Week 12: Chapter 11 — The Failure of Leaders & Chapter 12 — The Leader and His Lord

1.Sanders lists several causes of leadership failure: pride, a competitive spirit, jealousy, making the ministry an end in itself, and spiritual neglect. Which of these do you consider most dangerous, and which is most present in your own tendencies?

2.Sanders discusses Elijah's collapse in 1 Kings 19 — the great prophet who asked to die after one of his greatest victories. Sanders does not condemn Elijah; he uses him to show that exhaustion, fear, and isolation can bring down even the most gifted leaders. What does God's response to Elijah (food, sleep, presence, gentle questioning) tell us about how He treats His broken leaders?

3.Sanders warns about the danger of pride in a leader — 'the vice that no one confesses.' Why is pride so uniquely destructive in leadership, and why is it so hard to see in oneself?