Mistakes Leaders Make

Mistakes Leaders Make is Dave Kraft's follow-up to his first book, Leaders Who Last. While he maintains a reliance on storytelling to convey ideas and principles, he also seems to balance some of the content from the earlier book with support that is less grounded in pop culture and more rooted in God's Word.

Each of ten chapters presents a different common but deadly mistake. The mistakes are set off by contrast from the right way of doing things, so the impact isn't wholly negative. For instance, instead of just talking about the destructive nature of pride, Kraft calls chapter three, "Allowing Pride to Replace Humility."

Every chapter ends with discussion/thought-provoking questions, making this a good resource for elder boards, leadership teams, and other groups to read together. Problems one individual may not detect will be patently obvious to another, and discussing the content of Mistakes Leaders Make will doubtless prove beneficial.

Not all church officers and leaders will agree with everything Kraft says. One particularly eyebrow-raising chapter is called, "Allowing Busyness to Replace Visioning." He says: "Without seeing the bigger picture of the future, people tend to lose sight and lose heart." How can anyone see the future, except in the kind of ultimate terms presented in Scripture?

It's interesting that Kraft cites no Bible passages in this visioning chapter, mainly because nowhere does God's Word say that pastors or elders must "cast vision" (as the term is these days). They are to be faithful teachers of God's Word, counselors, good examples, etc., but vision-casting is something for sorcerers to do, and sorcerers are condemned by God's Law.

Still, there's plenty of good advice to be found here, much of it biblical. Another good reason to read Mistakes Leaders Make as a group is to discuss the areas particular sessions or teams find themselves at variance with Kraft's model of church leadership. His is a voice we should listen to, but only (as with any voice) with our discernment radar tuned high.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.