, page 83

Minimal Church: Where the Future Church Is Headed

The calendar of most churches in America is scary.

There are so many activities, programs, and events that some members feel like they have to live at their church to be faithful and involved. Add to the busy calendar all the digital requirements adopted during the quarantine, and you have a church too busy for its own good.

Almost 15 years ago, Eric Geiger and I wrote a book called Simple Church. We dealt with the challenge that most churches don’t have a process of discipleship. We presented that process in four major categories: clarity, movement, alignment, and focus. It was that last category that got a lot of attention. 

“Focus” dealt with doing a few things well in the church and discarding the rest. A lot of leaders love the concept. A lot of church members did not and pushed back, some with anger.

It is time. It is time to revisit the need to simplify. It is time to look at how effective churches of the very near future (like in the next few months) will do only a few things well and eliminate the rest. 

Many of our churches have become so busy that we have hurt our best families. Many of our churches have become so cluttered with activities that we don’t give margin for our members to have a gospel presence in the community.

The pandemic, for the most part, provides us a blank slate. It’s time to rethink our busy schedules and become a minimal church.

Where do we begin? Let me suggest five starting points: 

Bring this issue to four to seven of your best leaders in the church. Their titles are not as important as their influence among the members. Get these few leaders together to discuss and take seriously this issue.


Review the church’s calendar or some similar log of activities. Obviously, you need to look at the calendar from a pre-pandemic perspective. But add all the new requirements, like providing a livestream service, to the pre-pandemic list. 


Focus particularly on those activities that required people to come to the church’s facilities. Those are the activities that consume your members’ time. Decide which are essential (like gathered worship), which could move to digital, and which could be eliminated.


Consider this question: If your church expected your members to be at the church facilities four hours a week, what would you put in that four-hour slot? The exercise would be hypothetical at first, but it could move closer to reality. What is absolutely essential in terms of on-site attendance? What could be eliminated?


Begin the process of elimination immediately. Now is not the time to have a long-range planning committee decide something that will be ignored three years from now. Now is the time to eliminate so much of the busyness that hinders our churches and our church members. This post-quarantine era is the blank-slate opportunity. Don’t let it pass. 

A minimal church is not a church of minimal impact. It is a church that has decided that we need to unleash our members to have more time to disciple their families, to become a gospel presence in the community, and to develop relationships in their neighborhoods.

So, a minimal church is really a church with maximum impact and influence. It’s not about a wavering commitment to do less ministry; it’s about a commitment to use our time more wisely for God’s mission outside the walls of the church facilities.

It will take courage to lead your church to become a minimal church. I will have more to say on this matter in the weeks ahead. 

Stay tuned . . .

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Ministering During Personal Tragedy

This morning I drove to my son’s grave. At 27 years old, I never fathomed I would be driving to a family member’s grave, especially my son’s grave. This morning’s drive did not seem natural. I don’t think it will ever seem natural; parents are not supposed to bury their children.

My son’s death came suddenly. My wife, Rachel, and I were celebrating so much in life. We were celebrating a new position in ministry that God had called us to. We were excited as I was ending my seminary education. God had blessed us with an energetic 2-year-old named Canon. And our second son, Will, would soon be born.

We moved to Hendersonville, Tenn., to join a church planting team in January 2011. On February 6, 2011, Rachel and I found ourselves in the hospital dealing with the news that our son, Will, was going to be delivered and would not live very long after birth. 

Our world came crashing down.

We were not prepared for the death of our son. About the only thing we could do was cry. In the months following Will’s death, we began to cope with our loss. We began to find our new normal as parents who lost a child. During those months, I learned three major lessons as a minister. I pray that I (or anyone else) will never have to apply these lessons again. 

1. Minister to your family.

 I was a new minister in a new church. There were people who needed to be ministered to throughout our community. More importantly, I had a family who needed me to minister to them. My 2-year-old son at the time wanted his daddy to hug him and play football with him. Rachel so desperately needed me to be a husband with a listening and compassionate ear. I wish I could tell you I was the perfect husband and dad during this time, but I wasn’t. If you find yourself in this position, minister to your family first.

2. Don’t hide your grief in your work. 

I tend to be a workhorse. This trait is often perceived as a good quality, but during a time of personal tragedy, it’s not. I focused what little mental energy I had into my work. I did not allow myself to grieve. In my mind, I had to be strong for my family so that they could grieve. In order to eliminate my grief, I hid it in hours of work. It’s been nineteen months since Will passed away and I am grieving more now than when he passed away.

 3. Seek God’s plan during tragedy.

God provided a peace that only He could provide during the immediate months following Will’s death. This peace was undeniable. We prayed for God’s comfort and He clearly provided it. Having this peace allowed us to seek out God’s plan during tragedy. While it is not completely clear, we understand God has enabled us to minister to others who are going through tragedy. God had and has a plan for Will’s death. Rachel and I will continue to seek it.

This morning I drove to my son’s grave. I cried a lot. My tears were strong tears of grief. I longed to simply give him a hug. But the tears were also tears of joy. I cannot wait until I have that sweet reunion with my little boy in heaven. It will be such a tremendous joy, a joy that only comes from the Lord.

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Minstering During Personal Tragedy

This morning I drove to my son’s grave. At 27 years old, I never fathomed I would be driving to a family member’s grave, especially my son’s grave. This morning’s drive did not seem natural. I don’t think it will ever seem natural; parents are not supposed to bury their children.

My son’s death came suddenly. My wife, Rachel, and I were celebrating so much in life. We were celebrating a new position in ministry that God had called us to. We were excited as I was ending my seminary education. God had blessed us with an energetic 2-year-old named Canon. And our second son, Will, would soon be born.

We moved to Hendersonville, Tenn., to join a church planting team in January 2011. On February 6, 2011, Rachel and I found ourselves in the hospital dealing with the news that our son, Will, was going to be delivered and would not live very long after birth. 

Our world came crashing down.

We were not prepared for the death of our son. About the only thing we could do was cry. In the months following Will’s death, we began to cope with our loss. We began to find our new normal as parents who lost a child. During those months, I learned three major lessons as a minister. I pray that I (or anyone else) will never have to apply these lessons again. 

1. Minister to your family.

 I was a new minister in a new church. There were people who needed to be ministered to throughout our community. More importantly, I had a family who needed me to minister to them. My 2-year-old son at the time wanted his daddy to hug him and play football with him. Rachel so desperately needed me to be a husband with a listening and compassionate ear. I wish I could tell you I was the perfect husband and dad during this time, but I wasn’t. If you find yourself in this position, minister to your family first.

2. Don’t hide your grief in your work. 

I tend to be a workhorse. This trait is often perceived as a good quality, but during a time of personal tragedy, it’s not. I focused what little mental energy I had into my work. I did not allow myself to grieve. In my mind, I had to be strong for my family so that they could grieve. In order to eliminate my grief, I hid it in hours of work. It’s been nineteen months since Will passed away and I am grieving more now than when he passed away.

 3. Seek God’s plan during tragedy.

God provided a peace that only He could provide during the immediate months following Will’s death. This peace was undeniable. We prayed for God’s comfort and He clearly provided it. Having this peace allowed us to seek out God’s plan during tragedy. While it is not completely clear, we understand God has enabled us to minister to others who are going through tragedy. God had and has a plan for Will’s death. Rachel and I will continue to seek it.

This morning I drove to my son’s grave. I cried a lot. My tears were strong tears of grief. I longed to simply give him a hug. But the tears were also tears of joy. I cannot wait until I have that sweet reunion with my little boy in heaven. It will be such a tremendous joy, a joy that only comes from the Lord.

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The Challenges and Joys of Families Worshipping Together

As churches begin to reopen, the majority of congregations are not opening children’s ministries. Families will worship together. This change is drastic for most churches, creating a bit of anxiety for parents and preachers alike. 

There are several obvious challenges that come with having kids of all ages in the worship space.

Kids distract parents from worship. They wiggle. They whisper. They have one hundred questions or observations. Parents don’t get a “break” to worship on their own. 
Kids can’t sit through the whole service. Kids don’t have many environments where they have to sit still and be quiet for a lengthy amount of time. Parents will have to leave the service, causing distractions and causing them to miss the service. 
Kids won’t get anything out of it. One of the major reasons that we typically have children’s ministry is to provide age-appropriate learning opportunities. Pastors typically preach to adults. There is a legitimate concern that we “waste” kids time by not providing age-specific instruction.
Kids might distract others. Kids can be distracting even at their quietest. Is it really fair to the other adults to be distracted by whispers or cries or other strange noises? 

These challenges are real. But what if God is using this time to do something unique in our churches and our families?  

What if in this season…

Parents play a more critical role in discipling their kids on Sunday morning. Instead of pulling into the parking lot and going separate ways, the whole family worships Jesus together. It is a sacrifice on the part of parents, but it is a long term investment in children’s spiritual lives. Deuteronomy 6 does not tell parents to disciple their children everywhere except for church. 
Kids learn how to participate in a corporate worship service. There are some things about church life we just can’t teach in children’s experiences. Kids will sing the same songs as their parents. They will experience the ordinances of the church. Sometimes they will have to be taken out. But the long term benefit outweighs short term frustrations. 
Kids learn more than we expect. When my oldest daughter was a preschooler, I would take her into the service with me. She would color while the pastor was preaching. I didn’t think she had a clue what was going on. But then he asked a question. She looked up at me and answered it, spot on. Don’t expect that kids will repeat all five points of the sermon, but they will absorb more than you think. Plus, now that everyone is experiencing worship together, families can easily continue the conversation after church is over.
Distractions are not the end of the world. Many of our churches need a little bit of the life that kids bring. What better time for kids to learn now to respect others than while they are cute enough to be quickly forgiven? That’s much better than when they are an obnoxious teenager or an adult. Most people in churches will be forgiving. We are truly all in this together. 

In Isaiah 43:19, the Lord says, “Behold, I am doing a new thing.” As our churches experience another season of new things, may we find joy in the messiness of our families worshipping together in one room. 

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10 Characteristics of the Best Bad Church Leaders I’ve Ever Known

In the past, I’ve written about characteristics of the best leaders I’ve ever known. Today, I write about church leaders I’ve known who were strong leaders on one hand, but poor leaders on the other. Here are some of their good and bad characteristics: 

They had a great vision but assumed others would follow them only because of the vision. They were sure vision would trump anything, include things like personal integrity and godliness. In fact, they couldn’t imagine why anybody would not want to be on their team.
They demonstrated preaching and communication skills but were unwilling to consider any need for improvement. After all, why should they worry about improving when their track record already proved their skill?   
They built a great leadership team but didn’t see that the team didn’t want to work for them. They sought, recruited, and secured other great leaders – but those same great leaders for various reasons grew tired of following them.
They publicly promoted godliness but privately lived otherwise. Their hypocrisy was behind closed doors – as it most often is. 
They bragged about their staff but failed to realize they were disconnected from that staff. Everybody else seemed to know it, but the leaders themselves somehow missed it. The staff thus felt unappreciated even while they heard their praises.
They emphasized relevance and change but fought change in their own office. It’s funny sometimes how leaders will tell others what they must do while completely ignoring that application in their own world.
They stressed family values but failed to see the pain in their own family. In fact, some of these leaders wrote on the topic even while their own home was falling apart.
They pushed missions but refused to go themselves. And, their refusal was for no reason other than they simply didn’t want to travel that far. “Do as I say, not as I [don’t] do” was their missions motto.
They understood the importance of confrontation but used their staff to do the hard confrontations. In fact, they often confronted others only through email or public articles – while avoiding face-to-face discussions.
They had infectious passion for their work but allowed their passion to devolve into rudeness and impatience. They so badly wanted the job done that they sometimes ran over people to get there.  

Let me be honest: even as I write this list, I see myself in far too many of these characteristics. How about you?  

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A Post-Quarantine Assessment: Is the Digital or Internet Church Really the Church?

It has received a lot of attention during the pandemic. It will receive more attention in the post-quarantine era.

Some call it the digital church.

Others call it the internet church.

In either case, it refers to people joining worship services, and even groups, virtually or digitally. They are not physically present.

I am watching this trend closely via hundreds of churches, and I am seeing more and more chatter and a lot more disagreements about the nature of the digital church. Let me share with you some of the major shifts taking place, especially since the pandemic hit.

Any church can have digital worship services with technology today. There are many options for churches today, most of them free. Facebook Live is the most common option, and it is free for the churches that use it. Just a few years ago, only the large churches with greater resources could live stream their services. Now any church with an Internet connection can do so.
More church leaders are asking if the virtual or internet attendance should be counted. The question they are really asking is: Is a virtual attender the same as a physically present attender?
The theological debates about the digital church are increasing. There are some really strong opinions being articulated. And since we Christians tend to love a good theological debate (fight?), I anticipate the discussion will grow more heated.
Some churches are reporting a decline in physical attendance as they provide virtual attendance venues. There are church members who are beginning to view attending church virtually as just another option, much like they can choose among multiple worship services where they would be physically present.
Churches are reporting mixed results about giving among virtual attenders. Though the information is anecdotal for now, church leaders report some pretty decent offerings among the virtual attenders if they give them the opportunity to give. But they are also reporting a decline in per capita giving when a member shifts from physical attendance to virtual.
This issue will be generational to some degree. Millennials and, even more so, Gen Z, see virtual communities as real communities. Some of them can’t understand why churches can’t have vibrant virtual communities in lieu of being physically present.

Though this issue is not new, it seems to be approaching a tipping point in the post-quarantine era. I will continue to keep you updated on developments regarding the virtual church.

In the meantime, let me hear from you. I suspect some of you have a strong opinion or two.

This post originally appeared in January 2018. It has been updated to reflect changes related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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5 Mindset Shifts for an Effective Church Website Redesign

When it comes to website design, nothing stays the same for long. Technology is constantly changing. People’s online habits and expectations are always evolving. What worked last year might not make sense today.

On top of that, church websites in particular must serve a variety of audiences and meet a multitude of needs. It’s a unique challenge to say the least.

Before you start your next church website redesign, consider these five mindsets that might be a shift from traditional thinking, but put you in the right frame of mind to create an effective church website. 

1. Lean on data for decision making.

When you start a church website design project, you’re going to encounter lots of opinions about what should go where and how it should be organized. While you want to accommodate all ministries and programs, everything can’t be top priority. 

Familiarizing yourself with your current website’s performance metrics can help you build a case for how your new website should be structured and organized. Use a tool like Google Analytics to understand:

The most popular areas of your website, as well as those that are not visited.
The devices and browsers people use to access your site.
How long visitors stay on your site.
How visitors flow through the pages of your site.
What geographic areas your visitors come from.

While data isn’t the only factor in decision making, it can help guide you as you work to maximize your site’s effectiveness.

2. Think “mobile first.”

Over half of all web traffic worldwide is now coming from mobile devices, so there’s a good chance the majority of your traffic is from people browsing on phones or tablets with small screens.

If you’re on church staff, you likely access your church website using a laptop or desktop computer at work — so it can be easy to forget that you’re having a different experience than many of your visitors.

As you work on updating or redesigning your website, the mobile experience should be your primary consideration, not an afterthought.

Go ahead and give it a try now! Access your church website on your phone or tablet. Can you access the navigation easily? Is the text large enough to read? Are buttons large enough to click? If you find anything frustrating or confusing, your visitors are likely having issues as well.

3. Adopt an outward-in approach.

Churches have a vocabulary and culture all their own. If you’ve grown up in church, worked at one, or been around one for any length of time, it starts to become familiar, and even second nature. We know the lingo. We get the ministries. It’s fun to be a part of the club.

But that familiarity can be dangerous in the website design process. The church lingo and culture can feel very foreign to your website visitors that don’t come from a church background. 

Shifting your mindset to an outward-in approach can help ensure you don’t alienate your website visitors who may not be as comfortable or familiar with church.

Forget about how your church is structured internally or how your ministries are managed. Set up your website so that it immediately makes sense to someone who knows nothing about your church’s innerworkings. Use vocabulary that is common to everyone and avoid those “church words” that aren’t general knowledge.

4. Don’t try to “reinvent the wheel.”

This may feel a little counter-intuitive. When it comes to creative projects like a website redesign, the impulse is to want to be as creative and unique as possible. But there are many conventions when it comes to website design, and if you break these conventions without a good reason, you could make it really frustrating for your visitors. 

For example, most websites follow a pattern where the logo is on the top left, navigation is at the top right, and the header gives a short introduction.

The advantage of using this standard layout is most website visitors will know immediately where to look for things, and they don’t waste time clicking around or feel confused.

There is still plenty you can do to make this framework your own and show your church’s unique personality. But it’s important to keep in mind that originality isn’t necessarily the chief goal for a church website — serving the needs of your visitors and members is.

A good way to test the intuitiveness of your website design and navigation is to watch someone new use your site. Ask them to find something specific, like your physical address, children’s ministry director, or last week’s sermon video. Did they find it the first try or did they take a few wrong turns? Did they give up on the navigation and go to the search bar? Try this with several different people of various ages and familiarity with your church. You’ll learn something every time.

5. Prioritize follow-up processes.

It’s important to remember your website isn’t an end in itself. Instead, we want it to be simply the first step in connecting people with each other and your church. It’s a mode of communication for people to express needs, seek involvement, and ask questions.

There is nothing more frustrating than filling out a form, making a phone call, or sending an email, only to receive nothing in return or be re-routed endlessly.

Make sure you have foolproof follow-up processes that ensure people who inquire via your website (or through other channels) get quick, helpful responses. Clearly assign this to one individual, not a group where it’s easier to get confused about who responded. If a volunteer is responsible for this follow-up, ensure a staff member is also providing quality control.

What do you think?

Did you use these mindsets when you redesigned your church website?

Will these mindset shifts change your approach to your next website update?

 

Amanda Dyer is co-founder and creative director at Landslide Creative, a Nashville-based creative agency specializing in custom website design and development for churches and mission-driven organizations.

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Do You Know Your “Why”?

By Danny Franks

Without a doubt, our what and how has changed and will continue to change. How we greet guests, what we do about communion, and how we move large groups of people into and out of worship are all necessary topics of discussion. But those what and how conversations will be easier as long as our why is clear.

Here is why we care for our guests: we want to remove every barrier that would keep them from clearly hearing the gospel. Does fear of the unknown make it difficult for a guest to come to your church? Then think through their experience before they arrive: clear signage, close parking, and friendly greeters let them know you expected them to come and you’re glad they did. Does the guest’s apprehension over organized religion keep them from hearing the gospel? Then design your service with the outsider in mind: don’t make them interpret insider language or detangle archaic traditions. Drop some bread crumbs throughout the service so that it’s easy for them to catch up and feel in the know. 

Besides the obvious benefits to our guests, having a clear why benefits three other groups of people:

Church staff and leadership.

Not long ago I was in an hour-long meeting to craft a sentence. One sentence. The reason it took so long is because that sentence would become the “pitch” for our staff to realize the importance of a new ministry. If our team doesn’t understand why an initiative exists, if they don’t understand the win, they’ll never become a champion of it. Budgets, allocation of resources, and alignment of values all depend on a strong why.

Volunteers.

Pity the poor church greeter who knows exactly what to do but doesn’t know why they do it. They may hand out bulletins with military precision, but if they don’t know that they are a stop in the guest’s journey to hear the gospel, they may not do it with the right heart. If the weather gets too hot or too cold, they may throw in the towel because they forget that a guest’s comfort is more important than their discomfort.

Our congregation.

If you get serious about serving guests well, it will ruffle the feathers of those who have been around a while. If our why is removing all barriers to the gospel, then that means beloved traditions may be dismantled and sacred cows are thrown on the grill. Helping your congregation know the why will help them lay aside their preference so that others may hear the gospel. 

As we begin to meet corporately again, I can’t tell you how to interpret your what or your how. That will be based on your local and state regulations, the size and age of your congregation, and the wisdom of your church leadership. But I can tell you that a clear why is a great filter and foundation. Know your why, and the other details will be clear. 

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What is keeping people away?

I have been observing one major reason people won’t rush to return to our churches. It isn’t the virus. I totally understand why someone who is high risk wouldn’t rush to return to in-person services. 

For many, however, it’s not the virus keeping them away from services. 

It’s habit.

People have fallen into a nice routine of online and in-home worship. Some of our best leaders have told me they enjoy their new morning routine. That might include watching an online service and it might not. It might include going out to breakfast, going to the lake, or sleeping in until noon. They will catch up with us sometime during the week, but not always during the actual service times. 

While this is a current reality for many church members, when I talk candidly to my pastor friends, this is frustrating. I understand. I look at numbers too. I feel the weight of filling our building and budgets. 

But none of us can escape reality. So, what now? 

Here are 5 things I would suggest for pastor friends:

Extend grace to people. Yes they need truth, but these are unusual times. People have to find their rhythm again. And the right challenge for us might be to help them do so, not to burden them with guilt. 

Chill out. Don’t panic. That should apply throughout your leadership. An old principle is if the leader panics so will everyone else. Your staff and volunteers are watching you. They get their perspective and hope from you. And both are contagious. 

You’ve likely said for years that numbers are God’s business. Our job is doing all we can to be ready for those who attend, but God brings the increase. Keep in mind, that is true in this season also. 

Measure different things. Most churches are still going to measure something. We will still count actual heads in the room, but how many are engaging online? How many of those could we get to participate in an online Bible study? What could we do to spur discipleship “growth” in a virtual world? If this is going to be a “new normal” for a while, then let’s go where the people are and keep making disciples. 

Use this season as an opportunity. This pandemic has forced us to improvise. Let’s not lose sight of that now that some of us can open our buildings. Let’s keep exploring, testing, and trying new things. 

Many of us have been sensing this change in attendance patterns for years. A pandemic exposed it faster than we could have imagined, but it’s not the time to give up. It’s the time to get going towards where God could best use the Church in the future. 

Keep inviting people. Don’t give up on people just yet. This is unprecedented. It will likely alter some people’s attendance patterns for a long time – and for some maybe forever. This doesn’t necessarily mean, however, that they are no longer a part of your church. I’m for church attendance. I think it’s biblical and helpful and we shouldn’t quit trying to get them to join us. But we may have to be even more creative to create environments they want to attend. 

 

By Ron Edmondson

A nationally known Christian leader with an impressive history of church planting and church growth, Ron heard God’s call to ministry after twenty years in business. Ron received a Master’s degree in Counseling from Luther Rice Seminary, and a Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership from Eastern University. He and his wife, Cheryl, an accountant, are passionate about people “getting it” when it comes to faith. They both highly value discipleship and mentoring. They have two grown sons.

Read more from Ron at http://ronedmondson.com/. He can also be found on Instagram at Instagram.com/Ron Edmondson, on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ronedmondson, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ronaedmondson.

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The Difference Between Being a Commentator and a Leader

Commentary is popular right now. Some of the biggest names in news are opinionated commentators, not fact-driven beat reporters. With social media, anyone can comment about an issue, regardless of qualifications. Ironically, more data exists now than ever before, yet we still rely heavily on the opinions and comments of others.

Obviously, the popularity of commentary is not in itself a bad thing. You are reading this post, and I hope you keep reading. The ability for the people to produce thoughts en masse does have advantages, most notably that it is no longer possible for a few in power to control narratives. 

But commentary is not leadership. Just because a great conversation is occurring does not mean leadership is happening. I fear we might confuse the two. This confusion occurs because we’ve reduced leadership to mere influence. Leadership is not just influence. A marketing campaign is influential, and it may even lead you to purchase a product. But that’s not leadership. 

Both commentary and leadership are needed. Sometimes they overlap—a commentator may also be a leader. But here is how they are different. 

Commentators have fewer filters. Leaders must act as statesmen. Commentators benefit the public because they can offer unfiltered observations. They can think aloud and speculate. As statesmen, leaders must be careful with words because errant remarks can cause harm. For example, a financial analyst may predict a 20% drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Such commentary could profit listeners. But if the President of the United States made the same prediction, then global markets would tank. 

Commentators offer an outside perspective. Leaders maintain the inside perspective. The purpose of a commentator is to bring an outside viewpoint. Even though commentators are often anything but impartial voices, their perspectives do help bring balance to leadership. The responsibility of a leader, however, is to serve a particular organization, company, or church. In this way, their energy is dedicated to helping lead those on the inside. 

Commentators build an audience. Leaders inherit followers. Commentators may write blogs or books, produce podcasts, or utilize a variety of media to broadcast a message. This message goes to an audience. Those who listen to a commentator choose to do so because they like (or respect) the message. On the other hand, leaders often have little choice in followers. If you are a new pastor, then you get those who are already at the church. They may or may not choose to listen. 

Commentators speak truth today. Leaders guide people towards the future. Commentators may speculate about the future, but the message is for today. Commentary’s value is in its short-term nature. Hard truth today is beneficial. Leaders have a longer-term perspective, though they may deal with short-term fires. The value of leadership is in the longer timetable required to move people towards future goals.

Both commentary and leadership have value. However, the two should not be confused. Commentary can be influential, but leadership is more than influence.

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