This is a guest post by Michael A. G. Haykin, author of Rediscovering the Church Fathers: Who They Were and How They Shaped the Church and Eight Women of Faith. The following article first appeared on Crossway.org; used with permission.

1. Patrick was not Irish.

His background was Romanized British, and he was a part of the upper class who ran Roman-British society before the fall of the western Roman Empire in the fifth century. This means he was from either what is now Wales or England, or even possibly southern Scotland.

2. Patrick left two genuine writings: his Confession and his Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus.

The first is a defense of his mission to Ireland and the latter a deeply emotional response to the brutal killing of some new Christians by a warlord named Coroticus.

3. Patrick’s conversion came as a result of his being taken as a slave to Ireland by Irish raiders.

He had been raised in a Christian home, but tells us in his Confession that he had paid no attention as a youngster to what he had heard in church. He was sixteen when he was taken captive and that would have been around AD 406 or 407.

4. Patrick’s mission to Ireland from around AD 430 to 460 was virtually the only evangelistic mission in fifth-century Western Europe.

It would seem that many Roman Christians felt that the so-called “barbarians” beyond the Roman Empire were not worth evangelizing. People in his home church in Britain actually opposed his mission to Ireland because they felt he was throwing away his life among the godless Irish.

5. Dreams play a prominent role at key turning-points in Patrick’s life, but Scripture was the central factor in the major decisions of his life.

For example, he had a dream confirming his call to be a missionary to Ireland. But it was passages like Matthew 28:19–20, what we now call the Great Commission, that were decisive in his going to Ireland. His mission was centered on the northern half of Ireland and thousands of Irish men and women were converted under Patrick’s preaching.

6. We have no idea if Patrick read any other books than the Bible, for that is the only book he ever quotes.

However, he did cite a creed, which may have been the confession of his home church in Britain. The creed shows the clear influence of the Nicene Creed from AD 381 that confesses the full deity of each of the three persons of the Godhead.

7. Patrick’s love for the written words of the Bible was passed on to the Celtic church, which became the most learned body of churches in Western Europe during the early Middle Ages.

When Patrick came to Ireland he would have found a society that was by and large mostly illiterate, but within two generations, the Celtic church was the most literate body of churches in Western Europe. One of Patrick’s great gifts to the Irish was literacy.

8. At the heart of Patrick’s faith was his love for the doctrine of the Trinity.

This love is found in a number of places in his Confession, and actually was at the heart of his reasons for going to Ireland as a missionary. The Celtic church that he founded was also deeply trinitarian and in this regard is a great model for churches today.

9. Legends about Patrick are legion.

For example, the reason that there are no snakes in Ireland is that Patrick kicked them all out of Ireland. Or that Patrick taught the doctrine of the Trinity by means of the shamrock. Or that he regularly had showdowns with the leaders of Irish paganism, namely the Druids. There is no evidence he did either of the first two, and while he does tell us he was often in danger of losing his life because of opposition, he never mentions the Druids.

10. Patrick’s mission to Ireland has been an inspiration to a number down through the years.

For example, it inspired William Carey in his mission to India. And hopefully can do the same in our day!

When I served as a pastor at Saddleback Church, one of the things that impressed me most about the church was the hiring requirement Pastor Rick Warren laid down:

If you haven’t been through pain, you’re not ready to be on staff at Saddleback Church.

Pastor Rick understood the power of a broken heart.

Andy Stanley understands it, too. When speaking to leaders, he often asks the question, what breaks your heart?

Usually, knowing what breaks your heart is knowing what you should do with your life, and how you should be leading others.

Nehemiah, of the Old Testament, is considered one of the greatest models of successful leadership in history. And his story started with a question: How’s Jerusalem?

When the answer was, not good, Nehemiah’s heart was broken. He records:

When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted and prayed to the God of heaven. (Nehemiah 1:4 NLT)

Nehemiah’s burden drove him to lead the nation of Israel into a successful rebuilding campaign.

My wife, Angie, and I talk about this often. Her heart breaks for those in our community suffering with emotional and relational brokenness, so she started a counseling practice in Northwest Arkansas. My heart breaks over the spiritually lost around us, so I’m giving my life to leading Grace Hills Church.

Great leadership doesn’t start with a great education, although that is incredibly valuable. And it certainly doesn’t start with a particular position within an organization.

Great leadership often starts with a broken heart.

Drive, determination and competitiveness are valuable. Talent and charisma are great assets for leaders to possess. And no one could overestimate the vital role that relationships play in a leader’s path to success.

But none of those things are as powerful as a heart, broken over the condition of something and burdened to fix it and make it better.

So how do you have your heart broken?

• Make an honest evaluation of what you see around you.
• Listen to the truth-tellers who bear bad news.
• Embrace reality rather than an idealistic version of the world.

We used to sing this song about the Holy Spirit and the lyrics would say,

Break me.
Melt me.
Mold me.
Fill me.

That’s an excellent plan, especially for the Christian leader—the church leader, in particular.

This past Sunday, I helped fill communion cups. And as I did, I found myself peering into each one and thinking about the person who would later pick it up and drink from it as an act of worship.

I realized that many would be celebrating communion with a sense of joy, a sense of purpose and belonging. But others would be crying out for hope and healing. They would be taking communion as a declaration of their utter dependence on the goodness of God and the saving power of Jesus.

My heart broke for those whom I knew were struggling with recent job losses, marital conflict and emotional issues. So I prayed. And then I preached my heart out and invited people to come and take communion. And we solemnly worshipped together, some with rejoicing, and others with broken hearts.

And my prayer on this Monday is that those whose hearts are shattered by the condition of what they see around them will sense the courage to rise up and lead their tribes and their generation to action.

What is it that breaks your heart? What burden drives you to lead?

By the way, if you’re a leader, a pastor, a church planter, I offer leadership coaching!

What I am about to share with you is the single most important church growth principle I have ever learned for Senior Pastors of churches under 1,000 in size. I call it Leadership Evangelism.

Leadership Evangelism is the process by which Senior Pastors single-handedly ignite a movement within their church that will cause it to double in size in three years or less.

Here’s a common occurrence:

A Senior Pastor leads a church that hasn’t grown in five years. Funding is tight. They have board members that don’t really get the larger vision. Their staff, if they have any staff, are underpaid, overworked and just as frustrated as their leader. The Senior Pastor has tried everything to catalyze growth—drafting a new vision statement, tweaking the worship services, starting a new outreach program, trying to get people to invite their friends—all on top of working to the point of exhaustion. Yet, nothing to date has worked.

The majority of evangelical churches in English-speaking countries around the world are in this exact same boat.

“What would you do if you were me?” some have asked.

That’s when I tell them about Leadership Evangelism, and the promise I am about to make to you.

I tell them that from 0 to 1,000, I did three things and three things only: (1) I preached the most powerful sermons I could week in and week out, (2) I personally met with 10 of the most influential people I could find in a 10-mile radius of our church building every week, and (3) I delegated everything else to volunteers and staff as they began to emerge.

Then I make them the same promise I am about to make to you:

“Barring unusual circumstances, if you’re a Senior Pastor of a church under 1,000 in size and are willing to dedicate yourself to Leadership Evangelism as I outline it, the church you serve will double in size in three years or less.”

I never make promises to anyone I coach, except this one.

I wish I could personally sit down with every Senior Pastor in our country and let them know, face to face, that they are not powerless.

They don’t have to hunker down in their office and feel depressed and frustrated.

Any Senior Pastor can lead their church to grow. Regardless of age. Regardless of education. Regardless of whether they have the gift of leadership or the gift of evangelism or whatever “gift” they think they need to have, but lack.

Five Foundational Principles for Leadership Evangelism

There are five foundational principles one must understand before the process of Leadership Evangelism will make sense.

1. The Principle of Leadership Multiplication

The principle of leadership multiplication is as follows:

• Evangelize non-leaders and you add people to your church.
• Evangelize leaders and you add everyone under their influence to your church.

The first effort is simple addition.

The second is multiplication.

When you add non-leaders, your church grows one person at a time (while simultaneously dealing with a near 20 percent attrition rate every single year). This explains why most churches never grow. You keep adding people, but at a slower rate than they’re leaving.

When you add leaders, your church still grows one at a time, but soon after a leader begins attending they often bring a whole row with them.

Senior Pastors have bought into the myth that only extroverts or people with the gift of evangelism bring newcomers. Not true. In my experience, leaders bring newcomers. Why? Because they are the only people in your church who have the most potential to affect wholesale change for dozens of people.

When a leader says “this is a product to buy,” the people they influence will buy it. In droves. When a leader says “this is the best little league to have your six-year-old join,” that’s where everyone in their office ends up joining. And when a leader makes it known that they’re attending your church, everyone with whom that leader has influence takes notice.

I remember talking with a leader not long ago. She’s an incredibly kind and gentle person. She’s smart, hard-working and loyal. She’s a relational leader and usually brings out the best in people, so she’s had success in leadership. At the time of our conversation she was experiencing problems in a new position and asked for my help.

In talking through the specific situation, it quickly became obvious she had one weakness and it was effecting her entire team. It’s a common weakness among leaders. At times, most of us will struggle in this area.

Her weakness?

She was being too nice!

I realize this doesn’t sound like it could ever be a weakness. And it has made her well-liked in the organization. She’s incredibly popular. And she likes that. But it also had made her team less successful than it could have been. And, thankfully, she recognized it, but wasn’t sure how to fix it.

A few team members were taking advantage of her niceness by underperforming in their roles . She hadn’t challenged the problems, even though she knew she should. She was losing sleep over it, but didn’t know what to do. The relational leadership in her, which is a positive about her leadership style, was not working for these team members.

Perhaps you’ve seen this before in an organization. Maybe you’ve been on either side of this issue. If this is your situation, you have probably even thought or said things such as, “I gave them an inch and they took a mile.”

I am not suggesting one become a mean leader. It would be wrong. It certainly wouldn’t be biblical leadership. I am suggesting one become a wise leader. Wisdom learns to guide people in the direction which is best for them, the leader and the entire team or organization.

In this situation, I advised my friend to take off her “nice hat,” at least temporarily, to address the few people causing the majority of the problems that were impacting the entire team. As hard as I know it would seem at first, in the end it would be a blessing for the entire team—and my leader friend.

I have learned people accept the ‘what’ better if they first understand the ‘why’—so then I shared with her why I feel her default niceness is causing current problems for the team.

Here are three problems with being too nice as a leader:

It’s bad for the leader

The leader ends up stressing over the wrong things. Instead of focusing on the big picture, the leader is focused on a few problems with usually only a few people. The leader feels unsuccessful, even like a failure at times, as the team achieves less than desired results.

I’m a pastor and, I hate to say, I sometimes tell lies.

Don’t get me wrong, I hate lying. And I try very hard to live a life of integrity.

I’m guessing you do too. But do you ever let a lie…slip?

Pastors are under relentless pressure to be ‘on’ all the time. As a result, it’s way too easy to shade the truth in ministry.

I’m not even good at lying; my wife and kids tell me I’m a terrible liar. They can tell within seconds if I’m trying to pull one past them (practical jokes are really hard to pull off because of this).

But sometimes, as a byproduct of what I do in ministry, I say things that aren’t 100 percent true.

And I’m not sure I’m alone.

In the hopes of keeping me honest (and maybe helping non-pastors understand a pastor’s world), here are seven lies I’ve caught myself telling.

See if you have too.

1. I’m Doing Great 

That’s what I say to almost anyone who asks me how I am.

But it’s not always true.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think you should burden strangers or Sunday morning guests with the ‘real’ answer, but sometimes I’ve said this to people close to me when I haven’t been great.

The point is not to tell everyone when you’re struggling, but you do need to tell someone.

Just because you can’t tell everyone when you’re struggling doesn’t mean you shouldn’t tell anyone. If you don’t, your days in ministry are numbered.

Here’s how to be an appropriately transparent leader without oversharing.

2. There Were X Hundred (Thousand) People at the Event

There’s even a name for this—pastor math.

I have a tendency to round attendance up if I don’t watch myself.

Maybe it stems from insecurity. Or a sense of inadequacy. Or insanity. I don’t know. But I have to check myself to make sure I’m accurate.

Why do I feel the truth is inadequate?

Anytime you feel the truth is inadequate, it’s a sign God wants to drill deeper into your character.

3. It Was Awesome! 

Sometimes I’m tempted to spin events as better than they really are.

It’s a much better practice to pick out specific things that were genuinely wonderful and leave things that bothered me to a private debrief later.

And if you make it a pattern to say things were awesome when they weren’t, people know.

Fortunately for me, I’m part of a church where things are actually awesome a lot of the time. But I need to make sure my vocabulary matches the experience.

4. It Was Awful

And other times I can write something off as terrible, when the truth is that it had redeeming characteristics I’ve missed.

I have to discipline myself to call it what it really is.

Things are rarely as awesome or terrible as you tell yourself they are.