Leaders Who Last: Sustaining Yourself and Your Ministry
Margaret J. Marcuson
Seabury Books, 2009,
160 pp., $20.00
churchpublishing.org/seabury
Although the author is not a youth guru and the focus of the book is not overtly adolescent ministry, the leadership principles are universal. Which youth leader doesn’t want to be sustained and leave a solid legacy in ministry?
The book is creatively written, albeit a bit formulaic at times. There are engaging questions for discussion at the close of each chapter. The chapters address topics such as purpose, money, conflict, panic, relationships and selfcare. The author also explains and warns against overfunctioning in leadership — a common disease among youth pastors.
Marcuson likes triangles. Chapter 5 is dedicated to explaining and applying them to relationships and conflict in ministry. If you haven’t considered family of origin or Genograms as part of longterm ministry, you should read this chapter. In her chapter on leading with a deep sense of corporate ministry history, Marcuson adapts Dr. Stephen Covey’s second habit (“Begin with the end in mind.”) by suggesting wise leaders lead with the past in mind. As youth leaders, we are sometimes guilty of neglecting history.
