From Chaos to Christ-Likeness

In a world where few Christian leaders walk in integrity and go the full distance in ministry, it is imperative to discover why so many fail while others succeed going on to complete the race. Eddie Fernandes continues to lead as a senior pastor for over three decades despite enormous challenges and opposition. He defends that all believers should blossom into leaders as they grow and develop spiritually. Sadly, a significant number of believers implode at a vital stage of spiritual development that he identifies as "conflict". To confirm a theory for his Doctoral research, comparing our spiritual development to the trajectory of a river from source to destination, Eddie embarked on a journey covering half a dozen countries. He interviewed or surveyed 386 leaders from different churches and organizations, including Christian leaders in the business world. His conclusions proved his theory right: leaders don't finish well because they haven't learned how to cope with, or press beyond, the stage he identifies as "conflict". Many never received the training, tools or much-needed help to keep going when they were blindsided by forces intent on disqualifying them as leaders and destroying their noble efforts to serve their Lord. This book provides an understanding of the seven spiritual developmental stages to help transformational leaders start and finish well: chaos, confusion, community, conformity, conflict, crossroads and Christ-likeness. In the final stage Eddie unpacks characteristics every Christian leader should strive to embrace. Readers will be surprised, refreshed and challenged by his insights and his own faith journey. He is a leader that has survived, and by God's grace continues to thrive, despite many seasons of conflict, both from within and from without the Church.