Dear Hannah,

There's this school of thought that measures our leaders' effectiveness by factors like their number of followers, or our unflinching alignment with their opinions.

Both are misleading.

I measure a leader's effectiveness by that leader's service.

Not "what they do" for us or "the least of these", per se.

In these times, that service includes thought leadership more than ever.

Not telling us what to think, but establishing a standard of thoughtfulness that produces coherent, comprehensive positions AND guidance ... positions and guidance crafted with wisdom, discernment, love, and empathy - not opinions, emotions, myopia and agendas - then challenging us to meet that standard, too ... and possibly reach different conclusions!

So it's not about this mindless, sheep-to-shepherd "I will follow thee" mess.

It's more like "I hear where you are coming from ... I follow you and will rightly divide which way I go".

Follow a leader's train of thought ...

Love,

Daddy