A Word to the Wise: Most churches aren’t short on people—they’re short on invitations.
(Mac Lake)
A common belief is that staff are responsible for recruiting new leaders. But when recruitment depends solely on staff, leadership development becomes limited and the pipeline runs dry.
Here’s the truth: one of the biggest factors in recruiting new leaders is the relationship to the person making the ask.
Think about your first invitation into leadership. Who asked you? Why did you say yes?
For me, it was my high school English teacher, Marjorie Willis. I was the shyest kid in school, but because I had a relationship with her—because I believed in her belief in me—I said yes.
Every church has people who would never say yes to a staff invitation but would say yes to a trusted friend.
That’s why your best recruiters aren’t on your staff—they’re already in your congregation. The key is empowering their voices to invite others into leadership.
*When you release people to be leadership scouts, you multiply your reach. You move from recruiting out of need to recruiting for vision—just like Jesus in Luke 10, who had already recruited 72 but still said, “The harvest is plentiful… ask the Lord of the harvest to send out more workers.”
Here’s your challenge:
Don’t just ask, “Who am I recruiting?”
Ask, “Who am I empowering to identify and invite future leaders?”
Because when recruitment doesn’t rise or fall on you, your leadership pipeline never runs dry.
Mac Lake, 10.27.25, The Secret to Filling Your Leadership Pipeline (Without Burnout or Begging)
(Mac Lake)
A common belief is that staff are responsible for recruiting new leaders. But when recruitment depends solely on staff, leadership development becomes limited and the pipeline runs dry.
Here’s the truth: one of the biggest factors in recruiting new leaders is the relationship to the person making the ask.
Think about your first invitation into leadership. Who asked you? Why did you say yes?
For me, it was my high school English teacher, Marjorie Willis. I was the shyest kid in school, but because I had a relationship with her—because I believed in her belief in me—I said yes.
Every church has people who would never say yes to a staff invitation but would say yes to a trusted friend.
That’s why your best recruiters aren’t on your staff—they’re already in your congregation. The key is empowering their voices to invite others into leadership.
*When you release people to be leadership scouts, you multiply your reach. You move from recruiting out of need to recruiting for vision—just like Jesus in Luke 10, who had already recruited 72 but still said, “The harvest is plentiful… ask the Lord of the harvest to send out more workers.”
Here’s your challenge:
Don’t just ask, “Who am I recruiting?”
Ask, “Who am I empowering to identify and invite future leaders?”
Because when recruitment doesn’t rise or fall on you, your leadership pipeline never runs dry.
Mac Lake, 10.27.25, The Secret to Filling Your Leadership Pipeline (Without Burnout or Begging)
- 8 Reasons Some Pastors Aren’t Ready to Lead in Church Revitalization (Chuck Lawless)
- Whatever Happened to Associational Letters? (George Bullard, The Baptist Paper)
- Rural Church Pastors Face Obstacles With Optimism (Lifeway Research)
- Great Churches Aren’t Perfect Churches: 5 Considerations for Leading in an Imperfect Church (Dan Reiland)
Thank you for reading. Please share it with pastors and other AMSs you believe would benefit.
To the praise of His glory,
Ray
P. S. I also host the “SBCAL Podcast with Ray Gentry” each Tuesday morning.
RSS Feed
