There is a crisis of confidence in leadership in our culture because so many in authority have failed to act with integrity and honesty. Tragically this has been replicated in the church as once-respected leaders have too often been revealed to be false teachers, hypocrites, abusers or self-servers. This book is a timely warning and encouragement to pastors and other church leaders to guard their hearts against sin so that they serve Christ and his people faithfully. Rico writes with clarity, honesty and personal vulnerability as he opens and applies the Scriptures. This powerful word is just what we need to hear.
John Stevens (National Director
Although I’m not a pastor—Rico Tice’s primary audience for his book, Faithful Leaders—I found this quick read to be helpful in thinking about my own spheres of family and personal ministry. The book’s subtitle, “and the things that matter most,” is related to four specific areas.
I suspect many of us, not just church leaders, spend too much time chasing after success in the eyes of the world (whatever that might be) instead of pursuing faithfulness in the eyes of the Lord. This book is a helpful and much needed corrective.
Carrie Sandom (Director of Women's Ministry
He primarily writes to an audience of fellow pastors, but the core messages apply to anyone in a leadership position, regardless of their background and specific duties. For that matter, the majority of what he writes applies to any Christian, and I especially appreciated his stern and loving warnings against secret sin.
The book begins with Tice reminding us that it is easy to get caught up in with the worlds definition of what success looks like. i.e how big your church budget is, publishing deals, congregation size etc. and showing that what success looks like to the world is not necessarily how God defines success. I enjoyed the section on godly character and ‘correctly handling the word of truth’ and not just handling the Word but living it out, stressing that you must lead by example.
In Faithful Leaders Rico Tice raises his voice to urge us to refocus our ambitions on what matters most. He does so with his characteristic passion for Christ and sobering directness. But he also writes as a humble fellow pilgrim, not as one who has arrived without a struggle. The author comes on his knees to serve us and to urge us to ‘strive … for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord’ (Hebrews 12 v 14). That is a posture worth imitating and a lead worth following.
Sinclair B Ferguson (Teaching Fellow of Ligonier Ministries; former Senior Minister of First Presbyt
As go the shepherds, so go the sheep. Consequently, it’s vital for ministry leaders to understand not just where to lead God’s people but also how to lead God’s people. The message of this book is one that every Christian leader needs to be reminded of over and again. Whether you are a young or an older leader, a new or experienced leader, pick up this book to remind yourself that it’s not what people say about you and your ministry that matters. Ultimately, we seek the approval of our Lord.
Juan R. Sanchez Jr (Senior Pastor
Rico Tice has provided ministry leaders with a gem here. There are many books on leadership today, but many ignore or give little consideration to the overwhelming emphases in Scripture, and Tice helps us prioritize these biblical values. I will be using it in classes and training programs in the days ahead. (Pastor
Faithful Leaders focuses on two of the most neglected yet most crucial dimensions of leadership: character and godliness. In the plethora of ‘how to’ books, this book offers a compass—or a lifeline—to active Christians struggling with discouragement and defeat.
J.D. Greear (J.D. Greear is the pastor at The Summit Church)
This book is timely, realistic, honest, searching and relentlessly biblical. Above all, I found it searingly challenging in a way which moved me to take action in my own life. We don’t just need to read Faithful Leaders but to live it.
I suspect many of us, not just church leaders, spend too much time chasing after success in the eyes of the world (whatever that might be) instead of pursuing faithfulness in the eyes of the Lord. This book is a helpful and much needed corrective.
Carrie Sandom (Associate Minister for Women and Pastoral Care
Faithful Leaders focuses on two of the most neglected yet most crucial dimensions of leadership: character and godliness. In the plethora of ‘how to’ books, this book offers a compass—or a lifeline—to active Christians struggling with discouragement and defeat.
J. D. Greear (J.D. Greear is the pastor at The Summit Church)
Rico Tice has provided ministry leaders with a gem here. There are many books on leadership today, but many ignore or give little consideration to the overwhelming emphases in Scripture, and Tice helps us prioritize these biblical values. I will be using it in classes and training programs in the days ahead.
I could easily have assumed that this was written for those younger in church leadership—but then I discovered it was written for me in my third decade in ministry. Time, tiredness and the sheertoughness of pastoral ministry take their toll, and it is so easy to drift into self-pity, self-indulgence and self-deception. Read this book honestly, and you will be humbled and, yes, frightened. I was. But you will be helped, and your ministry will perhaps be saved from eternal regret, for eternal reward.
William Philip (Senior Minister
As go the shepherds, so go the sheep. Consequently, it’s vital for ministry leaders to understand not just where to lead God’s people but also how to lead God’s people. The message of this book is one that every Christian leader needs to be reminded of over and again. Whether you are a young or an older leader, a new or experienced leader, pick up this book to remind yourself that it’s not what people say about you and your ministry that matters. Ultimately, we seek the approval of our Lord.
Juan Sanchez (Senior Pastor
I suspect many of us, not just church leaders, spend too much time chasing after success in the eyes of the world (whatever that might be) instead of pursuing faithfulness in the eyes of the Lord. This book is a helpful and much needed corrective.
Carrie Sandom (Director of Women’s Ministry
Faithful Leaders focuses on two of the most neglected yet most crucial dimensions of leadership: character and godliness. In the plethora of ‘how to’ books, this book offers a compass—or a lifeline—to active Christians struggling with discouragement and defeat.
I suspect many of us, not just church leaders, spend too much time chasing after success in the eyes of the world (whatever that might be) instead of pursuing faithfulness in the eyes of the Lord. This book is a helpful and much needed corrective.
Carrie Sandom (Director of Women’s Ministry
Rico Tice has provided ministry leaders with a gem here. There are many books on leadership today, but many ignore or give little consideration to the overwhelming emphases in Scripture, and Tice helps us prioritize these biblical values. I will be using it in classes and training programs in the days ahead.
Tony Merida (Pastor for Preaching and Vision
In Faithful Leaders Rico Tice raises his voice to urge us to refocus our ambitions on what matters most. He does so with his characteristic passion for Christ and sobering directness. But he also writes as a humble fellow pilgrim, not as one who has arrived without a struggle. The author comes on his knees to serve us and to urge us to ‘strive … for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord’ (Hebrews 12 v 14). That is a posture worth imitating and a lead worth following.
Sinclair B. Ferguson (Author
A powerful and much needed challenge for leaders to focus on character and godliness. The combination of penetrating teaching, practical wisdom and gospel grace left me both convicted of failures in the past and resolved to make changes in the future.
Vaughan Roberts (Director
This is a terrific book—immensely healthy and timely for Christian leaders of all kinds. Healthy, because it addresses core issues of godliness—our ambitions, our secret sins and our servant-heartedness. And timely, because in our generation, in which damaging patterns of ministry have been exposed among evangelicals, we all need to recover the essentials of Christ-like sacrificial service, which leads by example rather than by coercion. It’s richly biblical and highly practical. It’s simple and easy to read. It’s also perceptive and at points extremely challenging. I thank God for it.
Richard Coekin (Senior Pastor
One of Rico’s great qualities is his humility, which fuels his willingness to always keep on learning. Now, at a time when so many leaders disappoint us, Rico is passing on some of what he has learned as well as lived. This is a short, readable guide which faces us up to some key essentials. Rico writes with freshness, passion, biblical wisdom and engagement, and earths everything in real-life experience. Read it, and return to the battle more prayerful, refreshed, challenged and encouraged.
Hugh Palmer (Former Rector
I have already found myself recommending this book! It has done me much good. It is highly readable and applies the Bible with searching accuracy and encouragement for our lives and work.
Rico writes with his characteristic honesty and humour, and both encourages and warns us with examples from his own experience as pastor and evangelist.
Rico takes God seriously, but he doesn’t take himself too seriously. He brings a weighty clarity to gospel proclamation, alongside a much needed lightness and transparency through being an authentic and appropriately vulnerable leader. This book brings light in the sense that it is deeply illuminating. It is light without being lightweight. And for me personally, it has shone a helpfully penetrating light on my leadership. I am deeply grateful for Faithful Leaders and will be recommending the book to many others.
Every Christian leader will be glad to read this book and then give it away for others to appreciate. Rico shares himself, his heart and life, his priorities, and his heroes and how he learned from them. Faithful Leaders includes old truths expressed freshly, with the clarity of an evangelist and the passion of a seasoned pastor.
