“I was asked to go to Singapore to speak,” Leighton said, “so
I asked Ken and another Chinese American named Tim Lee to go
with me. Each day in Singapore, as I sat down with the leaders
there to prepare my message for that night, I’d say, ‘Here’s what
I’m planning. How does this relate to people in Singapore? Give
me some illustrations. Some idioms.’ I’d have Ken and Tim sit
with me, listening in.
“To expose leaders to a different setting, to a different culture,
lets them see these broader horizons.”
Entrust the Trustworthy
After Leighton had completed seminary, Billy invited him and
his wife, Jean (Billy’s sister), to England and Scotland, where he
was having crusades. He opened doors for Leighton to do some
preaching there. In 1956, when Leighton was only twenty-three,
Billy asked him to move to New York and take charge of church
relations for his meetings. “That meant going all over New York
and meeting pastors and enlisting their involvement. That was the
biggest crusade Billy had ever had. I look back at that and think,
If it had been me,and that was the biggest thing I’d ever been involved in,
would I have invited a twenty-three-year-old? He took a chance.”
At the same time, Leighton was a very promising seminary
grad. “He knew me. He’d observed me. He knew I had some gifts
and qualifications, that I was theologically trained and intellectu-
ally aware, but he really took a chance.”
Entrusting someone with large responsibilities always includes
taking a chance, and especially with young aspirants who have
no track record. Well might Leighton wonder if he would have
done what Billy did. Yet the principle is clear: to grow and be
stretched, the leaders of tomorrow must be given significant
responsibilities today.
Look Down the Road
Emerging leaders don’t stay static; they need to be empowered
in changing dynamics, and this necessitates fresh thinking.
Leighton remembers that after eight years of working with Billy,
The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham