Air War and Ground War

Been reading Driscoll's A Book You'll Actually Read on Church Leadership. In it, he talks about the difference between "air war" and "ground war." Now I'm not at all a fan of war metaphor when it comes to Jesus and the church, but he's not advocating war in any sense. I wanted to share a large chunk of what he writes about:

       The air war includes such things as preaching and teaching at gathered church services and other large events such as church-based conferences, retreats, and training events. The air war at our church also includes our web site, vodcasts and podcasts, and publishing.

       The ground war includes such things as home-based Bible studies, smaller training classes, individual counseling appointments, and recovery groups for addictions and sexual abuse.

       In my experience, most church leaders are good at either the air war or the ground war. For a church to succeed, though, it must have both an air war and a ground war. A church with only an air war will have large Sunday meetings but will not see the kind of life transformation in people that can only come through the intense efforts of a well-organized ground war. Such churches give the appearance of health because of their sheer size, but that is often nothing more than an illusion. This is sometimes even tragically made visible by the moral failure of a senior leader who needed more ground war in his own life as well as his church. 

       Conversely, a church with only ground war may have mature people but does not grow or see new converts meeting Jesus regularly. Despite their crummy band and a preacher who is as clear and compelling as the teacher from the Peanuts cartoons, he's a really nice guy who loves everyone to the degree that they will endure the Sunday services...

       The air war is where the prophets excel and the ground war is where the priests excel. The only way both can work together in harmony is if the kings ensure that things are organized. The kings pull the air and ground wars together in such a way that there is unity between their respective teams and mutual respect and appreciation for the work of the other.

So all of this got me to thinking about Origins, about its leaders -- both who are leading now and men and women who aren't even thinking of being leaders. 

As a quick clarifier, let me explain prophets, priests, and kings -- the three leadership roles in ancient Israel. Prophets excel at vision, preaching, teaching, doctrinal truth, refuting error, and calling people to sin. Priests are compassionate and merciful and excel in counseling, conflict resolution, and small group relationships. Kings excel at systems, policies, procedures, planning, team building, mission executing, and taking steps to get the job done. 

Seems like Origins would be strongest if we have people who understand whether they are most gifted for air war or ground war. We need to mobilize. Yet the prophet and priest in me -- and absence of the king -- doesn't even know how to mobilize. So I need to best figure out how to identify air and ground war people, and I need the kings to make sense of it all.