Christian leadership is a dead-end street when nothing new is expected, when everything sounds familiar, and when ministry has regressed to the level of routine. Many have walked into that dead-end street and found themselves imprisoned in a life where all the words were already spoken, all the events had already taken place, and all the people had already been met.
But for a person with a deep-rooted faith in the value and meaning of life, every experience holds a new promise, every encounter carries a new insight, and every event brings a new message. But these promises, insights, and messages have to be discovered and made visible.
Christian leaders are not leaders because they announce a new idea and try to convince others of its worth. They are leaders because they face the world with eyes full of expectation, and with the expertise to take away the veil that covers its hidden potential.
Christian leadership is called ministry precisely to express that in the service of others new life can be brought about. It is this service that gives eyes to see the flower breaking through the cracks in the street, ears to hear a word of forgiveness muted by hatred and hostility, and hands to feel new life under the cover of death and destruction.