The Conviction to lead
Albert Mohler
Bethany House
228 pages, £22.99
ISBN: 978-0-7642-1004-4
Star Rating: 5
Books on Christian leadership are legion and few have anything new to say. This, however, is one of the few.
Some time ago now, Albert Mohler, President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, was responsible for rescuing that institution from the liberal theology to which much of its faculty had succumbed, and restoring it to a clear, conservative, confessional evangelicalism.
It is one of the largest seminaries in the world, providing training for gospel ministry that is firmly rooted in the Scriptures. By turning this influential institution around in this way, Dr Mohler has established beyond doubt his qualifications for writing a book on leadership.
Mohler’s central thesis is that leadership is all about conviction. If you lack conviction, you are not suited to be a leader. If you do not lead from conviction, your leadership will fail.
Leadership must grow out of deeply held convictions and those convictions must remain at the heart of all you do as a leader. The leader must therefore be a master at communicating his convictions.
Mohler details how oral and written communication, in print and digital form, must be a top priority for the leader. The leader’s own team, as well as his organisation’s target audience, need to know what he stands for and the leader must learn to encapsulate in his communication the central aims and direction, as well as the foundational principles, of the organisation that he represents.
Effective use of social media and other internet-based means of communication is thus a necessity, as is a grasp of how to obtain the best from radio and TV.
Mohler writes from an American perspective, but most of what he says is applicable elsewhere in the world. He is not writing specifically for pastors, but inasmuch as pastoring involves leadership, the principles that he enunciates are useful.
His book will be of help to Christians in positions of leadership of all kinds of organisation, big or small, Christian or otherwise.
Those who lead parachurch institutions or Christian charities are likely to benefit most from this book. As it is well written and states its principles clearly and concisely, the time taken to grasp its message will be amply repaid in the lessons that it communicates.
Robert Strivens
Principal of London Theological Seminary
