"What we have found is sometimes leadership just gets back to basics," said Dr. Thom S. Rainer, dean of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Billy Graham School of Evangelism and Missions, author and speaker. He addressed more than 100 church leaders who attended the Healthy Church Leader May 4 in Louisville, Ky. (Click the link to view the event photos.)

Rainer laid out four key issues for leaders interested in taking their churches to the next level. He cited research from a study of 52,333 U.S. churches. A select few broke from mediocrity to grow and thrive.

Rainer said leaders in those churches exhibited four common qualities: 1. They modeled personal evangelism, at least five hours a week; 2. They spent about 20 hours a week in prayer and personal Bible study or sermon preparation; 3. They persisted in their ministry beyond the three and a half years average time a minister spends in one position; and 4. They had passion for their ministry.

"You might think it's too basic," Rainer said of his findings, "but if we found out anything about leaders who broke out of mediocrity, they went back to basics."

Voice of experience

Bob Russell validated most of Rainer's research with his own experience in church leadership. Russell spoke at the conference, from his 30-plus years of experience as the senior minister at Southeast Christian Church, which has grown from several dozen to several thousand members. The May 4 conference was the first in a series of Church Health Conferences that pair research with experience.

The Russell/Rainer combination was a dynamic presentation of facts and figures with been-there-done-that anecdotes that suggested that while church growth trends come and go, the basics of leadership remain the same.

"The ministry has been a great deal different than I thought it was going to be," Russell told the group. "The ministry has been so much more complex than I ever anticipated. My church administration course was a half-hour course that covered organizing a vacation Bible school and a pictorial directory. That didn't prepare me."

Russell spoke about the pressures of leadership and Jesus' model. "The great thing about Jesus is he faced all of these pressures yet still had joy," he said.

The ABC's of Jesus' Leadership Attitude - a joyful spirit despite stress, disappointments, criticism, competition, or family problems. Balance - a life centered on personal prayer and Bible study with priorities in order: God, family, ministry. Calling - a faithfulness to God's call to ministry.  --From Bob Russell, senior minister Southeast Christian Church

Russell summarized Christian leadership as an attitude, a balanced ministry and faithfulness to God's calling. He cautioned the leaders about measuring their churches only by the numbers increasing. "It doesn't matter how big your church becomes, there's always something bigger, better," he said.

Leadership how-to

His words were encouraging for seminar participants, Rob Futral and Chip Henderson, who pastor churches in Jackson, Miss.

"It's easy for young preachers like us to look at these guys and ask how they know what they know and how they figured it out," said Henderson, senior pastor of the Pinelake Baptist Church. He said hearing that prayer and personal Bible study continue to be basic components of effective Christian leadership was "refreshing."

Henderson said he is "overwhelmed at his church." Growth there has multiplied exponentially since he began leading the church in 1999. The church built a new building and went to three services there within a couple months of their move. Henderson said the church's growth has taken him by surprise.

Blurred vision

In response to a question from the audience about articulating a vision, Rainer said church leaders who took their churches from good to great reported that vision discovered them. It was a combination of the leader's spiritual gifts, the congregation and the community that combined to form a vision for their church.

Russell's response reiterated that point. He said Southeast did not form a mission statement until about their tenth year of ministry. Then, it was nothing more than an articulation of what the church was already doing.

"We're in the process of determining who we are," said Futral, who serves Broadmoor Baptist Church.

Russell recalled that at the beginning of his ministry he thought that leading a church of about 500 would be wonderful. Now he said he is just as amazed at how God has built his church as visitors often are when they ask Russell if he envisioned it. "I'm not a visionary," he said.

"When he said ‘I'm not a visionary,' it was encouraging," Henderson said. "What I am hearing today, especially about vision, that's refreshing. I really don't have vision. That to me was refreshing to hear. It really is about loving God and helping people love God."

Ministry priorities

Rainer told the church leaders that effective ministers "understand where their priorities are." Specifically they should spend one-third to half of their work week in prayer and "the ministry of the word," (Act 6:4).

"Just what I've heard so far it's been worth it," Dr. James Merritt said after the opening session with Rainer. Merritt is senior pastor of Cross Pointe, The Church at Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Ga. He served as president of the Southern Baptist convention and pastored the First Baptist Church of Snellville, Ga. before launching Cross Pointe a year ago.

He said he came to the Church Health Conference because of his friendship with Rainer and his desire to learn more about church leadership. "I don't ever want to quit learning. I do believe everything rises and falls on leadership. Nobody knows that more than Thom Rainer and nobody has modeled that more than Bob Russell," he said.

Church leaders from around the country gathered May 4 in Louisville, Ky., for the first of three Church Health Series conferences.

The Snellville church grew from about 1,500 to 10,000 during Merritt's service there. Some of the members there transferred to Cross Point to launch the new church in a rapidly growing area of Atlanta.

The 51-year-old Merritt, said one of the biggest challenges he has faced in starting a new church has been losing "all the things you have at your disposal at a mega church you take for granted."

On a positive note, he said he has been pleasantly surprised by people's enthusiasm for the new church.

Modeling personal evangelism

Rainer cited research indicating that leaders who modeled personal evangelism was a major factor in successful church plants as well as healthy churches. "That was one of the key factors that explained to us how leaders broke out of mediocrity," Rainer said.

Pastors who participated in the study kept a weekly time log and those who lead their churches to greatness indicated they spent five hours a week in personal evangelism.

"That's what I needed to hear," Joe Altman, senior minister of the 150-member First Christian Church in Somerset, Ky., said about Rainer's findings. "I've already signed up for all three of these conferences."

Lay church leaders also attended the conference, including a couple high school students with aspirations for the ministry. Calvin Fields is a freshman in high school and attends Crestwood Baptist Church in Crestwood, Ky. He said the conference brought out the idea that the ministry is more than a job.

"It's a call," he said. "You have to have a heart for it."

David Foster, senior pastor of the Bellevue Community Church in Nashville, Tenn., said he came to "fill up."

"I want to continue to learn and grow," he said. "Growing churches require growing leaders."

The Church Health Series continues Sept. 16 -- When Good Churches Become Great; and Dec. 2 -- Reaching the Unchurched.