The church is desperately in need for more missional leaders to rise up in it ranks. Here are four essential skills that help a leader align their churches with God's mission.

1. Empowering those around them.

Missional leaders are multiplying leaders. They understand that within the Great Commission they have all they need to get the job done.

One of my favorite leadership books is "Be, Know, Do: Leadership the Army Way" by Frances Hesselbein and General Eric K. Shinski (USA Ret.) This book takes a close look at the official Army Leadership Manual and applies its principles to the corporate and civic leadership realms. Here is the Army's definition of leadership, "Leadership is influencing people, by providing purpose, direction, and motivation while operating to accomplish the mission and improving the organization".

In my opinion most of the evangelistic training that is available is geared towards non-receptive people and is apologetically driven. Don't get me wrong, I believe we should all be trained and be able to give a reason for what we believe. But I am convinced there needs to be more training on how to identify those who have a higher degree of receptivity to the gospel message.

Evangelism has moved in the last 20 years from being a monologue (one-sided conversation) to a dialog (two-way conversation.) There are people all around us who are receptive to spiritual discussions and open genuine spiritual guidance. George Barna sites, "That 62% of American adults consider themselves to be not merely religious, but deeply spiritual.

It has been said, "Any new venture goes through the following stages: enthusiasm, complication, disillusionment, search for the guilty, punishment of the innocent, and decoration of those who did nothing." Stages are simply the acknowledgement of certain points of passage that one experiences on his or her journey. Understanding these passages, whether they relate to learning, aging, or grieving, brings us a sense of perspective and provides us insight into how we react while in the midst of them.