Leadership training for church leaders: get a business manager

• Do people who lead churches need leadership training?

Mike's real question: to what extent do people need leadership training to lead churches? Ben gives two distinct answers. One: following Jesus closely 'should be sufficient to lead and guide the church.' Two: once you're leading an organization, it's 'not quite the same things anymore' - seminary teaches following Jesus and teaching, not how to lead an organization, and 'to the extent that you're going to do them, you probably should learn how to do it well,' because an infrastructure that doesn't reflect Jesus is a problem. 'You can't just look at his life and go like lessons for the boardroom from Jesus. He did not go into the boardroom.' Bible colleges shifted from theologically heavy to pure-CEO leadership training, producing megachurches that are 'not theologically rich.' His preference: training that builds a lifelong ability to 'wrestle with scripture' - and if you're running a big machine, 'get a business manager... allow people that are teaching to teach.' Current pulpit fashion: preachers standing on 30-foot ladders mid-sermon, like the roller coasters a few years back.