Ministry Today

QUOTE: "There really has been a shift and in some ways, a fragmenting of American evangelism. A new generation of evangelists is blogging their way around the old power structures and challenging many dogmatic ideas that people like [James] Dobson set forth." -Bill Leonard, dean of the School of Divinity at Wake Forest University, on the emergence of new leaders within the evangelical movement. Last Friday, Dobson resigned as chairman of the board of Focus on the Family, the ministry he founded in 1977. "One of the common errors of founder-presidents is to hold to the reins of leadership too long, thereby preventing the next generation from being prepared for executive authority," Dobson said. "Though letting go is difficult after three decades of intensive labor, it is the wise thing to do." The move was part of Dobson's leadership succession plan, which began six years ago when he stepped down as president and chief executive officer. The 72-year-old psychologist will relinquish his administrative duties but continue to host the ministry's daily broadcast and write a monthly newsletter that is distributed to 1.6 million supporters. [latimes.com, 2/28/09; AP, 2/27/09]