![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.blackaby.net\/members\/files\/2011\/11\/Leadership-as-an-Identity.jpg\" "\\"Leadership-as-an-Identity\\"")
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(<\/em> <\/strong>Chicago: <\/strong>Moody Publishers, 2009)<\/em><\/p>\n 205 pgs I enjoy listening to Crawford Loritts speak. He is always fresh and insightful. I recently had the opportunity to teach leadership with him for several days. He taught from this book and I was soon intrigued. For those of you who want a good book on Christian leadership, from someone who has done it for years, and who is honest about his own foibles and lessons learned, this is a good read.<\/p>\n Crawford worked for years for Campus Crusade and has spoken extensively around the world. Currently he is the senior pastor of Fellowship Bible Church in Roswell, GA. Interestingly, he taught a seminary-level class on leadership for years and used our book, Spiritual Leadership<\/em> as his textbook.<\/p>\n Loritts states it well when he says: \u201c. . . absolutely nothing of lasting value or significance will ever happen in life apart from leadership. Nothing is sustained or passed on from one generation to the next apart from leadership. God\u2019s cause and purposes in human history is advanced through faithful, focused leadership\u201d (10). He notes that, \u201cthere is no particular personality type that God singles out for leadership\u201d (11).<\/p>\n Loritts suggests there are at least four common characteristics of leaders that can be found in people God uses. These are: brokenness, uncommon communion, servanthood, and radical, immediate obedience. Throughout the book he expands on these four qualities.<\/p>\n Loritts makes a number of great points, such as:<\/p>\n \u201cAnd here\u2019s the key: God\u2019s priorities are so different, so supernatural, that only He can fulfill them . . . and he works predominantly through leaders who remember that truth\u201d (25).<\/p>\n \u201cThere is always a gap between what you have and what God wants done . . . God loves to be depended on. So He gives imperfect, inadequate human beings impossible assignments\u201d (40).<\/p>\n \u201cSurrender is the leader\u2019s response to brokenness\u201d (43).<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact that you don\u2019t feel qualified to do what you are doing may be the very reason why God has placed you where you are\u201d (62).<\/p>\n \u201cGod is making a statement about Himself through the leadership assignments He gives you. And He does not want you to pollute what He is doing by relying on a counterfeit source, namely, yourself\u201d (92).<\/p>\n \u201cGod is using what He has given you to do not only to accomplish His assignments but to make you what He wants you to become\u201d (93).<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a dangerous thing to follow a leader who has never failed . . . Unexamined failure teaches you nothing\u201d (96).<\/p>\n \u201cThe Christian leader\u2019s walk with God is always on display\u201d (111).<\/p>\n \u201cDignity is God\u2019s signature written on the soul of every human being\u201d (146).<\/p>\n \u201cI fear we are witnessing the erosion of the nobility of sacrifice\u201d (161).<\/p>\n \u201cWe tend to project our negative experiences with authority onto God\u201d (173).<\/p>\n \u201cIt is foolish to talk about courage apart from something that needs to be done\u201d (190).<\/p>\n I enjoyed this book. Crawford has a great way with words. He not only is an outstanding leader himself, but he has been around a lot of great leaders. He also shares personal examples both of his successes, as well as his failures. I also liked this book because Loritts not only thinks deeply about leadership, but also biblically.<\/p>\n If you are looking for a good book on leadership from a strongly biblical perspective, you may enjoy this one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [rating:3] ( Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2009) 205 pgs I enjoy listening to Crawford Loritts speak. He is always fresh and insightful. I recently had the opportunity to teach leadership with him for several days. He taught from this book and I was soon intrigued. For those of you who want a good book on Christian … <\/p>\n
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