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Passing the Torch of Christian Leadership

By Craig von Buseck
CBN.com Ministries Director

CBN.com – With the passing of Dr. Jerry Falwell comes another turn of the page in a chapter of American church history that is seeing its twilight. It has been a glorious chapter, beginning in the 1940s with the famous line from newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst. Hearing that the evangelist was preaching against communism, Hearst ordered his editors: “Puff Graham."

"Either communism must die or Christianity must die," Graham famously preached, and Hearst sent a memo to all of his papers' editors, ordering them to give Billy Graham extra coverage. Suddenly the North Carolina Christian evangelist was a household name.

At the same time, a fiery Pentecostal faith healer named Oral Roberts was grabbing headlines as he crossed the country holding tent meetings. Thousands of people were healed and brought to salvation as they attended these rallies.

Both Graham and Oral Roberts soon seized the electronic media to take the Gospel to the masses, first on radio, then on television. Billy Graham went on to harness the power of film through his Worldwide Pictures division.

Now, after years of glorious ministry, with abundant spiritual fruit, Billy Graham and Oral Roberts are mostly out of the spotlight as their sons carry on the work of the ministry. We're seeing this changing of the guard taking place in many prominent ministries today:

Franklin Graham is now the president of both the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the humanitarian organization, Samaritan's Purse.
Richard Roberts is President of Oral Roberts University and CEO and chairman of the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association. With his wife, Lindsay, he co-hosts The Hour of Healing television program.
Paul Crouch, Jr. and his brother, Matthew Crouch, work with their parents overseeing the Trinity Broadcasting Network. Matt Crouch is CEO of the Hollywood, California based production company, Gener8Xion Entertainment. Paul Crouch, Jr. serves as vice president of administration for TBN. Both sons host programs on TBN.
Marilyn Hickey has groomed her daughter, Sarah Bowling for the leadership of her ministry. Together they co-host the Today with Marilyn & Sarah TV program, and travel around the world teaching and preaching the Gospel.
Pastor Robert A. Schuller took over as senior minister of Crystal Cathedral in January of 2006 from his father, Dr. Robert H. Schuller. Together they continue to co-host The Hour of Power television show.

Here at CBN, Gordon Robertson has been with the ministry since 1994, and has served as co-host of The 700 Club since 1999.

Soon after coming on staff at CBN, Gordon moved his family to Manila, Philippines, where he created CBN Asia's weekly magazine show The 700 Club Asia. For five years, Gordon oversaw the operations in Manila, training leaders and facilitating the development of the Asian CBN WorldReach centers. He continues as president of CBN Asia with a goal of replicating CBN throughout the world.

Gordon is also the founder and president of Asian Center for Missions (ACM), a non-profit corporation based in the Philippines dedicated to training and sending Asians to preach the Gospel throughout Asia. ACM has 12 missionary training centers in the Philippines, Indonesia, India, China, and Thailand.

But we have also seen the passing of the guard in several ministries:

Jerry Falwell groomed his son Jerry Falwell Jr., 44, a quiet lawyer, to become chancellor of Liberty University, which Falwell founded in 1971 to turn out "champions of Christ." His younger brother, Jonathan, 41, is expected to take over as chief pastor at Thomas Road Baptist Church, which Falwell founded.
Joel Osteen succeeded his father as pastor of Lakewood Church. Ironically, Joel had only preached once in his life, the week before his father's death in 1999. Joel Osteen's first book, Your Best Life Now was ranked at the top of the New York Times Bestseller's list. The broadcast of the Lakewood Church worship service is one of the most-watched religious television programs in the world.
Even before he died in 2003, Dr. Bill Bright passed the torch of leadership, after 50 years as founder and president of Campus Crusade for Christ, to his long time associate, Dr. Steve Douglass.

Dr. D. James Kennedy suffered a cardiac arrest at his Fort Lauderdale home in December of 2006. He remains hospitalized, but has been taken out of intensive care, and is receiving physical therapy. Ministry associates are overseeing the day-to-day operations of Coral Ridge Ministries and Evangelism Explosion.

The winds of change are blowing through evangelicalism in America. New leaders are emerging to take the place of their fathers and predecessors.

But what is the message of this new generation?

Evangelism; discipleship; social and political action; Christian education; humanitarian relief -- of course, all of these things are necessary and important. But these new leaders cannot be successful if their strategy is that their individual ministries will do the work alone.

Jesus has given His Church the Great Commission (some would call it the great reminder):

Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. (Matt. 28:19, NLT)

Today, Christianity encompasses only 1/3rd of the world's population, with 2.1 billion believers. According to Adherents.com, Christianity is the largest religion in the world. But with a global population of more than 6.2 billion people, there is still 2/3rds of the world that needs to be reached with the Gospel.

Despite the charisma and abilities of these wonderful leaders, they cannot see this gap filled on their own -- even with the wonderful technology that they have at their disposal.

It simply cannot be done.

Generals don't win wars alone. They must have the cooperation and labor of the officers and the troops to take the victory.

Using another military analogy, no war was ever won with air forces alone. Media ministries, which I consider to be the air forces, as powerful as they are in touching lives with the Gospel, will not be able to see the nations reached with the Good News. The air forces need the ground troops -- the pastors, teachers, missionaries, Christian school principles, Christian college professors, social activists, humanitarian aid workers, home group leaders, Sunday school teacher -- along with every individual Christian to see the Great Commission fulfilled.

The Apostle Paul gives us God's strategy for taking the Gospel to ever nation, tribe, and tongue:

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ… (Eph. 4:11-13, NKJV)

The day of the Christian "Superstar" has passed. It is wonderful to have inspiring men and women of God who are gifted to teach and preach the Word of God. As Paul points out in these verses, we need the evangelists, prophets, teachers, pastors, and apostles. But if the saints merely listen to the Word and do not act on it, then the efforts of these leaders are severely limited, if not completely diminished.

Paul points out that the main responsibility of the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers; the so-called 5-fold leadership -- these gifted and anointed Christian leaders -- is to equip the Saints to do the work of the ministry.

Unless those in 5-fold ministry take serious their role to equip the Saints to take the Gospel to the world, I don't believe that the Great Commission will be accomplished.

But if these leaders will humble themselves and throw their energies into equipping the Saints to take the Gospel to the nations, then we will be amazed at what God will do through His Church.

As we view the changing of the guard of Christian leadership, I pray that this new generation will humbly lead the leaders to equip the individual Christian to recognize their personal call to be the ministers of reconciliation that God has called them to be.

Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. (2 Cor. 5:18-20, NKJV)

The day of the one-man (or woman) show in the Church is over. It is time to take the admonition to equip the saints seriously, doing all that we can to see the people prepared to preach the Gospel in their spheres of influence.

Producing television shows is not enough.

Building Christian colleges is not enough.

Organizing political and social action is not enough.

Providing humanitarian relief is not enough.

Doing one-on-one evangelism is not enough.

But doing all of this together in a coordinated and cooperative way, utilizing the network of the local church, along with Christian media, Christian adademia, Christian legal advocacy, Christian politicians -- each member of the Body doing its part, believing God for signs and wonders to follow the preaching of the Word -- that, I believe, will provide the spiritual and natural energy needed to see the Great Commission finally fulfilled.

I pray that this new generation of leaders will catch this vision and boldly implement it in their various ministries, so that together we can proclaim, Amen! Come Lord Jesus!

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