Let me state the problem simply. Some of the leaders we are producing—and, if we are honest, some of the leaders we are wanting—have characteristics that are either absent from or completely opposed to the list of leadership characteristics laid out in Scripture. We have tolerated and even celebrated precisely the kinds of leaders Jesus warned us against: “Rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them. . . . But it shall not be so among you” (Mark 10:42–43, emphasis mine). Such leaders embody the essence of spiritual abuse—they are domineering, authoritarian, and heavy-handed in the way they rule
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