You know the old saying about what drives the value of real estate, right? Location, location, location. Do you know what drives the growth of congregations and parachurch ministries? Leadership, leadership, leadership. Only God and his mighty Word can turn an unbeliever into a believer. But God is determined to wait for us to gather a crowd, proclaim that powerful Word, and shepherd the flock. 

It pained Jesus to see what happened to the flock when the spiritual leadership was poor or nonexistent: “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field’” (Matthew 9:36-38). Jesus did his part—he recruited and trained a dozen men, 11 of whom graduated from his training course and led the mission to bring the gospel to the world.

Leadership is more desperately needed today than ever. The church needs leaders who are articulate, passionate, loving, fearless, creative, engaging, and biblically grounded. Pray for leaders! 

But don’t just pray. Act! Recruit young people to consider full-time ministry careers. Give generously to schools and seminaries to train them. Speak highly of church leaders whenever you can in order to make their position something a young person might aspire to. 

And then pray some more.