A major problem in the local church today is lack of leadership. Simply put, we have more needs than we have leaders to meet those needs. So, how do we train better leaders faster?

The truth is, very few churches really have a well-thought-out leadership development plan. Growth requires continually adding healthy new leaders, who carry the church culture forward and embody its core values. Everyone knows it, but how do we achieve it?

In Empowering Leadership author and leadership consultant Michael Fletcher says leaders like this can't simply be bought, nor can they be hired from someone else's leadership assembly line. Developing leaders at every level, to create an environment that attracts potential leaders, and to build better leaders faster, an organization needs more than a pipeline. It needs a culture that develops leaders organically.

Finding the right kind of leaders to guide your church on a path of continual growth comes out of keeping the right focus, and that focus is not just on the leaders. In fact, as Fletcher says,

It isn't about the leader. It never was about the leader. It will never be about the leader. It will always and only be about Jesus and his people.

It's about the people. True leadership development includes the often messy, but necessary, interaction of life upon life. So hiring pastors and key staff roles from within the church is the very best policy—people who “breathe” the culture of the church and who have helped create the culture you want to maintain.

If your church or organization needs a good leadership development structure, then you're holding the right book. Empowering Leadership details Michael's greatest insights on how to build better leaders faster by creating a leadership development culture in your church or organization—naturally, organically, continually.

Empower your church or organization through great leadership. This book will show you how!