I hear a lot of people, especially in Christian ministry, talk about a shortage in leaders. Frankly, I don’t think there’s a shortage of leaders. What we lack are good leaders. Ethical and moral leaders. Servant leaders. Christ-like leaders. You know, the kind of leaders with character that can sustain the weight of their influence.
What we lack is patience, commitment, and the posture to build those leaders at a healthy speed.
We are living with the consequences of compromised leadership across nearly every sector of society. This is not a new phenomenon. Even a casual reading of history will quickly debunk the myth of “unprecedented times.” However, we can only be where we are, and in this moment in time, we feel every piece of bad leadership like unchecked ambition, ethical shortcuts, and moral drift have left deep scars. From politics to economics to institutional mistrust, the pattern is familiar. Platforms tend to outpace formation. Influence seems to arrive before integrity development. To paraphrase Dr. James Spencer, popularity is treated as synonymous with wisdom.
As a Christ-follower, and as an educator, I cannot separate leadership from discipleship. At its core, to be a disciple means to be a learner. It assumes humility, formation, and willingness to be shaped over time. That framework carries with it a burden for education that is challenging, thoughtful, and practical. Not education as credentialing alone, but education as formation.
And yet, many forces push against this vision. AI promises instant answers. Social media rewards speed, confidence, and clarity, often without depth. Even certain church models inadvertently drift toward the prioritization of rapid growth and immediate results. They (we) don’t mean to drift, but the tyranny of the urgent is just that: tyrannical. In those environments, education can begin to feel optional or worse, expendable. This is especially true in conversations about church leadership, where in my experience, pragmatism often crowds out formation.
Don’t get me wrong; higher education itself is not without fault. Institutions, including the one I lead, must own the ways we have sometimes overpromised and underdelivered. Rising costs, unclear outcomes, and misaligned expectations have understandably fueled skepticism in Christian higher education. But there is real danger in throwing out formation altogether in the name of efficiency, financial return, or organizational growth.
The deepest problems facing our world cannot be solved with microwave solutions or a pithy, post-able one liner. Genocide, systemic oppression, endless wars, economic imperialism, narcoterrorism, and the quiet but persistent exaltation of money as lord all demand leaders who can think biblically, act ethically, and endure faithfully. These realities require depth.
I am reminded of a simple but profound insight from Pastor Michael Fletcher, who often said that “anointing can come in a microwave, but character grows in a crock pot.” Translation: Visibility can arrive quickly. Formation cannot.
Or, to put it another way, “fast health” is an oxymoron.
I do not believe Christian colleges and universities set out to downplay deep spiritual formation. I’ve worked in higher education for 13 years and most of the educators I’ve encountered genuinely want to form faithful leaders. The challenge is more subtle. When training prioritizes practical skills without sustained attention to spiritual formation, students are placed at risk. At the same time, when rigorous scholarship becomes disconnected from lived experience, leadership becomes abstract and brittle. Either extreme falls short.
What we need is not an either-or approach, but a both-and vision for Christian leadership development. Depth and practice. Formation and skill. Theology and lived experience.
By the way, everyone in my industry (including me) says that we are doing this, but I’m not convinced that we are doing it well.
This tension is not theoretical for us at Manna University. We navigate it daily as we serve students in nontraditional contexts around the world. Through partnerships in places like Rwanda (Amakuru Kigali!) Latin America (¿Que tal amigas?), and military communities across the United States, we walk alongside students and leaders who are not just studying theology. They are living it out in environments shaped by trauma, transition, and hope.
These students are asking real questions. Questions about evil and suffering. Questions about injustice and moral injury. Questions that cannot be answered by speed alone. They need biblical and theological training that is rooted deeply enough to hold their lived experience without collapsing under it.
Jesus reminds us that the kingdom of God is not something we manufacture or accelerate (Luke 17:20-21). It grows quietly, often unseen, working its way into the fabric of our lives before it ever becomes visible. The early church advanced not through spectacle, but through faithful presence, teaching, and endurance (Acts 28:31).
This is why Christian leadership must be rooted before it is visible. When leaders are formed slowly, grounded in Scripture, shaped by community, and attentive to the Spirit, their influence may take longer to emerge, but in the end, it endures.
At Manna University, our commitment is not speed for speed’s sake. Of course, we have accelerated courses and intensives. Of course, we want to continue to provide biblical higher education that is affordable and accessible. Of course, we are driven, not just by the urgency of our vision and mission, but by the shared vision of our church partners to see churches planted and lives changed by the Gospel.
We want to form leaders who can stand under pressure, not just rise quickly. Leaders whose inner lives are aligned with the redemptive mission of the gospel. Leaders who can engage complex realities with theological depth, moral clarity, and pastoral wisdom.
“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him…”
This type of leadership does not trend well. But it is exactly what our world needs.
Lead on!
Dr. Carlo A. Serrano, President