My son leaves for the US Army this coming summer. Last night I read through a journal kept by a soldier involved in the same training program that my son will experience. The trainee was recounting the values of the army… “Leadership, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, personal courage.” As I read them — sure enough — I realized that they actually would also fit with any missionary, mission agency rep., and local church missions leader. So, with this edition of the Back Page, we’re starting a series on each value, asking for the best of the best thinking about each value. Click to

http://brigada.org/brigade/?p=64

Then click on “Comment” right below this item. For the first week, let’s pick apart the concept of Leadership. Please jot a note about your favorite leadership training resource, the best book you’ve found, your best thought on leadership in missions, a note about someone who is ‘getting it right’, a report on an agency or missionary with great leadership traits (use first-name only if you’re afraid of revealing sensitive information), or — write about the *need* for leadership. Tell why and how leadership could make the difference. And, in light of the dissertation for my Ph.D. (the 1st revision of which I *finally* turned in to my university this past week :-) ), please jot down any feelings about “followership” too. We all lead sometimes and follow sometimes. Mention the need for great followers… and tell about someone who has mastered followership in your own group. Again, this week, the emphasis is Leadership. We’ll pick on the others later. Thanks for taking time to create a great resource block for all 10,000 Brigada participants!

Doug