I am writing this and, Lord willing, future posts to encourage battered pastors. I hope to offer them some comfort in knowing that they have not lost their minds. Others have walked their road. I also hope that these posts will assist churches, particularly elders, to watch for signs that their pastor is being battered by what the Balda’s call “toxic followers.”

 
A little more than a year ago I read Handbook for Battered Leaders. It was written byhusband and wife Wesley Balda and Janis Bragan Balda. Wesley is president of the Simeon Institute. In the past he has led the Ph.D. program at the Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management and was founding dean for George Fox University’s School of Management. Janis is a professor of management at Fuller Seminary and UCLA Extension. She is also responsible for establishing the Peter F. Drucker Society of the Caribbean and is a principal at the Max De Pree Center for Leadership.

Those who know me understand that, while these credentials are impressive, they are not the sort of thing I go looking for when searching out a book to read. In the book, the Balda’s draw out management principles and applications from Paul’s ministry to the church of Corinth. And, as if to add one more barrier for me, they are egalitarians when it comes to gender roles in church leadership. Their Scripture references are from The Message. What is a conservative Presbyterian to do?

One more thing: Handbook for Battered Leaders was one of the most important books I read that year.

At first, I grabbed it up because of the title. It resonated with me because of what I was experiencing at the time. I was a battered leader looking for some answers.  I think most of all I was looking to feel less alone. When you are a pastor and your detractors are biting at your heels and designing your downfall the loneliness is excruciating. Just knowing that there was a category for “battered leaders” gave me some sense of companionship.

I am writing this and, Lord willing, future posts to encourage battered pastors. I hope to offer them some comfort in knowing that they have not lost their minds. Others have walked their road. I also hope that these posts will assist churches, particularly elders, to watch for signs that their pastor is being battered by what the Balda’s call “toxic followers.”

The Balda’s chose a good subject for their study. The Apostle Paul was indeed a battered pastor. His enemies were numerous. Some were in plain sight. Others disguised themselves as friends.

For Paul, the intensity of his commitment to the community meant the sharing of deep and vulnerable trust. Here he explores the horrific consequences when trust at this level is broken…Second Corinthians triumphs partly because it identifies the phenomenon of toxic followers for leaders who are used to blaming themselves or taking on the blame their followers assign them. Followers can batter leaders all on their own, or they can be encouraged in dysfunction by others who have influence and power (p. 11).

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