I knew I needed to be a leader. That was an unspoken but very real part of my tradition. I had grown up watching pastors lead, yet I didn’t know the first thing about leadership except what I had seen and a few instincts yet unnamed. My seminary teachers hadn’t talked about leading churches. How could they? They were academicians, most of whom were neither pastors nor leaders. I suppose they figured an excellent and accurate preacher and teacher was a leader. Nonetheless, I quickly discovered that I would spend the rest of my life leading God’s people. A wise man told me, “Everything rises and falls on leadership.” He was right—as I soon discovered.